All Films

Avenue de l'Opéra

1900 • 2 min • France

A shot of a busy street in Paris is shown in reverse.

The House That Jack Built

1900 • 1 min • United Kingdom

A cleverly conceived picture of a little boy and girl with building blocks. The little girl has erected a pretty structure, which the boy proceeds to demolish with pokes of his fingers. When the demolition of the house is completed, the film is shown in reverse, and the little building comes back to its original form in a most marvellous manner.

Overland Express Arriving at Helena, Mont.

1900 • 1 min • United States of America

It is train time. We look down the long platform, crowded with people, and see the famous N.P. Railway Overland Express approaching rapidly. In a moment the engine passes by, slowing down. Then comes one, two, three, four express cars, and behind them seven coaches and Pullmans. Passengers alight, baggage is unloaded, friends greet each other, station men rush here and there, the whole scene being one of great interest and activity.

At the Floral Ball

1900 • 2 min • France

A turn-of-the-last-century hand-tinted short, which features two women, Miss Lally and Miss Julyett, dancing at a ball. By the legendary French filmmaker Alice Guy.

Battle of Mafeking

1900 • 1 min • United States of America

Reenactment of a South African battle.

Panoramic View of Newport

1900 • 1 min • United States of America

Possibly the sensation of the flight of a bird can be nearest realized by being on deck of one of the U.S. Government's fleet torpedo boats racing at its highest speed through the water. This picture was taken under these conditions and shows the beautiful scenery comprising the harbor of Newport, R. I. In the foreground, the spray of the vessel and the foam on the water gives a fair idea of the rapidity at which this boat is moving.

Panoramic View from the Moving Sidewalk at the Paris Exposition

1900 • 2 min

Two silent films capture a panoramic view of the 'Rue de l'Avenir', an electric powered moving walkway displayed at the Exposition Universelle in Paris (1900).

Panorama of Place de l'Opéra

1900 • 1 min • United States of America

James White, the Edison Company's main filmmaker at the time, realized a burst of creativity during his visit to the 1900 Paris Exposition. It's uncertain who his cameraman was for this journey, but historian Charles Musser suggests that it might've been Alfred C. Abadie. In their Paris Exposition films, they introduced tilting (see 'Panorama of Eiffel Tower') and, although panning and panoramas had already been around for a while, they introduced some novel functions for them.

Paris exposition films

1900 • 7 min

White’s camera offers several 360-degree pans of views of the fairground, then amazes by tilting up and down the Eiffel Tower, and concludes with a stunning tracking shot to the highest point above Paris. Exhibitors freely grouped films into nascent narratives such as those displayed here. - Bruce Posner

Automated Hat-Maker and Sausage-Grinder

1900 • 1 min • France

A machine churns out sausages on one side and spits out hats on the other.

Scene in the Swiss Village at Paris Exposition

1900 • 2 min • United States of America

The picture opens with a crowd of Swiss boys and girls dressed in native costumes, marching down the street in this very unique and picturesque village. Each happy and smiling face is clearly shown as they pass the camera. The scene ends by the boys and girls congregating in the square and dancing to the strains of an accordion played by one of the happy villagers.

Swiss Village, No. 2

1900 • 2 min

The scene opens by showing the village girls driving home a herd of cows, and shows the native peasantry of Switzerland returning from their daily occupation watching the herds. After driving the cattle to their shelter, the boys and girls congregate in front of the old barn and go through a native dance, to the amusement of the spectators. These pictures are marvelously clear and distinct, showing every feature of the participants.

Exploding a Whitehead Torpedo

1900 • 1 min • United States of America

The title pretty much tells you all there is to know about this Edison film. It runs a very brief 27-seconds and shows a torpedo hitting its target and going off. I think the most fascinating thing about this is that we get a pretty close shot of the explosion and its aftermath. It was rather funny seeing this large explosion and especially seeing how long it took for everything that flew up in the air to land back down.

Panorama of Eiffel Tower

1900 • 1 min • United States of America

“Showing the entire height of this wonderful structure from the base of the dome and return, with the great Paris Exposition in the background, looking down Champs de Mars. A most realistic picture.” According to Edison film historian Charles Musser, this film features the first camera tilt among the company's surviving oeuvre.

Eiffel Tower from Trocadero Palace

1900 • 1 min • United States of America

The single camera position is from the top of a building identified as the Trocadero Palace; The camera is pointed toward the Eiffel Tower. The film shows only up to the first arch of the Eiffel Tower.

Panorama of the Paris Exposition, from the Seine

1900 • 6 min • United States of America

This panoramic scene is taken from a Seine steamboat and gives a rapid view of the banks of the river...

Panorama of the Moving Boardwalk

1900 • 2 min

An early short with a self-explanatory title.

Champs de Mars

1900 • 1 min • United States of America

Shows all the prominent buildings on this thoroughfare, ending with a close view of the base of the Eiffel Tower, with the Trocadero Palace in the background.

Why Jones Discharged His Clerks

1900 • 1 min • United States of America

Two delinquent clerks are seated in a broker's office engaged in a game of cards. The boss suddenly appears walking through the corridor. The cards are thrown down in great haste and when the employer enters the office the clerks are apparently busily engaged in their work.

Entry of the Scots' Guards into Bloemfontein

1900 • 1 min • United Kingdom

A Railway Collision

1900 • 1 min • United Kingdom

The scene is a railroad track on the side of a steep mountain, with a tunnel in the background, toward which a train is running at a high rate of speed. At this instant the audience is appalled at the sight of a second train rushing out of the tunnel. Both trains are on the same track and traveling toward each other at a high rate of speed. They collide. Cars and engines are smashed into fragments and thrown down the steep incline. (Edison Catalog)

The Landlady

1900 • 1 min • France

A landlady is taunted by neighborhood kids.

An Exciting Pillow Fight

1900 • 1 min • United Kingdom

The Cabbage-Patch Fairy

1900 • 1 min • France

The fairy at a cabbage patch hovers over the babies. This is a remake of Guy's 1896 film on the same subject, this time shot in 35 mm.