1891-1899
MEN BOXING | 1891 WILLIAM K.L. DICKSON, WILLIAM HEISE
PAUVRE PIERROT | 1892 ÉMILE REYNAUD
EDISON KINETOSCOPIC RECORD OF A SNEEZE | 1894 WILLIAM K.L. DICKSON
ANNABELLE BUTTERFLY DANCE | 1894 WILLIAM K.L. DICKSON
BABY'S DINNER | 1895 LOUIS LUMIÈRE
ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN AT LA CIOTAT | 1896 AUGUSTE LUMIÈRE, LOUIS LUMIÈRE
THE KISS | 1896 WILLIAM HEISE
THE CORBETT-FITZSIMMONS FIGHT | 1897 ENOCH J. RECTOR
FOOTBALL | 1897 ALEXANDRE PROMIO
SERPENTINE DANCE: LOÏE FULLER | 1897 GEORGES DEMENŸ
LA VIE ET LA PASSION DE JÉSUS-CHRIST |1898 GEORGES HATOT, LOUIS LUMIÈRE
THE DREYFUS AFFAIR |1899 GEORGES MÉLIÈS
1900
A NYMPH OF THE WAVES | 1900 FREDERICK S. ARMITAGE (VIDEO ABOVE)
THE KISS | 1900 EDWIN S. PORTER
AT THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S | 1900 ALICE GUY
CYRANO DE BERGERAC | 1900 CLÉMENT MAURICE
DEMOLISHING AND BUILDING UP THE STAR THEATRE | 1901 FREDERICK S. ARMITAGE
ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES | 1902 FERDINAND ZECCA
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK | 1902 GEORGE S. FLEMING, EDWIN S. PORTER
THE LITTLE MATCH SELLER | 1902 JAMES WILLIAMSON
THE LIFE AND PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST | 1903 LUCIEN NONGUET, FERDINAND ZECCA
DECAPITATION IN TURKEY | 1904 GEORGES MÉLIÈS
In a public place in Constantinople at the corner of a bazaar, the executioner is seated upon a stone and is resting from his daily labors while eating a crust of bread. Suddenly there come running into the place a lot of Turkish men and women preceding some Turkish policemen, who drag along four prisoners in chains. The policemen shut up the four prisoners in the pillory. Their four heads stick up through the huge plank, which is provided with four openings. One of the policemen urges the executioner to decapitate the prisoners. He accordingly seizes a mighty sabre and cuts off by a single stroke the four heads, which roll upon the ground. After having placed the heads in a cask, he resumes eating his meal. Immediately the four heads pop out of the cask one at a time to see what the executioner is doing, and in due order each one seeks its body. The four executed prisoners thus reunited throw themselves upon the headsman and in spite of his resistance one of them picks up the sabre lying upon the ground and cuts his body into two pieces. The four prisoners take flight. The two legs and lower part of the body run frantically, while the bust upon the ground calls to them with gestures of despair. Finally, when the legs, in their flight, come close to the bust, it seizes them and thus the pieces of the executioner are united. Then he calls the policemen, who, followed by the crowd, enter into the pursuit of the escaping men. FROM THE LUBIN CATALOG
RESCUED BY ROVER | 1905 LEWIN FITZHAMON, CECIL M. HEPWORTH
Rescued by Rover is a 1905 British short silent drama film, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon, about a dog who leads its master to his kidnapped baby, which was the first to feature the Hepworth's family dog Blair in a starring role; following the release, the dog became a household name and he is considered to be the first dog film star. The film, which according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "marks a key stage in the medium's development from an amusing novelty to the seventh art," and, "possibly the only point in film history when British cinema unquestionably led the world," was an advance in filming techniques, editing, production and story telling.
Four hundred prints were sold, so many that the negatives wore out twice, requiring the film to be re-shot each time. Two professional actors were paid to appear, and the film is cited as the first film to have used paid actors. The style of shooting and editing would bridge the gap between the styles of directors Edwin Stanton Porter and D. W. Griffith, and prints have been preserved in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
THE STORY OF THE KELLY GANG | 1906 CHARLES TAIT
The Story of the Kelly Gang is an Australian bushranger film that traces the exploits of 19th-century bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly and his gang. It was shot in and around the city of Melbourne. The original cut of this silent film ran for more than an hour with a reel length of about 1,200 metres (4,000 ft), making it the longest narrative film yet seen in the world.
