Fantasmagorie

Fantasmagorie 1908

6.56

An animated film by French auteur Émile Cohl, one of the earliest examples of hand-drawn film animation. Drawing inspiration from J. Stuart Blackton and the Incoherents of club Hydropathes, the film, with all its wild transformations, sees our protagonist materialize a movie theatre, meet an elephant and escape from jail; A morphing, stream-of-consciousness delight.

1908

A Visit to the Seaside

A Visit to the Seaside 1908

6.30

The first successful motion picture in natural color, filmed with Kinemacolor. It is an 8 minute short film directed by George Albert Smith of Brighton, showing people doing everyday activities. It is ranked of high historical importance. Kinemacolor later influenced and replaced by Technicolor, which was used from 1916 to 1952.

1908

The Electric Hotel

The Electric Hotel 1908

6.07

An enthusiastic young couple is astounded with modern technology's giant leaps in the fascinating field of electricity.

1908

The Adventures of Dollie

The Adventures of Dollie 1908

5.20

On a warm and sunny summer's day, a mother and father take their young daughter Dollie on a riverside outing.

1908

Money Mad

Money Mad 1908

4.83

The central figure is an old miser, a Harpagon of sorts, who, like Frosine, stashes his ill-gotten money in a secret cellar. While the miser is at the bank, exchanging stolen notes for gold coin, a couple of thugs witness the transaction and see their opportunity-- It seems avarice grips the hearts of all those who'd possess the bag.

1908

The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew 1908

4.92

Based on Shakespeare's play. Petruchio courts the bad-tempered Katharina, and tries to change her aggressive behavior.

1908

At the Crossroads of Life

At the Crossroads of Life 1908

4.00

At the Crossroads of Life is a typically Victorian-style melodrama in which a girl's wishes to be an actress are condemned by her stern father, a man of the cloth who has no time for those in the acting profession.

1908

Rescued from an Eagle's Nest

Rescued from an Eagle's Nest 1908

5.51

A woodsman leaves a hut followed by a woman with their baby. Nearby some men chop down a tree. The baby is left outside the hut, but an eagle flies away with it.

1908

The Thieving Hand

The Thieving Hand 1908

6.44

A one-armed street peddler notices that a well-to-do man has dropped his ring. He returns it to him. The wealthy man is very grateful and, to show his appreciation, takes the peddler to a 'Limb Store', where he buys him a new arm. The recipient soon discovers that this new arm has a will of its own - causing him considerable embarrassment.

1908

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty 1908

4.40

Based on the story of "Sleeping Beauty" by Charles Perrault. Titles read: The Christening of the Princess; The Good Fairies Fatal Prediction; The Royal Edict; The Princess is Sixteen Years Old; Searching for the Princess; The Prediction Comes True; Thou Shalt Sleep for a Hundred Years; A Hundred Years later the Prince Charming Goes Hunting; Prince Charming Dismisses His Escort; The Castle of Sleep; The Guard's Hall; You Have Been a Long Time Coming, prince; The Wedding of the Sleeping Beauty to Prince Charming.

1908

L'Assommoir

L'Assommoir 1908

5.57

Everyman Coupeau's attempts to stop drinking are routinely thwarted by the wicked and vengeful Virginie. Based on Zola's novel, Capellani's film is about the free fall of a group of working-class French folk into degradation and tragedy due to carelessness, jealousy, and alcohol abuse. At the time of its release, L'Assommoir was hugely successful.

1908

Pharmaceutical Hallucinations

Pharmaceutical Hallucinations 1908

5.20

There's a chemistry lab, in which one or two people ingest the wrong drug -- apparently -- and have a seriously bad trip. Then there's this wizard in his cave, and a fairy appears -- then there's this massive feast with about a dozen people. Then it ends.

1908

His First Job

His First Job 1908

4.90

Georges Melies' film has a new guy showing up in a store on his first day and he obviously just doesn't fit in as he makes one mistake after another.

1908

Drama at the Puppets' House

Drama at the Puppets' House 1908

6.20

For a short comedy of rare merit this subject is unexcelled. A chalk line series of grotesque caricatures enacted in the land of puppets. A fickle maiden gets herself into numerous embarrassing complications with her host of admirers, but the artist with lightning rapidity overcomes all obstacles and brings the maiden out victorious.

1908

After Many Years

After Many Years 1908

2.50

A castaway returns home after years lost at sea, to the wife and child he left behind. Has she waited faithfully or has she moved on?

1908

The Guerrilla

The Guerrilla 1908

3.00

Mack Sennett appears as a Confederate soldier and a Union soldier in this film produced by the Biograph Company.

1908

The Last Days of Pompeii

The Last Days of Pompeii 1908

5.10

Pompeii 79AD, mere days before the Vesuvian eruption. Glaucus and Jone are in love with each other. Arbaces, the Egyptian High Priest, is determined to conquer Jone. Glaucus purchases Nydia, the blind and long-suffering slave. Nydia falls in love with Glaucus and asks Arbaces for his help. He gives her a potion to make Glaucus fall in love with her-- In fact, a poison which will cause violent insanity.

1908

The Invisible Fluid

The Invisible Fluid 1908

5.00

Had the poor melancholy Dane, Hamlet, lived in this, the twentieth century, he would never have given voice to the remark, "Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew!" No indeed! He would have procured some of the mysterious fluid compounded by an erudite scientist by which things animate and inanimate were rendered non est, for ten minutes at least, by simply spraying them with it. In an atomizer, he sends a quantity, accompanied by a letter, to his brother. In the hope of his putting it on the market. The brother regards it as a joke, and, while toying with the atomizer, accidentally sprays himself. Presto! he is gone, to the amazement of the messenger boy who has carried the package thither. The boy reads the letter, and at once sees the amount of fun he can get out of it, so he nips it.

1908

Stenka Razin

Stenka Razin 1908

4.44

Stenka Razin is the leader of a group of outlaws who live a life of revelry and carousing along the Volga River and in the nearby forests. When Razin becomes distracted by a captured foreign princess and starts to dote on her, his men are displeased, feeling that he is neglecting them and their usual activities. Soon they come up with a plot, in the hopes of turning Razin against the princess.

1908