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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 985

Le cauchemar

18961 minFrance
Fantasy

Synopsis

A sleeping man's bedroom fills with unsettling visitors who change form before his eyes. A girl, comic stage figures and a threatening Man in the Moon interrupt his rest. He finally struggles awake, finding himself tangled in the bedclothes after the succession of impossible encounters.

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Video edition
Wikimedia Commons
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified.
This copy runs
1:08
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified. No subtitle track in this language.

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · Georges Méliès · Public domain

Cast

DirectorsGeorges Méliès

Behind the scenes

Méliès played the dreamer and filmed the scene outdoors at his Montreuil property using painted scenery. The short includes a blackface minstrel figure, reflecting racist theatrical conventions present in entertainment of the period.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceWikidata — film identity and credits

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.

Availability checked on September 15, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

  • Georges Méliès — Georges Méliès; Publicity materials for an exhibition at La Caixa Foundation: http://press.lacaixa.es/socialprojects/exhibiton-georges-melies-magic-of-cinema-caixaforum-barcelona-eng__816-c-17952__.html · Public domain

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