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- DirectorAlexandre PromioWalking four abreast, in groups of six rows, 144 of Chicago's finest parade past a stationary camera. Each of the six groups that pass is escorted by an officer. All are men, all are white, all look tall, all wear identical high-buttoned uniforms and badges and carry a nightstick. Almost all sport mustaches. Behind the police comes a horse-drawn carriage.
- DirectorLouis LumièrePeople start a snowball fight on a street in Lyons, France.
- DirectorJames H. WhiteIn the Chicago stockyards, the gates of a pen of long-horn cattle are open and the cattle are being herded out by several cowhands, at least two of whom have poles to keep the steers moving in the right direction. The cattle come toward the stationary camera, which is mounted above their path. They proceed under, toward a destination we do not see. There are probably 50 head in the lot. When the last has left, a solitary cowhand surveys the empty pen. Over the fence behind him stand two other cowboys.
- DirectorGeorge Albert SmithStarsLaura BayleyTom GreenA man and woman are flirting when a professor turns on an X-ray machine, revealing their insides. After turning it off again the two have a dispute and break up.
- DirectorWilliam HeiseA commercial. Four men sit in animated conversation in front of a billboard for Admiral Cigarettes. The billboard fills the entire background. Beside them is a large box, also marked Admiral. The men are a social cross section: one wears a feathered headdress, another a military outfit, a third striped pants like Uncle Sam, and the fourth (with pork-chop whiskers) is in a suit, vest, tie, and hat. Suddenly, the box pops open and a man emerges in Napoleonic admiralty garb: he hands out cigarettes, then tosses dozens of them on the ground as the men light up and unfurl a banner saying, "We all smoke." Smiling, everyone points to the billboard.
- Dancer in a skeleton costume.
- DirectorGeorge Albert SmithA King (played by Georges Méliès) shows up at his new castle where he is haunted.
- DirectorLouis LumièreStarsFrançois ClercBenoît DuvalAn impudent child plays a prank on a gardener innocently watering his plants.
- DirectorJames H. White"A number of young ladies, in their night robes, are having a frolic, and are interrupted by a teacher. One girl makes herself *very* conspicuous by crawling under a bed."
- DirectorJames H. WhiteStarsThomas A. Edison"This film is remarkable in several respects. In the first place, it is full life-size. Secondly, it is the only accurate recent portrait of the great inventor. The scene is an actual one, showing Mr. Edison in working dress engaged in an interesting chemical experiment in his great Laboratory. There is sufficient movement to lead the spectator through the several processes of mixing, pouring, testing, etc. as if he were side by side with the principal. The lights and shadows are vivid, and the apparatus and other accessories complete a startling picture that will appeal to every beholder."
- DirectorAuguste LumièreAlexandre PromioA train is leaving a railway station at the outskirts of Jerusalem. From the very end of the train a barren, rocky landscape is seen, and some ruins of very old buildings,. Five men walk along the track, tipping their hats when the train departs. When it approaches the station building more people are seen, people of different ethnicity and religion. Some men wear fezzes on their heads and canes in their hands. A Franciscan monk comes walking in the middle of a mixed group of people. The platform outside the station is crowded with people waiting for the next train. Among them is a man with a sword at his side. The big windows of the station are covered with shutters. After the station the train passes a long fence, enclosing a lumberyard.
- DirectorEnoch J. RectorStarsJames J. CorbettBob FitzsimmonsBilly MaddenDocumentary film depicting the 1897 boxing match between James J. Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons in Carson City, Nevada on St. Patrick's Day. Originally running for more than 100 minutes, it is the world's first feature film.
- DirectorIgnacio Aguirre
- DirectorOskar Messter
- DirectorPaul Menu
- DirectorCharles Goodwin Norton
- DirectorPeter Elfelt
- DirectorFructuós GelabertShort documentary where people come out of a church in Barcelona.
