Here's Gaumont doing Melies. That's the main point of this movie and others like it, imitations of L'AUBERGE INFERNALE and such works. How much attention are we to pay to the legends? Did Melies really figure out how to make things appear and disappear by accident?That seems unlikely, since it was a trick one could play with magic lanterns, the previous technology, by closing a shutter. Indeed, there are camera tricks in the first Edison show. When, however, did people realize what a great thing Melies was onto and begin to deliberately imitate him?Well, by 1898, that's for certain. That's when this movie came out.