View source for The Enchanted Well

{{Infobox film
| name           = The Enchanted Well
| image          = Puits fantastique.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = A frame from the film
| native_name    = <!--(for non-English films: film's name in its native language)-->
| director       = [[Georges Méliès]]
| producer       =
| writer         =
| screenplay     = 
| story          = 
| based_on       = <!-- {{based on|title of the original work|writer of the original work}} -->
| starring       = 
| cinematography = 
| editing        = 
| studio         = [[Star Film Company]]
| distributor    =
| released       = {{Film date|1903}}
| runtime        = 4 minutes
| country        = France
| language       = Silent
}}

'''''The Enchanted Well''''' ({{langx|fr|'''Le Puits fantastique'''}}) is a 1903 French [[silent film|silent]] [[trick film]] directed by [[Georges Méliès]]. It is a [[horror film]] about a [[witch]] and her spell on a town's well.

== Plot ==
[[File:Le Puits fantastique (1903).webm|thumb|''The Enchanted Well'' (1903)]]
A witch is denied a handout and casts a spell on the town's well.

== Themes ==
The film is a comic take on traditional [[fairy tale]]s, in which a well is often characterized not only as a village's central gathering place but also as a place for magical testing of characters' goodness (for example, many versions of "[[The Frog Prince]]" and "[[Mother Hulda]]" use wells this way). More specifically, the film plays with the traditional fairy tale concept of a magical woman, disguised as a beggar at a well, testing the generosity of passersby and rewarding those who pass the test.<ref name=Zipes>{{citation|last=Zipes|first=Jack|title=The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films|year=2010|location=New York|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RXSQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA44|isbn=9781135853952|pages=44–5}}</ref> In Méliès's version of the story, however, the human characters get no magical reward; rather, the witch is sympathetic rather than wicked, and her farcical punishment of the greedy landowner is designed to be read as fully justified.<ref name=Zipes/> Méliès returned to a similar theme in his film ''[[The Cook in Trouble]]'' (1904), in which a mistreated magical woman enchants a stove with similarly chaotic results.<ref name=Mast>{{citation|last=Mast|first=Gerald|title=The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies|location=Chicago|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1979|page=35|isbn=9780226509785 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVN2q13uHt0C&pg=PA35}}</ref>

== Production ==
''The Enchanted Well'' was made in 1903, just as Méliès was reaching the high point of his career as a creator of fantasy films.<ref name=Zipes/> Méliès himself appears in the film as the farmer with the donkey.<ref name=Essai>{{citation|title=Essai de reconstitution du catalogue français de la Star-Film; suivi d'une analyse catalographique des films de Georges Méliès recensés en France|location=Bois d'Arcy|publisher=Service des archives du film du Centre national de la cinématographie|year=1981|isbn=2903053073|oclc=10506429|pages=123–4}}</ref> The dragon puppet would be reused in Méliès's later films ''[[The Witch (1906 film)|The Witch]]'' (1906) and ''[[Baron Munchausen's Dream]]'' (1911). The film's other special effects were created using [[stage machinery]], [[pyrotechnics]], [[substitution splice]]s, and photographic [[dissolve (filmmaking)|dissolve]]s on a black background.<ref name=Essai/> Méliès also drew freely on the gymnastic abilities of his actors, with much of the film enlivened by comedic acrobatics.<ref name=Mast/>

== Release and reception ==
''The Enchanted Well'' was released by Méliès's [[Star Film Company]] and is numbered 462–464 in its catalogs. On 25 June 1903, it became the first of Méliès's films to be deposited at the [[Library of Congress]] for American copyright. From this film onward until his 1904 film ''[[The Mermaid (1904 film)|The Mermaid]]'', Méliès's practice was to deposit each film at the Library in the form of a [[paper print]]; he apparently followed this practice for all but about a dozen of the films he made during that time.<ref>{{citation|last1=Malthête|first1=Jacques|last2=Mannoni|first2=Laurent|title=L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès|year=2008|publication-place=Paris|publisher=Éditions de La Martinière|isbn=9782732437323|page=345}}</ref>

In his history of fairy tale films, the cultural historian [[Jack Zipes]] praised ''The Enchanted Well'' highly: "It is delightful. The actors are marvelous acrobats, and the puppets are goofy. … ''The Enchanted Well'' shows Méliès at his best as an original writer and designer of his own 'ridiculous' fairy tales that have deep roots in folklore."<ref name=Zipes/> Kemp R. Niver, in his comprehensive study of the Library of Congress Paper Prints, agreed: "This film represents [Méliès's] usual excellent work."<ref>{{citation|last=Niver|first=Kemp R.|others=ed. Bebe Bergsten|title=Motion Pictures from the Library of Congress Paper Print Collection, 1894–1912|location=Berkeley|publisher=University of California Press|year=1967|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1xTUO7zStYQC&pg=PA31|page=31}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{IMDb title|id=0189498|title=The Enchanted Well}}
*{{Internet Archive short film|id=LePuitsFantastique|title=The Enchanted Well}}

{{Georges Méliès}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enchanted Well, The}}
[[Category:1903 films]]
[[Category:1903 horror films]]
[[Category:1903 short films]]
[[Category:French silent short films]]
[[Category:1900s French-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Georges Méliès]]
[[Category:Films about witchcraft]]
[[Category:French black-and-white films]]
[[Category:French silent horror films]]
[[Category:Trick films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=The Enchanted Well|access_date=2026-03-06}}