All Films

24th Mountain Infantry: Boxing Lesson

1897 • 1 min • France

Bataille de femmes interrompue par un chien

1897 • 1 min • France

A Bowery Cafe

1897 • 1 min • United States of America

This is a Bowery barroom. A tough girl comes in for a pail of beer. While the bartender is serving her, a loafer steals the free lunch and puts it in his hat. The girl goes out and the loafer orders a drink; but not having the money to pay for it, he gets instead the contents of a siphon bottle squirted in his face.

Les Parisiennes

1897 • 1 min • United States of America

"A fascinating, up-to-date dancing diversion by four pretty girls in stunning costumes."

Transport of a Turret by a Team of 60 Horses

1897 • 1 min • France

A very heavy turret is transported on a truck drawn by a long line of horses. The inscription “Charlemagne 53790K” readable on the turret suggests that this view was shot in the vicinity of Saint-Chamond, a town where there are factories specializing in the construction of heavy steel. It is certainly a turret intended for the battleship “Charlemagne”. In addition, a view projected by the Aléthorama on January 20, 1898 in Saint-Étienne, and entitled “Transportation of the armored turret of Saint-Chamond by a team of 80 horses”, could represent the same event.

Via Roma

1897 • 1 min

The Children's Seaside Frolic

1897 • 1 min • France

Children enjoying the seaside.

Weary Willie

1897 • 1 min • United Kingdom

Comic hijinks with a malodorous tramp

Serpentine Dance: Loïe Fuller

1897 • 1 min

Loïe Fuller performs a serpentine dance.

Mauvaises herbes

1897 • 1 min • France

In a field, three women are using pitchforks in order to feed a small fire with weeds.

Panorama des quais de la Saône à Lyon pris d'un bateau

1897 • 1 min

Short from (1897)

At the Top of Brooklyn Bridge

1897 • 1 min • United States of America

Panorama from the Tower of the Brooklyn Bridge, 1897.

Victor Hugo et les principaux personnages des 'Misérables'

1897 • 1 min • France

A man puts on several different faces.

Baigneurs et plongeurs

1897 • 1 min • France

It's a public pool, where some men stand by the pool, some dive into it, and other simply enjoy being being in the water.

Queen Victoria's Carriage

1897 • 1 min

Brief actuality footage showing Queen Victoria's open landau, bearing the Princess of Wales and Princess Christian. The location and filmmaker remain unidentified.

A Bicycle Trip Through Europe

1897 • 1 min

Peeping Tom

1897 • 2 min • United States of America

A man peeping through a keyhole at an attractive young woman gets his comeuppance. This film, presumed lost, is often mistaken for Ferdinand Zecca's "What Is Seen Through a Keyhole" (1901).

Garde républicaine à cheval

1897 • 1 min • France

The troops ride their horses from the right edge of the frame to the left edge of the frame. It's among the simplest of actualities, since the framing is so square and central that it seems a simple statement of fact.

Métamorphoses d'un magicien

1897 • 1 min • France

A magician's trick.

Brandvæsenet rykker ud

1897 • 1 min • Denmark

At first this looks like another of those innumerable fire brigade movies of the era in which you saw the horses charging pellmell out of the firehouse, pulling the firemen and the equipment. Usually they would be on wheels, occasionally on sleigh runner, but always the same: fire departments from Buffalo, New York, Chicago and probably Omsk and Tomsk. This one is different: you see not only the fire brigade heading out for the fire, you see the site of the fire itself.

Exit of the Twelve O'clock Mass of the Pillar of Saragossa

1897 • 1 min • Spain

Short recording of several parishioners leaving the city's basilica. It is considered the first Spanish film in history.

Défilé de l'artillerie du district de Columbia

1897 • 1 min • France

Two teams of artillery carriages, parading side by side past the grandstand during the inauguration ceremony of President McKinley in Washington DC.

Place de la Concorde (Obelisk and Fountains)

1897 • 1 min • France

Comic Face

1897 • 1 min

An old man gets progressively livelier - and drunker - as he downs his bottle of beer. Finally, he cocks a snook - and doesn't bother to uncock it as he continues to drink.