- DirectorJames Williamson
- DirectorLouis LumièreStarsLoie FullerAngelic and demonic serpentine dances from dawn of cinema by the Lumière Brothers film, called the Serpentine Dance. The dancer is Loie Fuller; the pioneer modern dancer. Recorded in 1896 in Paris, and hand-colored frame by frame.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsA man dressed in red is ushered into an antechamber in a Castle and offered a seat. When he tried to sit down the chair moves to the other side of the room causing the man to fall on the floor. Standing up he strides to the chair but on trying to lift it a Spector materializes in the chair, arises and challenges the man. The man pulls out his sword and lunges at the Spector but it changes into a skeleton. Seeing the change the man tried to grab the skeleton but it changes into an armor clad guard. The man attempts to move the guard but a devil appears and waves the man away. The man recoils from the devil and tries to leave but the Spector reappears. Both it and the devil frighten the man from the antechamber.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsJeanne BradyJehanne d'AlcyThe first film to ever show a nudity scene on screen is a simple presentation of a servant preparing a bath for another woman.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsAt a solitary cheap inn, a distant traveller overcome with fatigue has a close encounter with the supernatural.
- "This is the first of a very pretty series of Christmas pictures for the children. The setting-room of an old-fashioned country home is shown. In the background is a huge fire-place. The children attired in their nighties come in with their mother, and each in turn hangs up a little stocking, trooping away afterward to bed."
- DirectorFrederick S. Armitage"Amusing cake walk of three men and two women (colored) in costume, showing the usual antics that occur in affairs of this kind."
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsMisidentified as The Mysterious Retort (1906), sadly, this film is currently presumed lost; however, according to Wikipedia, an anthropomorphous star with five female heads and a giant face has people coming out of its mouth.
- DirectorGeorges HatotThe Duke of Guise is worried about the king's evil intentions. A lady warns the duke, considering it appropriate that he should not go to the council. The king summons him and the guards stab him.
- DirectorAuguste LumièreLouis LumièreWomen washing their clothes by the river.
- DirectorEduardo JimenoShort documentary where people come out of a church in Zaragoza.
- A hotel porter decides to spy on what his guests are doing in their rooms. But as all Peeping Toms are caught eventually, this one gets what he deserves. And it served him right.
- DirectorFructuós GelabertStarsJosé AmigoAntonio FinoFructuós GelabertReconstructed by the director in 1952 from a 1897 version, this short film shows Gelabert sitting down at a bar terrace, playing with a walking stick. Several men are sitting down too. A girl passes along and exchanges glances with one of them. Immediately another man who reproaches his behavior appears; they start shoving themselves and there's a fight attempt, but the rest of the friends manage to separate them and everything ends with a handshake.
- DirectorGeorge Albert SmithIn front of a flour mill, two men fight. One is the miller, and he's swinging a bag of flour in the scuffle. The other is a chimney sweep, and he's swinging what may be a bag of flour, but when it breaks open, it's clearly something else. Well into the havoc, spectators gather and give chase to the flour-covered sweep and the "well-sooted" miller.
- DirectorPeter ElfeltStarsJohan Carl JoensenFischerA Danish factor ("colony manager") in Greenland drives a sledge with the help of some Greenlandic sledge dogs in Fælledparken in Copenhagen as an illustration of his life in Greenland in this first film ever shot in Denmark (by Peter Elfelt).
- DirectorGabriel VeyreJapanese are filmed practicing kendo, the art of fencing with wooden samurai swords.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsUnder bombardment, five sailors load and fire a cannon on a naval ship, as their captain supervises.
- DirectorWilliam Heise"A comic subject, clear, bright and characteristic. Shows four girls in their night dresses, engaged in an animated pillow fight. During the action the pillows become torn, and the feathers fly over their heads and about the room in great numbers, producing with the white dresses and the black background a novel effect. Sharp, full of action, and popular in character."
- DirectorAlice GuyThe Magnetizer uses his powers to change the costumes of the three other players.
- DirectorRobert W. Paul
- DirectorLeopoldo FregoliStarsLeopoldo FregoliA card game over drinks with three men, including Antoine Lumiere and Felicien Trewey.