JAPANESE BUTTERFLIES | 1908 SEGUNDO DE CHOMÓN
THE ELECTRIC HOTEL | 1908 SEGUNDO DE CHOMÓN
LEGEND OF A GHOST |1908 SEGUNDO DE CHOMÓN
THE FROG | 1908 SEGUNDO DE CHOMÓN
THE FROG is one of de Chomón’s most well-known films, and for good reason. The image of a little frog prancing around a larger version of itself on a rotating pedestal against a black background (the frog is stencil colored as well) is striking. And when other beings pop up on the pedestal, the scene becomes no less bizarre. THE FROG is such a simple film to place so highly, but it perfectly encapsulates de Chomón’s artistic sensibilities and does so almost more strongly than potential competitors with its “school play” frog costume. SOURCE
THE HAUNTED HOUSE | 1908 SEGUNDO DE CHOMÓN
THE HAUNTED HOUSE is a comic, spooky forerunner of the, well…haunted house genre. With effective stop motion and hilariously out-of-this-world make up, de Chomón created a landmark late era trick film. And don’t forget the crafted, miniature world of the introduction, complete with creepy trees and a haunted face on the house.
EXCURSION TO THE MOON | 1908 SEGUNDO DE CHOMÓN
This famous rip-off of Méliès’ A TRIP TO THE MOON sure does “adapt” the film almost shot for shot. De Chomón, likely more by necessity than artistic design, made a more restrained movie, and I mean literally, with a much shorter run time and smaller set pieces. But in his own way, he imparts a different kind of style and stenciled color; his interpretation of the man in the moon, especially, stands out.
HIS FIRST CIGAR | 1908 LOUIS J. GASNIER
The film is quite sophisticated for it's time with a relatively large number of scene changes as we follow Max Linder's misadventures. It also features a close-up shot to show his reactions to the effects of the cigar he is smoking.
THE TEMPEST | 1908 PERCY STOW
British-made silent film directed by film pioneer Percy Stow who specialized in trick photography. The film was made by the Clarendon Film Company founded by Stow and Henry Vassal Lawley. It was written by Langford Reed and was the second screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tempest that can be said to be the first cinematic version designed specifically for film and in its 12 minute length manages to convey some of the magic of Shakespeare's play.
1909
PRINCESS NICOTINE | 1909 J. STUART BLACKTON
The first instance of tobacco product placement (for Sweet Corporal cigarettes and cigars) in the movies.
THE DEVILISH TENANT | 1909 GEORGES MÉLIÈS
THE LONELY VILLA | 1909 D. W. GRIFFITH
A CORNER IN WHEAT | 1909 | D. W. GRIFFITH
NERO. OR THE FALL OF ROME | 1909 LUIGI MAGGI, ARTURO AMBROSIO
Epic film based on the eponymous 1872 drama by Pietro Cossa. This is one of the oldest surviving Italian epic films about Ancient Rome.
MOSCOW CLAD IN SNOW | 1909 JOSEPH-LOUIS MUNDWILLER
1910
FRANKENSTEIN | 1910 J. SEARLE DAWLEY
Frankenstein was produced by Edison Studios. It was directed by J. Searle Dawley, who also wrote the one-reeler's screenplay, broadly basing his "scenario" on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. This short motion picture is generally recognized by film historians as the first screen adaptation of Shelley's work. The small cast, who are not credited in the surviving 1910 print of the film, includes Augustus Phillips as Dr. Frankenstein, Charles Ogle as Frankenstein's monster, and Mary Fuller as the doctor's fiancée.
A TRIP TO MARS | 1910 ASHLEY MILLER
Made by Edison for his Home Kineoscope. It is a very short film similar to Melies' Trip to the Moon, being more fantastic and speculative than scientific.
THE AUTOMATIC MOVING COMPANY |1910 ÉMILE COHL
A film of more than unusual interest. No people appear in this stop-motion short by animation pioneer Émile Cohl.Those who are familiar with the length of time it takes to make a picture wherein oil the furniture in the house moves out automatically, will appreciate the great labor of making this film.
1911
DANTE'S INFERNO | 1911 FRANCESCO BERTOLINI, ADOLFO PADOVAN, GIUSEPPE DE LIGUORO
The Italian epic came of age with Giuseppe de Liguoro’s imaginative silent version of the Inferno, loosely adapted from Dante and inspired by the illustrations of Gustav Doré. L’Inferno was first screened in Naples in the Teatro Mercadante 10 March 1911. The film took over three years to make involving more than 150 people and was the first full length Italian feature film ever made. It’s success was not confined to Italy it was an international hit taking more than $2 million in the United States alone.
THE MANICURE LADY | 1911 MACK SENNETT
One of the first of nearly 300 shorts Mack Sennett would direct in his long career is a gentle comedy completely at odds with the slapsticks for which he is known. He also stars as a barber in love with the manicurist (Vivian Prescott) in his salon who only has eyes for men of money. Sennett was a better producer and director than he was an actor, and it’s the barber’s customers who get the biggest laughs here.
