This is like “going to bed” (q.v.), but this time it’s just as long as it should be. When our beleaguered protagonist tries to put on pants, they become a coat or vest. When he tries to put on boots they become a hat. And vice versa.
Many of these films are simple gag comedies. Sometimes there’s just a single gag, or rather a single idea, elaborated. In other words, themes, with variations. Or a single theme, more often than not. But that’s not all. With Méliès every gag, every set of elaborations, is also an elaboration of the very possibilities of this new medium. He is involved in the evolutionary inventing of the cut, and of pace, and propulsion, and the ingratiating impulse to entertain. And joy. Great stuff, if you’ll excuse me saying so, so over-and-over.