- DirectorJ. Stuart Blackton
- DirectorAlexandre PromioA stationary camera looks west across Niagara Falls from the United States' side (the Niagara River rushes toward the falls from right to left). Virtually overlooking the falls and surrounded by the swift current not far from the camera is a small island where six or eight tourists watch the water, talk, and move about.
- DirectorFélix MesguichSoldiers carrying guns, soldiers carrying swords, and a military band parade in front of decorated stands.
- DirectorAuguste Lumière
- DirectorAuguste LumièreLouis Lumière
- DirectorAuguste LumièreLouis LumièreAlexandre PromioBelfast Fire Brigade in action, the horse-drawn pumps rush out of the fire station.
- DirectorGeorges Hatot
- StarsDolorita"Musicians are seated, playing, while the graceful Dolorita dances. It is the Danse-du-Ventre, the famous Oriental muscle dance."
- DirectorGeorges MélièsAn incident of the Franco-Prussian War. It shows the bombardment of a house at Bazeille. It is the animated reproduction of de Neuville's celebrated painting.
- DirectorJames H. WhiteStarsAnnabelle MooreAnnabelle Whitford performs the Serpentine Dance in this brief hand-tinted film.
- DirectorJames H. White"The hen house occupies the entire left foreground of the picture, running back to the nearby road. The main foreground is filled with tall grass swept by the wind, the naturalness of which effect is remarkable. A thief appears 'round the corner, carrying a tattered sack. He suspiciously approaches the window, from which two fowl are handed to him by a black confederat, who himself suddenly appears at the window, falling out head first but clinging tenaciously to a fluttering white bird. Both [of them] start to run when the farmer and his hand appear in the foreground, one with a scythe and the other with a gun. Just as the marauders disappear 'round the corner, the farmer, back to, but still shown at life-size in the picture, aims and fires twice. The smoke effect from the gun at this close range is startling and beautiful, and the entire picture is one of the best composed and most ingenious we have made."
- DirectorAlice Guy
- DirectorLouis LumièreStarsÉdouard LumièreLouise WillyA black and white short film of children having a water fight.
- DirectorGeorges Méliès"The picture shows the Devil working at a fire. Two cavaliers appear, and the Devil takes the form of a seer, old, bent and wrinkled. Then he disappears in a cloud of smoke, to reappear shortly as a ghost, whose head comes off and floats around the room. Suddenly the table gets up of itself, and flies up the chimney. All sorts of wonderful things happen. A cannon takes the place occupied by the table, and belches forth flame and smoke. A large cage appears mysteriously in the center of the room, through the bars of which the Devil passes as if it were an open door. By his magic, he makes the cavalier pass through the bars in the same wonderful fashion. Everything is so weird and fantastic, that such a small trifle as a man turning into a donkey excites but passing notice."
- DirectorAlice GuyAlice Guy's brief THE BURGLARS takes a classic cops-and-robbers set-up and places it upon the roofs of Paris circa late-1800s (albeit a Méliès-like set that approximates the city skyline). Second-story men have considerable difficulties once the French police get involved!
- DirectorJames H. WhiteShows the vessel after she has been fully turned and on her way across the Pacific. The boat shows large and clear with smoke coming from the stack. In the foreground is a constantly changing crowd of people composed of men, women and children. Action is added by some late comers who rush to the dock to wave their last farewell. Life-size, sharp and clear.
- DirectorJames H. WhiteOne of the sights of San Francisco. A 50-foot slide is used by the bathers, who toboggan down its slippery surface in all positions. The bathers are clad in black trunks, making fine contrast with the flesh tints.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsA magician makes a woman sitting on a covered chair disappear and appear again.
- DirectorAlice Guy
- DirectorGeorge Albert SmithFour cooks make sausages from cats, dogs, ducks and old boots.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsA woman's home is forcibly invaded by robbers, and a clumsy law enforcement officer tries to detain the thieves.
- DirectorGeorge Albert SmithStarsTom GreenAn 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.
- DirectorWilliam Heise
- DirectorGeorges HatotCharlotte Corday murders Marat while he is bathing.
