All Films

Mrs. Jones' Birthday

1909 • 8 min • United States of America

If all husbands have had similar experiences, it is too bad to harrow them up with the telling of this story. If they have not, perhaps it will be a warning to them to watch very carefully the birthdays and see that some appropriate gift is at home in time for the event. Not wait, as poor Jones did, until the fateful day arrives, and then have a series of unfortunate accidents overtake one and prevent him presenting the present he intended.

The Meeting of President Taft and President Díaz at El Paso, Texas

1909 • 4 min

The first meeting of a U.S. president and a Mexican president took place when William Howard Taft met Porfirio Díaz on 16 October 1909, in El Paso. The meeting was celebrated in both El Paso and Juárez with parades, elaborate receptions, lavish gifts and large crowds. Shot by the pioneers of Mexican Cinema the brothers Alva. This is a typical example of newsreel material prior to the Mexican revolution. By hemerographical references we know that this footage was presented to the then president of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz in the Castle of Chapultepec, then residence of the president.

Dutch Hairstyles and Types

1909 • 5 min • France

Short color documentary about hats and hairstyles in Holland

The Barometer of Fidelity

1909 • 15 min • France

This Max Linder short opens with him and his girl blissfully rowing in a canoe before skipping ahead two years later.

Whimsical Illusions

1909 • 5 min • France

In this hand-colored short, a magician and his assistant do a series of magic tricks, including making potted plants appear, among others. Melies played the magician, and the actor Manuel played his assistant.

Cretinetti che bello!

1909 • 4 min • Italy

The set-up here is that Cretinetti has been invited to a friend's wedding and dressed up in a fine new outfit, which so impresses every woman he sees that they wind up pursuing him en masse -- along with a couple of men.

The Spider and the Butterfly

1909 • 2 min • France

Surviving fragment of a longer film. A magician makes a butterfly woman appear, and a woman in a star. Exhausted, the magician falls asleep and the star woman turns into a spider, dragging the butterfly into her web.

The Dentures

1909 • 3 min • France

Mother in law gets a new set of dentures. Despite being initially happy, the family soon discovers the teeth have a life of their own and jump from their owner's mouth and bite everyone who comes near--from ladies to gentlemen to policemen.

Comata, the Sioux

1909 • 16 min • United States of America

This story of the Black Hills consistently tells of the unrequited love of a Sioux brave for his chief's daughter, and how he premonished the awful results of her ominous marriage with a white cowboy. Clear Eyes, the daughter of Chief Thunder Cloud, is beloved by Comata, a Sioux brave, but having met and listened to the persuasion of Bud Watkins, a cowboy, leaves her mountain home to become his squaw. Poor little confiding Clear Eyes lives only for Bud, and he at first seems devoted to her, but at the end of two years, a little papoose arriving meanwhile to bless their union, he tires of her, and courts Miss Nellie Howe, a white girl, who thinks him single. Comata, however, has unremittingly watched his movements, and vows to avenge his lost one. Following him to the white girl's home, he sees enough to convince him of the whelp's villainy, so he goes and reveals the truth to Clear Eyes.

The Grandmother

1909 • 11 min • United States of America

A spoiled rich boy meets and falls in love with an older woman, a dancer who is more amused than flattered by his attentions.

To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly

1909 • 1 min • United Kingdom

Charming animated illustration of one of nature's wonders from Britain's most inventive pioneer of wildlife filmmaking.

Mazeppa

1909 • 15 min • Russia

Mazepa, the Ukrainian governor is in love with his goddaughter Maria. He quickly wins her heart. But her old father treats the wooer harshly… Maria runs away. The furious father won’t submit. This intrigue makes the most of the ingredients of historical drama. Maria is confronted to the arbitrary; the young woman is in a dilemma between her love and her family. The tragic outcome is equal to her destiny.

Meeting of the Motion Pictures Patents Company

1909 • 1 min • United States of America

A short film in which the members of the Motion Pictures Patents Company (which had been founded only a year earlier) congratulate Thomas Edison himself on receiving a new patent.

The Living Fan

1909 • 4 min • France

A delightfully pleasing and beautifully hand-colored series of panoramic views, giving the history of the fan. A large ostrich feather fan opens and closes alternately, showing each time a different scene and the various styles of fans in use throughout ages and by many peoples. Scenes illustrated are: Adam and Eve, The Egyptians, The Greeks, Romans, Sixteenth Century, Modern Use.

Matrimonial Shoes

1909 • 6 min • France

A film about cupid shoes by Émile Cohl.

The Faded Lilies

1909 • 8 min • United States of America

A disfigured violinist mistakes a token of appreciation for a love bouquet. When he realizes his mistake, he loses his mind.

Comic Mutations

1909 • 3 min • France

An old and learned doctor discovers the secret of spontaneous generation and makes a microscopic germ which in its growth gives birth to the following people who dissolve into one another and into other shapes with startling mystery.

The Happy Microbes

1909 • 4 min • France

A scientist has acquired a microscope and is showing it off to his friend. He takes various body samples - hair, phlegm, etc. - and puts them under the microscope. The "microbes" coalesce and form different shapes, creating caricatures of various people, such as mothers-in-law and drunks. These animated characters goof around in traditional cartoon fashion.

The Next Door Neighbors

1909 • 5 min • France

Two nosy neighbors who drill a hole through their wall to spy on the canoodling couple next door get more than they bargained for when the man discovers their plan and casts a magic spell.

Viy

1909 • 10 min • Russia

Based on a the horror novella of the same name. First Russian horror film.

Spanish Clair de Lune

1909 • 4 min • France

Two lovers perform a fandango dance. A jealous quarrel follows and the heart-broken swain decides to end it all. He throws himself from the window of his room, but instead of falling to his death, the anchor of a passing balloon intercepts his flight and he is taken high into the clouds. Laughing at his plight, the moon arouses the anger of the desperate lover and a battle between the two ensues.

Affairs of the Heart

1909 • 4 min • France

A near-abstract animation telling a simple romantic story through drawings almost entirely composed of heart shapes.

The Enchanted Spectacles

1909 • 5 min • France

A parlor full of bon vivants pass around an enchanted pair of spectacles that “reveal the personality and pleasures of the one who wears them.”

The Girls and Daddy

1909 • 9 min • United States of America

Sisters guarding their house from a burglar set upon stealing their daddy's money.