A music master leads his band to a field where five telegraph lines are strung on utility poles. Hoisting up a giant treble clef, he turns the set of lines into a giant musical staff. He then uses copies of his own head to spell out the tune for "God Save the King," and his band joins in.
A peine installés à Chapon-Laroche Brice et Lara découvrent qu’un centre de vacances va ruiner leur investissement. Mais aussi que leur cousin Jacques a des visions mystiques. La Vierge sauvera-t-elle Chapon-Laroche ?
Deux hommes dansent sur un air de violon que William Dickson joue : c'est une barcarolle, la Chanson du mousse (Acte I, scène 1, n° 3), tirée des Cloches de Corneville, de Robert Planquette.
On an empty stage, a magician (Méliès) multiplies himself and his chair to form an instrumental band, which he conducts in a lively piece of music. He then returns to each of his identical copies, and a giant ornamental fan appears behind him. Jumping up, the magician disappears in a puff of smoke before returning to the stage for a final bow.
Opening remarks by Charlton Heston and Mickey Rooney are used to establish the film’s direction and mood. Introductory scenes quickly dissolve into one laced with sounds of thunder and artillery fire. The setting is atop Niagara Falls where waters cascade over the falls’ edge. Superimposed in the haze are dissolving scenes of American conflicts from the American Revolutionary War through Desert Storm.