All Films

A Tram Crowd on Sunday in Dam Square

1899 • 1 min • Netherlands

A crowd swarms on Amsterdam’s Dam Square in front of the horse tram. In the background, we see the outline of Central Station.

Cuirassés de l'escadre italienne

1899 • 1 min • France

Panorama of the battleships "Sardegna" and "Sicilia" at the naval review of Cagliari.

The Island of Marken

1899 • 1 min • Netherlands

In September of 1899, the French cameraman Emile Lauste visited the Netherlands for the second time that year. [...] One of the subjects that Lauste briefly filmed was children on the island of Marken. We see the children passing by in a rowboat, and dancing in a circle. The traditional costumes and the watery environment looked very exotic to foreign audiences. The footage jibed very well with the perceptions that people had of the Netherlands in those days.

In Single File on the Mountain, l. Montée

1899 • 1 min • France

Orphanage Question

1899 • 1 min

A group of supervised orphan girls walking through the streets of Amsterdam. Shot on 68mm Mutoscope-Biograph.

The chariot and battle of confetti

1899 • 1 min • France

This view represents the passage of a decorated chariot; The many spectators fight with confetti.

Arrival of the Peace Conference at Haarlem, 4 June 1899

1899 • 1 min • Netherlands

Reportage about the visit that the delegates to the First Peace Conference at The Hague made to the floral parade in Haarlem. [...] Although the original goal – a treaty on disarmament – was not reached, other treaties were indeed agreed upon, for example a ban on the use of poison gas and the dropping of bombs from balloons. [...]The group, consisting of 175 guests, made a special train trip to Haarlem on June 4, where they visited the floral parade and the Frans Hals Museum.

Panoramic View of Frere Camp Taken from the Front of an Armoured Train

1899 • 1 min • United Kingdom

This rapid panorama isn't as smooth as the average 'Phantom Ride' - an early example of 'shaky-cam' war photography? Filmmaker WKL Dickson asked that the British public 'not too severely judge this picture,' demonstrating not only his awareness of the poorer quality of the image, but also his recognition of the importance of its content. The sequence is a military twist on the popular 'phantom ride' genre, captured from a moving train, and shows glimpses of the troops at rest. In sharp contrast to parade films this film shows soldiers and horses out of formation, providing insight into everyday life in camp.

Charlie Wanted the Earth

1899 • 1 min • United States of America

A couple are making love beneath the window of a cranky old gentleman. There is a handsome window garden above them filled with plants and flowers. The old gentleman throws out a rope upon the lovers to annoy them. They, not knowing what it is, seize it and pull the window garden down upon themselves.

Australian Cricket Tourists of 1899

1899 • 1 min • United Kingdom

Film produced by William K. Dickson’s British Mutoscope and Biograph Company.

Feeding Seagulls off the Irish Coast

1899 • 1 min • United Kingdom

Actuality footage.

Unloading the Brick Oven

1899 • 1 min • France

Judging Ladies' Saddle Horses

1899 • 1 min • United States of America

Well-known horse-women and their mounts riding before the judge's stand at the Open Air Horse Show, Manhattan Field, N.Y. City.

Panoramic View of Windsor Castle

1899 • 1 min • United Kingdom

Film by W.K.L. Dickson; Rounding a bend in the track, we behold Windsor Castle.

London Fire Brigade, Alarm

1899 • 1 min • United Kingdom

A London fire brigade springs into action.

Public Transport in Amsterdam

1899 • 1 min • United Kingdom

A scene in Amsterdam.

Troopship Nubia Leaving Harbour

1899 • 2 min

An actuality film of the P&O troopship Nubia departing Southampton for the Boer War in South Africa on 21st October 1899. War had been declared on the 11th October so this departure forms part of a number of chartered ships leaving from around Britain every day. According to the BFI programme notes, the Nubia docked at Cape Town on 13 Nov 1899, after sailing for 23 days. The soldiers onboard included the 1st Battaliion Scots Guards and 2nd Battalion Northamptonshire regiment. These soldiers first saw action 10 days after docking on 23rd November at the Battle of Belmont. This film was made and distributed by the Fuerst Brothers in London.

Festive visit of H. M. Queen Wilhelmina to Rotterdam

1899 • 1 min

A short clip of Wilhelmina and her mother Emma in a horse-drawn carriage, receiving flowers from the crowd.

The Dairymaid's Revenge

1899 • 1 min • United States of America

The milk of human unkindness flows in this 1899 revenge comedy from the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company, in which a put-upon dairymaid throws off the chains of patriarchal and class oppression—or rather wields them in righteous anger.

Scottish Troops Leave For South Africa

1899 • 1 min

An embarkation reportage film from the Boer War, a popular film subject at this time. Soldiers with bicycles appear in this parade. The British Army began using bicycles from the 1880s, to expand from horse transport for men. Supplying bicycles to the the army was considered a positive business move for companies as they began to experience a public decline in sales once bicycles were no longer a novelty and inferior copies began to be marketed. Films such as this would have been seen as having a wider importance.

Intérieur d'une imprimerie (tirage d'une épreuve)

1899 • 1 min • France

Within a printing (printing a test).

Sauts périlleux par deux

1899 • 1 min • France

An acrobatic act.

La Pelouse - Voitures et foules

1899 • 1 min

Carriages and crowds cross a grassy area.

Bathing Scenes from Skovshoved

1899 • 1 min • Denmark

Fun at the beach.