All Films

Trilby and Little Billee

1896 • 1 min • United States of America

Trilby lounges on a table with her shoes off, smoking, laughing, enjoying a piece of cake, and kissing her friend in a scene from the popular eponymous novel and stage play. Now lost, it is considered the first book-to-film adaptation.

Arrival of a Train at Perrache

1896 • 1 min • France

A trains arrives at Perrache station and people disembark.

Loading a Boiler

1896 • 1 min • France

A stationary camera placed amidships looks toward the round end of a 10- or 12-foot boiler that's been loaded onto the open deck. Three men climb down from atop the boiler and then remove their ladder. Four or five other workers tie the boiler down to the deck. Their pace is leisurely. In the background is a busy harbor.

Pistol Duel

1896 • 1 min • France, Mexico

Based on a real event that occurred between two deputies, in Chapultepec Park.

Berlin: Panoptikum

1896 • 1 min • France

A Berlin street scene.

Sortie de l’église

1896 • 1 min • France

Nimes, leaving the church.

Champs-Élysées

1896 • 1 min • France

Rip Van Winkle

1896 • 4 min • United States of America

An abridged version of the tale of Rip Van Winkle, a lazy American man, who wanders off one day with his dog Wolf into the Kaatskill mountains where he runs into an odd group of small men drinking and playing. He drinks some of their mysterious brew and passes out. When he wakes up under a tree he is astonished to find that 20 years have passed and things are a lot different.

Boules Game

1896 • 1 min • France

Dragoons Crossing the Sâone

1896 • 1 min • France

A stationary camera looks across Burgundy's river Sâone toward a small military encampment. Four horsemen enter the water in the foreground, each riding his horse as it swims across toward camp or leading it by the bridle as they swim

Children Playing Marbles

1896 • 1 min • France

Game of marbles between four or five boys.

Carousel

1896 • 1 min

An actuallity film of a fairground carousel in action. Filmmaker unknown but it has been suggested it is R.W. Paul. The film was made on Hampstead heath, London, UK.

Partie de boules

1896 • 1 min • France

Friends and relatives playing a game of boules, arguing about who's team is winning.

Poultry-Yard

1896 • 1 min • France

Two girls do one of their chores. Standing alongside a tree-lined farmhouse, two children who are about ten and four years old toss grain to a flock of about 50 domesticated ducks. A woman watches them briefly and then moves on. The older girl has her grain in a bucket, the younger one's grain is in her apron. The children stay in one spot, as does the camera; it's the ducks that move around. Chickens are in the background; only one braves the ducks' territory.

The Empress Dowager and the Grand Duchess Eugénie in a Carriage

1896 • 1 min • France

Shot in 1896 by a Lumière cameraman, this short actuality shows three horse-drawn carriages, escorted by liveried footmen and soldiers, arriving as part of the coronation festivities in Moscow. The passengers are identified as the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and Grand Duchess Eugénie. A brief but vivid glimpse of imperial pomp during the celebrations for Tsar Nicholas II’s coronation.

The Tramp and the Dog

1896 • 1 min • United States of America

A tramp steals a housewife's pie, and is pursued by her bulldog, which latches onto his rear as he scrambles over a fence.

Concert

1896 • 1 min • France

On the terrace of a villa, a violinist, two pianists and a singer are playing, until they are interrupted by a false note.

Lyon : sauvetage de lapins

1896 • 1 min • France

Lyon, Men rescue rabbits from flood.

Bicyclist

1896 • 1 min • France

Francis Doublier does bicycle tricks in the street.

Pêcheurs raccommodant les filets

1896 • 1 min • France

Fishermen, sitting by a boat, are mending nets.

Humorous Rollerskater

1896 • 1 min • France

A roller skater performs a series of eccentric exercises.

Scène de rêve

1896 • 1 min • France

Two unidentified actresses on stage; one of them plays a male character dressed in a 16th-century costume, who is delighted by the dance of a ballerina.

A Victorian Lady in Her Boudoir

1896 • 1 min • United Kingdom

A young woman takes off several layers of clothing.

Dresden, August-Brücke

1896 • 1 min • France, Germany

A short film from the Lumière brothers, filmed in a Dresden street.