All Films

The Immigrant

1915 • 44 min • Italy

Directed by Febo Mari.

Un giorno con Puccini

1915 • 8 min • Italy

A short celebratory film, the only moving images that have ever portrayed the celebrated composer. Giacomo Puccini enjoys his residence in Torre del Lago: he walks in the garden, pinning a fresh rose in his buttonhole. He plays the piano and composes, whizzes by in a motorboat, receives the mail and chats with the villagers, and finally goes duck hunting.

Sweedie and Her Dog

1915 • 10 min • United States of America

Mr. Dingy engages Sweedie as their cook. She insists upon bringing her dog "Skinny" and her parrot along. Mr. Dingy dislikes dogs, but rather than lose Sweedie he consents.

Fatty's New Role

1915 • 13 min • United States of America

Fatty gets kicked out of a bar, and then the place gets a bomb threat.

Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day

1915 • 13 min • United States of America

A henpecked husband's innocent friendship with a married woman leads to chaos.

The Red Signal

1915 • 13 min • United States of America

Brent, the night operator has been knocked unconscious by a piece of lumber projecting from a passing freight, and has been rendered temporarily insane. Meantime, a furious storm arises, a track walker discovers a washout and wires a warning to Helen, who sets the danger signal for the Limited which is due in ten minutes.

The Man with the Iron Heart

1915 • 30 min • United States of America

I.M. Mann, millionaire president of a large corporation, is known as "the man with the iron heart." James Boyd, cashier for Mann's corporation, is delayed one morning because of a dying mother, and is discharged. Then Boyd goes to Union headquarters with his story. The thousands of workmen employed by Mann finally reach the limit of endurance, and at a union meeting, resolve to demand increased wages, a cessation of child labor and other benefits, or strike. He refuses to hear a committee of workmen and says, "I'll close up the factories and let you starve."

Leon Drey

1915 • 60 min • Russia

A Jewish parvenu climbs the social ladder by seducing wealthy women.

The Runaway Boxcar

1915 • 13 min • United States of America

Disguised as car repairmen, Mealius and Denney get aboard the express car, overpower the express messenger and steal a valuable package being forwarded to Arlington. Helen sees the crooks jumping from the car when it stops for water at Lone Point and gives the alarm.

Roping a Bride

1915 • 11 min

Tom and Dick are good friends, but they are both in love with the same young woman, Vera. Vera herself cannot decide which of the two suitors she prefers. Realizing that Vera cannot make up her mind, the two young men turn to their friend Bill Bush for help. After thinking it over, Bill suggests an unusual contest to see which one gets to ask Vera to marry him.

Pruning the Movies

1915 • 6 min • United States of America

Colonel Bunk, after seeing his first movie, appoints himself “supreme censor of the movies” and he and his Board of Censors set to the task of “pruning” a movie (in more ways than one).

Fatty’s Plucky Pup

1915 • 27 min • United States of America

Four bad men have kidnapped Fatty's girlfriend and plan to kill her. Fatty's dog knows where she is, but Fatty doesn't and he was crying. However the dog came back to get Fatty, and they and the Keystone Cops went to rescue her.

The Hazards of Helen: Episode13, The Escape on the Fast Freight

1915 • 13 min • United States of America

Two tramps hold up small-town Ferndale's railway station night operator Helen, lock her in a closet, and escape. Later, standing on a bridge over the freight yards, Helen sees the two bandits aboard an outgoing freight and drops onto the roof of the car from above as it crosses underneath. A chase along the roofs of the speeding cars ensues.

The Maid of the Wild

1915 • 41 min • United States of America

James Sterling, wealthy bachelor, is told by his doctor that he must go up into the mountains if he would recover the health lost in his midnight parties. He goes, leaving behind Clarice Driscoll, a society girl whom he loves. In the mountains he meets Lucy Bingham. Away from the city influences, he falls in love with this maid of the wilds

The Seventh Noon

1915 • 50 min • United States of America

Young lawyer Peter Donaldson tries to achieve fame by defending a man accused of murder, but the case is complicated by his love for a woman who is a witness for the prosecution.

Fatty’s Faithful Fido

1915 • 13 min • United States of America

Fatty and Al are Minta's suitors. After Fatty sics his dog on him, Al marks Fatty for roughing up by two thugs, but the plan backfires.

The Price of Betrayal

1915 • 41 min • Sweden

An unemployed man encounters trouble when he tries to find a way to help his sick wife.

The Spell of the Poppy

1915 • 20 min • United States of America

Manfredi, an habitual user of opium, is a piano player in a Chinese café. A wealthy tourist becomes interested in the young musician and sends him abroad to study. He promises Zuletta, his common law wife, that on his return he will marry her. Five years later he comes back, still addicted to the drug. Under its spell he is proclaimed a genius. Failing to make good his promise to Zuletta, he becomes infatuated with Margery Rhodes, a society girl, who comes to study music with him. So strongly is Margery influenced by her teacher, that she also acquires a taste for opium. John Hale, her lover, is in the secret service. Through the revengeful Zuletta, he learns that Manfredi conducts an opium joint. Hale has the place raided, just in time to save Mergery from a fate worse than death.

The Secret Room

1915 • 25 min • United States of America

A scientist tries to transfer the personality of a man into his mentally retarded son.

The Golem

1915 • 60 min • Germany

This mostly lost film is often confused with director Paul Wegener third and readily available interpretation of the legend; Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920). In this version of the golem legend, the golem, a clay statue brought to life by Rabbi Loew in 16th century Prague to save the Jews from the ongoing brutal persecution by the city's rulers, is found in the rubble of an old synagogue in the 20th century. Brought to life by an antique dealer, the golem is used as a menial servant. Eventually falling in love with the dealer's wife, it goes on a murderous rampage when its love for her goes unanswered.

The Seaside Hotel

1915 • 8 min • Denmark

When Gregoire and Lola go on a beach holiday to the idyllic Skagen, they don't know yet that the trip will be the end of their marriage. Gregoire may be wealthy, but he is many years older and several pounds heavier than his young wife, whose beauty makes all the male holiday guests turn their necks. Baron Plessen falls in love with Lola, and she quickly becomes fond of the idea of replacing her corpulent husband with a handsome nobleman. Together, they plan to push Gregoire out of the picture. The preserved material is a fragment.

Willie Runs the Park

1915 • 10 min • United States of America

Willie Runs the Park is a 1915 Comedy short.

Four Feathers

1915 • 50 min • United States of America

A British army officer refuses to avenge the death of a general who was murdered years earlier. He is awarded three feathers by his officers. When his fiancée fails to defend his stance, he plucks a feather from her fan. He proves his courage by rescuing his comrades in dangerous and life-threatening situations. Later he returns each feather as proof of his redemption and courage.

Feet and Hands

1915 • 17 min • France

The story of a how a love-struck young man eventually wins over an initially reluctant woman, charmingly told in shots that depict only their hands and feet.