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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 766

The Impossible Voyage

190420 minFrance
FantasyAdventureScience fiction

Synopsis

A society of enthusiastic explorers approves an engineer's plan to travel beyond ordinary geographical limits. Their collection of vehicles carries them through mountainous terrain and toward the sun, encountering disasters that no sensible itinerary could predict. Scientific confidence and elaborate machinery become the starting points for a journey governed by theatrical invention rather than physical law.

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Video edition
Wikimedia Commons
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified.
This copy runs
20:59
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

Inspirations

The title recalls a stage spectacular by Jules Verne and Adolphe d'Ennery, but Méliès develops his own fantastic expedition. Like A Trip to the Moon, it turns organized exploration into an opportunity for visual tricks and comic catastrophe.

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 12, 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
  • Fernande Albany — Unknown author Unknown author; https://selene.bordeaux.fr/ark:/27705/330636101_PHO_437_1?posInSet=2&queryId=e0e346f7-5f92-480f-af8a-7cd910fa66d6 · Public domain
  • Jeanne d'Alcy — Léopold-Émile Reutlinger; DALCY_SIP. 947. Photo Reutlinger · Public domain

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