This short film by Georges Méliès runs for approximately three minutes and thus slightly longer then the common length for films back around 1899. And it surely needs this duration as the film is packed with action from start to finish. Good attention from detail from Méliès and we basically see the theme of good vs. evil, a recurring theme often used by Méliès in his works, more frequently than by other filmmakers back then certainly. Hardly anybody dared to depict the devil, but Méliès did not only do that all the time, but also played him himself. Basically the devil uses the art of deception in order to slowly take over a convent and his followers, little boys dressed as evil, rise as well. We see a huge devil grimace in the background and it looked slightly similar to an evil version of the moon from Méliès most famous film. When several priests with crosses show up, the spook is over pretty quickly and Lucifer himself gets vanished by Erzengel Michael come to life in the end. Worth a watch for silent film enthusiasts mainly for the story, but also for all the smoke and special effects.
Review of The Sign of the Cross
