Four Heads Better Than One

Edison summary: One of the greatest of black art pictures. The conjurer appears before the audience, with his head in its proper place. He then removes his head, and throwing it in the air, it appears on the table opposite another head, and both detached heads sing in unison. The conjurer then removes it a third time. You then see all three of his heads, which are exact duplicates, upon the table at one time, while the conjurer again stands before the audience with his head perfectly intact, singing in unison with the three heads upon the table. He closes the picture by bowing himself from the stage.
       Méliès summary : One of the most marvelous tricks ever cinematographed. The magician approaches and, after the usual bow, proceeds with the tricks of taking off his own head, placing same on a table at his side. He is immediately supplied with another head, and in order to show the audience that there is no illusion about the trick, he crawls under the table, upon which is supported his first head. A second head is also removed from his shoulders, and finally a third, all being exact likenesses of the first. He is supplied with a fourth head and converses with the three severed heads on the table. Being musically inclined, he takes up a banjo and commences to play. The three severed heads are seen to sing, much to the discomfiture of the magician, who smashes the banjo over two of them, causing them to disappear. The third head is treated likewise, whereupon he throws the fourth head into the air, which again descends upon his shoulders. The magician then makes his bow and retreats from the scene. A most surprising and marvelous illusion.
       Lubin summary: Here is a film that will keep you guessing. A man is seen to lift his head from off his shoulders and places it on the table by his side. He does this three times, and seating himself on a stool with a banjo in his hands proceeds to sing and play; the three heads, all counterparts of the one on his shoulders, accompanying him. The heads annoy him so that he cannot proceed, and using the instrument as a club he smashes two of them to pieces and throws his own away. He is now left without a head. Taking one from the table which he had allowed to remain he tosses it in the air and it lands in the proper place, when he bows to the audience and vanishes. Wonderful.