All Films

A Good Story

1904 • 1 min • France

A man of the cloth relates a good story to a fellow clergyman. A hearty chuckle is had. Released by Pathé in the US as a split reel along with the documentary Renard et lapins (1904), the drama Dispute de joueurs (1904) and the comedy Amateur de glaces (1904).

The Way to Sell Corsets

1904 • 1 min • United States of America

A corset maker -- for those of you who don't know what that it, it was a tight of highly reinforced girdle which gave the wearer an 'hourglass' figure -- has her model come in and wear one of her wears. The well-dressed customers enter and examine the corset on a mannequin.

A Cake Walk on the Beach at Coney Island

1904 • 1 min • United States of America

People doing the Cake Walk dance on the Beach at Coney Island.

Trotting Match at Springfield Park, Wigan

1904 • 2 min

Attending trotting matches - in which horses in harness race at specific gaits - was a popular Edwardian pastime.

Dog Factory

1904 • 4 min • United States of America

A brief vaudeville-style demonstration of a "Dog Transformator," a machine that instantly turns dogs into sausages, and amazingly, sausages back into dogs.

Revenge!

1904 • 4 min • United Kingdom

A mechanic avenges his wronged wife by strangling the guilty officer.

Drama in the Air

1904 • 5 min • France

A fairly venturesome piece of filmmaking for the era: Based on the Jules Verne story, the film utilizes a dozen cuts, irised lenses, panning shots and vivid tints to weave an intrepid and exciting story.

The Ex-Convict

1904 • 9 min • United States of America

A recently-released convict attempts to do right but struggles to support his wife and ailing daughter.

The Latest News

1904 • 1 min • United Kingdom

A man reads a newspaper whose moving letters form 'Bill Bailey has come home'.

Rector's to Claremont

1904 • 3 min • United States of America

When a group of diners boards a carriage, one man is left behind and chases after them on foot.

Ribe Cathedral Inauguration

1904 • 1 min

Scenes from Ribe Domkirkes.

Welding the Big Ring

1904 • 6 min • United States of America

A group of men weld one area of a large ring in a fire. They lift the ring, which is hanging horizontally on chains, out of the fire. Four men hammer the hot area on the ring into shape while the remaining men hold the ring. They put the ring into the fire again, take it out, and take it over to a machine which continuously hammers down on that area of the ring. The men then take it away from the machine and hammer it themselves into shape. The ring is presumably a piece of a generator.

Palestine - Documentary Programme

1904 • 15 min

Documentary clips from Palestine.

Parade of Characters (Asia in America) St. Louis Exposition

1904 • 2 min

A parade by denizens of one of the Oriental Concessions, The Pike, St. Louis.

Raid on a Coiner's Den

1904 • 5 min • United Kingdom

Police try to break up a gang that is manufacturing counterfeit coins.

The Kidnapped Child

1904 • 5 min • United Kingdom

As a mother enters a store, she leaves her child outside in a carriage. Another woman standing nearby quickly snatches the child out of the carriage. Soon afterwards, another mother is playing with two children in the park, and when she leaves one of them unattended, her child is also seized by the same woman. These are only two of a number of children that an unscrupulous couple has captured for their own purposes.

Fixing the Swing

1904 • 2 min

Filmed in south London, this slight comedy stars director Alf Collins as an exhausted father who bungles putting up a swing for his two small daughters.

Ball Passing Through a Soap Bubble

1904 • 1 min • France

Chronophotograph record of a ball falling through a soap bubble.

The Eviction

1904 • 3 min

Police officers try to evict a determined family from their home.

Salvation Army Parade in Indian Village No.2

1904 • 5 min • United Kingdom

Salvation Army General Commissioner Edward Higgins features in the this film of a brass band parade through a village.

Coil Winding Machines

1904 • 2 min • United States of America

Numerous women stand in rows at winding machines, taking material from large spools behind them. A male supervisor walks down the aisle, checking the work of the women.

Pity the Blind, No. 2

1904 • 1 min • United States of America

A small stage has a backdrop of a city street, sidewalks, a park, and buildings. From stage right, a boy leads a blind man onto the stage, helps him kneel with his hat and cane in front of him. The boy hands a sign, "pity the blind" around the man's neck and leaves. A fellow in a bowler hat passes by, dropping a coin in the blind man's hat. Then two well-dressed women enter, talking.

Battle of Chemulpo Bay

1904 • 3 min • United States of America

A historical re-enactment of a naval battle in Chemulpo Bay off the coast of Korea during the Russo-Japanese war. Shows a Japanese ship damaging one Russian vessel and sinking another.

Marcel Proust at Elaine Greffulhe's Wedding

1904 • 1 min • France

The only known film footage of Marcel Proust (identified by Canadian professor Jean-Pierre Sirois-Trahan around 100 years after the shooting of the film) shows the French writer at a wedding as he descends a staircase unaccompanied, speedily walking past the slower couples to his right. Armand de Gramont and Elaine Greffulhe married on 14 November 1904.