All Films

Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid

1903 • 2 min • France

A boy is led into the frame by two nursemaids who give him a big ball to play with. For the remainder of the film heads appear and disappear, stage props blow up and turn into other objects or people, and finally Bob Kick disappears.

Pres. Roosevelt's Fourth of July Oration

1903 • 3 min • United States of America

The best and most characteristic picture of the President ever made. The camera is close by so that every feature shows out sharp and distinct. The President is first seen coming on the stand laughing and shaking hands with friends and being wildly cheered by everybody. Then comes the speech. The President is very enthusiastic and is shown at his best. All his well known mannerisms are very apparent. The picture ends with a view of the departure of the President with Mrs. Roosevelt in a carriage. Before the carriage starts the President is held up and interviewed by reporters.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

1903 • 1 min

A study in moods. A handsome girl is plucking the petals of a daisy, and repeating the well-known doggerel. The first daisy tells her that her lover loves her not, but she determines to try again, and the second flower is more favorable, much to her delight. Figure very large.

The Oracle of Delphi

1903 • 2 min • France

A box of valued jewels is placed inside the tomb of Delphi. A thief breaks into the tomb and steals it, but soon the ghost of Delphi appears and puts a curse on him.

Jupiter's Thunderballs

1903 • 3 min • France

With godly entrapments, Zeus appears on the horizon, engages Hermes as an audience, and tries to throw some thunderbolts. They fizzle. Hephaestus tries to make some repairs but succeeds only in heating the bolts and burning Zeus's hands. Zeus conjures nine muses, but do their incantations help? He dismisses them as well as a visiting Pan, and his fits of pique become counter-productive. Can he get his powers back?

A Moonlight Serenade

1903 • 3 min • France

Pierrot goes to the house of his love to serenade her, but her father kicks him out. Soon the moon and its goddess Diana come towards the man and offers him something better.

Misfortune Never Comes Alone

1903 • 3 min • France

The scene takes place in front of a barrack, where a young soldier is on duty --most laughable and comical

Indian Scene of Procession

1903 • 3 min • France, United Kingdom

Stately scenes in India, likely filmed during the 1903 Delhi Durbar.

Jack Jags and Dum Dum

1903 • 2 min • France

Two comic characters, Jack Jags and Dum Dum, perform slapstick comedy on stage.

The Mysterious Box

1903 • 2 min • France

As scene as pleasing as incomprehensible. A juggler summons two chairs, which come to the stage jumping and twirling around. Across the back of these chairs the operator places a sheet of glass on which he lays a box about four inches high. He then takes a table cover, with his servant's help, rolls it up and from the centre emerges a lady, beautifully dressed. At the juggler's order she jumps in the box, in which she completely disappears.

A Spiritualist Photographer

1903 • 2 min • France

A magician transforms a woman into a portrait of herself, then restores her to life.

Comical Conjuring

1903 • 2 min • France

In a room filled with jugglers' properties of enormous size a prestidigitateur dressed in eccentric costume enters with his assistant. The servant, believing that he would be comfortable in an armchair, sits down in it, but finds that it conceals a bucket of water, in which he falls. The juggler brings a large empty cask and puts it upon a table and fills it up with several pails of water.

The Terrible Turkish Executioner

1903 • 2 min • France

In a public place in Constantinople at the corner of a bazaar, the executioner is seated upon a stone and is resting from his daily labors while eating a crust of bread. Suddenly there come running into the place a lot of Turkish men and women preceding some Turkish policemen, who drag along four prisoners in chains. The policemen shut up the four prisoners in the pillory. Their four heads stick up through the huge plank, which is provided with four openings. One of the policemen urges the executioner to decapitate the prisoners. He accordingly seizes a mighty sabre and cuts off by a single stroke the four heads, which roll upon the ground.

The Infernal Cauldron

1903 • 2 min • France

A green-skinned demon places a woman and two courtiers into a flaming cauldron.

Cervino 1901

1903 • 12 min • United Kingdom

On september 28th, 1903, the Urban Mountaineering Expedition, headed by Frank Ormiston-Smith, left Zermatt to attempt the conquest of the Matterhorn. On the 29th, the conquest was completed by the filming of the panorama from the actual summit of the mountain. The film consists of 20 scenes and illustrates the whole ascent from Zermatt through the Hornli Ridge. A copy of the film was found in Zermatt in 1953 and was was erroneously attributed to Frederick Burlingham and dated 1901. Since then, the film has been widely publicized as the first mountain film under the title of 'Cervino 1901', but this is incorrect.

Apparitions

1903 • 2 min • France

Alone in his room at an inn, a lustful old man is haunted by spirits.

The Witch's Revenge

1903 • 3 min • France

Two guards bring a sorcerer into the hall of a palace of the time of the Middle Ages. The king who follows them orders the sorcerer to be chained and to be condemned to death for his practice of witchcraft. He begs the king to permit him just one hour of liberty, assuring the king that he will create, thanks to his power, a charming woman, worthy of becoming the king's consort. The king, after a moment of hesitation, agrees.

Départ de la place du Gouvernement à Alger

1903 • 1 min • France

Algiers, place du Gouvernement (now place des Martyrs): panorama of a square and its traffic (seen from a tramway)

The Monster

1903 • 3 min • France

An Egyptian prince has lost his beloved wife and he has sought a dervish who dwells at the base of the sphinx.

Extraordinary Illusions

1903 • 2 min • France

Pioneer filmmaker Georges Méliès performs his cine-magic act.

Épopée napoléonienne - Napoléon Bonaparte

1903 • 14 min • France

At school in Brienne. On the bridge of Arcole. The campaign in Egypt. Passage of the St. Bernard Pass. Garden party in Malmaison.

Electrocuting an Elephant

1903 • 1 min • United States of America

This is a film taken of the execution of Topsy, an elephant employed to help build Luna Park on Coney Island.

Skyscrapers of New York City, from the North River

1903 • 3 min • United States of America

A beautiful panoramic view of lower New York from Barclay Street to Battery Park, showing a beautiful stereoscopic effect of the sky-scrapers in the business section of the city.

Alcofribas, The Master Magician

1903 • 4 min • France

Two men in a cave perform magic.