- DirectorGeorges HatotAlexandre Promio
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges Méliès
- DirectorWilliam Heise"Scene in a stable, where a crowd of horsemen, jockeys and stable hands are watching a little [colored] boy dance on a table."
- DirectorGeorges Méliès
- DirectorLouis Lumière
- DirectorBoleslaw Matuszewski
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges Méliès
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsJoseph GrapinetGeorges MélièsGeorgette MélièsUsing the same rocking effect previously employed in "Combat naval en Grèce (1897)", the director Georges Méliès recreates the illusion of a small ship in a tempest.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsIn one of his numerous reconstructed newsreels, the indefatigable French director, Georges Méliès, reenacts a fictional scene taking place in a fort at Tyrnavos during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897.
- A lady who is reading is walking with her young son past a couple of soldiers and the soldiers decide to play a prank on the lady.
- A horse team is pulling a truck.
- A line of giddy, possibly drunk men, dressed in Scottish highland outfits, perform a disorderly dance routine in front of a sign advertising the product of the title. This film is often described as the first filmed advertisement.
- DirectorLouis LumièreA short documentary with a fixed camera filming traffic on a street in Lyon.
- StarsMadeleine KoehlerMarcel KoehlerSuzanne LumièreA black and white short from the Lumière brothers documenting their children having lunch.
- DirectorAlice GuyIt could be said that the essence of comedy is the misfortune of others. Among other things, of course. In THE FISHERMAN AT THE STREAM, our fisherman is set upon by a band of swimmers (for the sake of humor). Where there is water, someone should be thrown in. When attacked, fight back!
- DirectorJames H. White"The famous parade ground of Metropolitan fashion. Exquisitely gowned women, club men, actresses, millionaires pass by on their afternoon stroll." - from the Edison Catalog
- A short black and white film which captures children jumping off a floating raft and playing in the water.
- DirectorAlice GuySome boys and a dog play in a stream.
- DirectorAlexandre PromioA black in white short in which a man applies a movie poster to the side of a building wall.
- A short film which documents a team of horses pulling a large circular structure.
- DirectorAlexandre PromioA short black and white film which depicts passengers descending the Brooklyn Bridge.
- DirectorJames H. White"Shows a life boat coming through the breakers. The surf is high and the stout boat is tossed about like a cork."
- DirectorJames H. WhiteIn Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, normal routines are resuming after a snowstorm. Along a city street, pedestrians watch as a vehicle passes by. But then they see something unexpected, as two sleigh drivers have decided to have a little fun on the snowy street.
- DirectorLouis LumièreTwo men are sitting at a card table in the middle of a garden, drinking and playing cards, while the household gardener is in the background watering the garden with a hose. The two men begin to argue about the card game, leading to a physical altercation. Another man enters the picture, he figuring the best way to stop the fight is for the gardener to turn the hose onto them.
- A short film documenting the marriage procession with a bride and her father.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsCrissie SheridanA serpentine dance being performed by the dancer whose name is the main title of the film.
- A short film which documents activities on a street in Paris.
- DirectorJames H. White"[By the Leander Sisters.] The dress of one consists of a pair of wings and a bow and arrow; the other represents a fairy. Bathers in all stages of dress and undress watch the graceful dance."
- Alpine shooters perform various boxing exercises.
- The film documents the public works during the construction of this hydro-electric canal on the Rhône river in France, namely the use of a steam-roller.
- DirectorJames H. WhiteThe title tells us where we are; the vignette is in two parts, spliced together. On a busy sidewalk, a police officer holds the left arm and a suited man holds the other of a Chinese wearing a loose white shirt and hat - marching the man up the slight incline past the camera. He protests a bit. Behind them trail a dozen people and about 10 more onlookers watch. Jump to shot two: from the side, we see an open paddy wagon, the arrested man sits with his back to us, the two who arrested him sit across. Two horses pull the wagon in a turn and it heads up the street, with two more men riding on the back running board: one is in uniform, the other waves his hat and smiles to the camera.
- DirectorLouis LumièreA short film which documents the water and board walk from a camera located on a ship.
- DirectorGeorges HatotA short film documenting passengers leaving a ship.