All Films

Quo Vadis?

1901 • 1 min • France

Certainly one of the greatest literary successes of our time. This work has been translated into every [sic] language and its sale has reached millions of copies. It is therefore an event, so to speak, which we cannot allow to escape us. To follow the book throughout would be pretentious and impossible of realization ; so we have taken out of it, and arranged in one film, those parts which are the most interesting. Pathé Catalogue U. K.

Impossible To Get a Plunge

1901 • 3 min • France

A man walks down to the water's edge, takes off his clothes and prepares to go for a swim.... only to find himself fully clothed. This happens again and again.

Jeffries Skipping the Rope

1901 • 1 min • United States of America

A splendid subject, showing the champion heavyweight of the world, exercising in his training headquarters. After showing his skill in side-stepping, and fancy steps while skipping the rope at a phenomenal speed, the champion's trainers peel off his sweater and give him a rubdown, during which the mighty muscles on the champion's chest and back are seen to perfection.

Danse basque

1901 • 1 min

Silent film

The Trick Cyclist

1901 • 2 min • United States of America

A comic short in which a tramp attempts to ride a bicycle, tumbling repeatedly before giving up in despair. A skilled rider then takes the stage, performing rope-jumping tricks while balanced on the wheel. Often attributed to British film pioneer R.W. Paul. Although Thomas Edison has sometimes been mistakenly named as director, he was never credited as director on any films.

The Fantastic Plunger

1901 • 2 min • France

A diver jumps into a body of water-- and then comes right back out! This film should not be confused with Segundo de Chomón's remake of the same name (Plongeur fantastique, 1905).

The Countryman and the Cinematograph

1901 • 1 min • United Kingdom

A satire on the way that audiences unaccustomed to the cinema didn't know how to react to the moving images on a screen - in this film, an unsophisticated (and stereotypical) country yokel is alternately baffled and terrified, in the latter case by the apparent approach of a steam train.

The Deonzo Brothers

1901 • 2 min • United Kingdom

The famous acrobats in the above title appear in a marvellous acrobatic act. There are three barrels arranged on the stage. The boys, blindfolded, stand on opposite sides of the stage, and jump from one barrel into the other until they both land in the same barrel at the same time. They then jump backwards onto the stage over the two barrels. One table is then mounted upon another and the center barrel is placed on top. The brothers still blindfolded jump one each into a barrel and from them to the first to the second table and from the second table into the barrel on top of the second table. They then jump backwards onto the stage. This is pronounced by show people to be the most marvellous acrobatic feat that has ever been introduced. (Edison Catalog)

Artistic Creation

1901 • 1 min • United Kingdom

An artist draws the head of a pretty girl, takes the drawing off the paper and places it on a small table, turning the image into the head of a real woman. He then continuous drawing the lady, one body part after the other.

Bluebeard

1901 • 10 min • France

A young woman becomes the eighth wife of the wealthy Bluebeard, whose first seven wives have died under mysterious circumstances.

Skating in Central Park

1900 • 1 min • United States of America

An interesting view of Central Park before there was a skyline of buildings. All along the length of the park on both sides and to the north, with the exception of the Dakota Apartments located at 72nd Street and Central Park West, It was virtually impossible to see anything other than sky above the trees. In the nineteenth century when people went to visit the park, they really were leaving the "city."

Les Escaliers du Pont de l'Alma

1900 • 1 min • France

Stairs from the Pont de l'Alma.

Bombardment of Taku Forts, by the Allied Fleets

1900 • 3 min • United States of America

The scenes opens by showing the battleships maneuvering for a position. They finally draw up in line of battle and commence firing on the shore batteries. Immense volume of smoke arise from the fleet and from the distance shore. Shots are seen to fall thickly among the vessels and immense bodies of water are thrown up by the explosion of mines.

Messrs Lumb and Co Leaving the Works, Huddersfield

1900 • 3 min • United Kingdom

Yet another factory gate exit film from Mitchell and Kenyon.

Searching Ruins on Broadway, Galveston, for Dead Bodies

1900 • 1 min • United States of America

This shows the heart of one of the tremendous drifts in the east end of Galveston. Hundreds of dead bodies are concealed in these immense masses, and at the time the picture was taken the odor given out could be detected for miles. The subject shows a gang of laborers clearing away the debris in the search for corpses, one of which was discovered while the picture was being taken. (Edison film catalog)

Beheading a Chinese Boxer

1900 • 1 min • United Kingdom

In China at the turn of the 20th century, there was a rebel group called the Society of the Harmonious Fist, otherwise known as Boxers. They attacked Westerners and any Chinese who associated with Westerners. In this short, a Chinese government executioner prepares to behead a captured Boxer rebel.

The Leiden Student Celebration

1900 • 2 min • Netherlands

Footage of a parade party in the Netherlands.

Reception of President Kruger at City Hall

1900 • 1 min • France

The president of South Africa (Transvaal) visits Paris.

Scene in Chinatown

1900 • 1 min • United States of America

his film was shot in an alley of San Francisco's Chinatown on Saturday, September 15, 1900, at midday. The topography of the site (sloping down to the far street), the width of the alley, the location of utility poles.

Clown and Police

1900 • 2 min

A Victorian vaudeville routine is given the big screen treatment with camera tricks galore.Three characters straight off the vaudeville stage - the mischievous tramp, the anarchic clown and the hapless bobby - duke it out here in a sketch involving an exploding gunpowder barrel. Plenty of camera tricks help the characters appear and disappear at just the right moments. Made by Hepworth & Co., this film was presumably a welcome relief to audiences tiring of bad news from the Boer War; Hepworth’s own catalogue for 1900 contained a great deal of footage from South Africa.

Vaulting Horse Display

1900 • 1 min

An astonishing display of synchronised gymnastics. The looping, synchronised vaults on display here are truly mesmerising - thanks both to the skill of the gymnasts and the shrewd positioning of the camera. Military and athletic displays were a popular subject for film from its earliest days, and this demonstration works as visual spectacle and study of movement.

Salvaging a Steamroller

1900 • 2 min

In the early days of films, most regional film showings happened at the fairground. The Travelling Cinematograph of Bioscope was a popular attraction, so it is no wonder that a camera was on hand to record this salvage operation. The film shows a Burrell's Showman's Road Locomotive - used for hauling fairground equipment from site to site - being rescued from a ditch. The sophistication of the shot sequencing suggests either a later filming date than 1900, or at the very least some fortuitous in-camera editing. As a record of an incident of life on the road for the early champions of film, it is invaluable.

Southampton High Street

1900 • 1 min

Southampton High Street, train view

Ma cousine

1900 • 3 min • France

Woman dances the polka.