THE LONEDALE OPERATOR | 1911 D.W. GRIFFITH
THEIR FIRST MISUNDERSTANDING 1911 THOMAS H. INCE, GEORGE LOANE TUCKER
Their First Misunderstanding starring Mary Pickford and Owen Moore. Pickford and Moore married on January 7, 1911. Tom Owen and Mae Darcy have a very quiet wedding, wishing to avoid all notoriety for the present and intending to surprise their friends by the announcement later on. But their friends "got wise" somehow and when the young couple finally arrive at the railroad station, they find a crowd there ahead of them and they are duly dealt with according to the latest rules laid down for the accelerated departure of bride and groom.
Believed to be a lost film until a copy was discovered in a barn in New Hampshire in 2006. The film is intact, apart from the first minute, which had disintegrated over time. The remaining footage was restored and is currently preserved at the Library of Congress and the Keene State College Film Society.
THE MUSKETEERS OF PIG ALLEY | 1912 D.W. GRIFFITH
The film is about a poor married couple living in New York City. The husband works as a musician and must often travel for work. When returning, his wallet is taken by a gangster. His wife goes to a ball where a man tries to drug her, but his attempt is stopped by the same man who robbed the husband. The two criminals become rivals, and a shootout ensues. The husband gets caught in the shootout and recognizes one of the men as the gangster who took his money. The husband sneaks his wallet back and the gangster goes to safety in the couple's apartment. Policemen track the gangster down but the wife gives him a false alibi.
FALLING LEAVES |1912 ALICE GUY
The plot of Falling Leaves owes elements to the O. Henry short story "The Last Leaf" (1907). The child hero is a recurring theme in Guy-Blaché films; the first film produced by Solax, A Child's Sacrifice (1910), which also starred Magda Foy, is another example. When Falling Leaves was made in early 1912, Solax still was operating out of the Flushing studio it rented from Gaumont. The sets were designed by Henri Ménessier, who had worked with Guy-Blaché since 1904. All the primary roles were filled by members of the Solax stock company.
1913
FANTÔMAS - À L'OMBRE DE LA GUILLOTINE | 1913 LOUIS FEUILLADE
THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE | 1913 STELLAN RYE, PAUL WEGENER
SUSPENSE | 1913 LOIS WEBER, PHILLIPS SMALLEY
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Weber and Smalley began their film careers as a husband-and-wife team acting under the direction of Edwin S. Porter at New York’s Rex Motion Picture Company, one of the many early independent film studios established to combat the power of the Motion Picture Patents Company, a conglomerate of the major producers and distributors in the United States. By the time Porter left Rex, in 1912, Weber and Smalley had graduated to directing and were fully responsible for the small studio’s output. Suspense is one of the very few films made at Rex that survives, and its staggering originality raises a tantalizing question: Is it a fascinating anomaly or a representative sample of the studio’s overall production?
During his time in Paris, he shot many of his more surprising short films, both boundlessly imaginatively and technically innovative. One of them was the Excursion dans la lune (Trip to the Moon, 1909), an adaptation of Voyage dans la lune (Voyage to the Moon, 1902) by Méliès. The filmmaker hand-coloured the tape, a technique in which he was a pioneer.
Although his name was little known among the general public, he enjoyed prestige within the sector. He even collaborated with the directors Ferdinand Zecca (La Passion de Notre Seigneur Jésus Christ, The Passion of Christ; Le pêcheur de perles, The Peal Fishers) and Giovanni Pastrone (Cabiria) as camera operator and special effects technician. We must not forget that the filmmaker from Aragon can be considered the inventor of ‘travelling’ or ‘dolly shot’. His career culminated with Napoleon (1927), directed by Abel Gance, in which he used a system that would become the gateway for panoramic formats. Despite the fact that the vast majority of the innovative techniques that were used to make the film are by Segundo de Chomón., In the 1981, restored version produced by Francis Ford Coppola, they forget the indispensable work of Segundo de Chomón: extensive close-ups, quick cuts, a wide variety of handheld camera shots, outdoor shooting, subjective camera, multi-camera, multiple exposure, underwater camera, multi-screen projection, tracking shots. on horseback or on a cannonball, and other visual effects.
He died prematurely shortly before talking films took off, leaving a very important legacy for the development of the art of cinema.
When Joseph P. Kennedy and other investors merged Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) with the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chain and Radio Corporation of America, the resulting movie studio RKO Radio Pictures used RCA Photophone as their primary sound system. In March 1929, RKO released Syncopation, the first film made in RCA Photophone.