Saturday, December 25, 2010

La lanterne magique (The Magic Lantern) - 1903


Two impish clowns construct a magic lantern. They prop it up at an angle, and use it to project pictures onto a wall. When the picture show ends, they open up the lantern to reveal a group of dancing girls inside - and this is only the first of the indications that this lantern really is magical.
The scene represents the interior of a toyshop. Punch makes his entry dancing a characteristic step, and his friend Pierrot follows shortly after performing a step to the tune of "Bedelia." The latter holds a candlestick and he shows his friend Punch that it gives no more light while quoting some words of the familiar song. "You wish some light, say Punchinello. "I will give you some, and at the same time I will show you something most astonishing." He asks Pierrot to give him a lift. Then both bring a platform and construct section by section a huge magic lantern. Punch puts inside of it a large lamp, lights it and opens the slide, thereby throwing upon the wall a large white disc within which pictures in varying subjects begin to appear. At first a grand personage with his consort is shown, then follows two eccentric characters, and afterwards the pictures of Pierrot and Punch highly magnified. These moving pictures dissolve one into the other upon a white background, a new feature in cinematographic work. Punch puts out the light in the lantern and the views disappear, when suddenly the sections of the lantern fall apart and out of them come forth six dancing girls who do a four-step. And as they finish a charming eccentrique makes her appearance and does a very pretty turn. The magic lantern, which had been shut up by Punch, again opens and out of it emerges an entire corps de ballet, and they all execute a dance together. The "premiere danseuse" comes on and mingles with the dancers; Punch and Pierrot become her suitors, they quarrel and soon engage in a hard fight, the sight of which causes the dancers to flee in terror. A body of policemen arrive. Pierrot and Punch hide in the lantern. The policemen examine it on every side. Suddenly the lantern opens, but the occupants have vanished and have been replaced by a monster, who extends himself and contracts and at the same time executes some ludicrous contortions. The policemen at this strange sight flee in hopeless confusion, the corps de ballet returns and dances among the remains of the lantern and around the monster, who continues to contort himself in a peculiar fashion.

Le Monstre (The Monster)- 1903


An Egyptian prince has lost his beloved wife and he has sought a dervish who dwells at the base of the sphinx. The prince promises him a vast fortune if the dervish will only give him the opportunity of gazing once more upon the features of his wife. The dervish accepts the offer. He brings in from a neighboring tomb the receptacle containing the remains of the princess. He opens it and removes the skeleton, which he places upon the ground close beside him. Then, turning to the moon and raising his arms outstretched toward it, he invokes the moon to give back life to her who is no more. The skeleton begins to move about, becomes animated, and arises. The dervish puts it upon a bench and covers it with a white linen; a masque conceals its ghostly face. At a second invocation the skeleton begins again to move, arises, and performs a weird dance. In performing its contortions it partly disappears in the ground. While performing its feats it increases gradually in size, its neck assuming enormous proportions, much to the horror of the prince, who fails to see in this grotesque character the wife whom he has lost. The dance ceases. The dervish throws a veil over the hideous creature. Then appear the real princess as she was when her husband possessed her. The prince darts forward to take her into his arms to give her a last kiss, but the dervish stops him, wraps the young lady in the veil and throws her into the arms of the prince. When he removes the veil he finds only the skeleton of his former wife. The vision has disappeared, and the princess has returned to dust. The dervish withdraws, and the prince pursues him with his threats and curses.

The Melomaniac - 1903


The Melomaniac - Georges Méliès, 1903

Interior N.Y. subway, 14th St. to 42nd St. - 1905 (Part2)



The camera platform was on the front of a New York subway train following another train on the same track. Lighting is provided by a specially constructed work car on a parallel track. At the time of filming, the subway was only seven months old, having opened on October 27, 1904. The ride begins at 14th Street (Union Square) following the route of today's east side IRT, and ends at the old Grand Central Station, built by Cornelius Vanderbuilt in 1869. The Grand Central Station in use today was not completed until 1913.

Interior N.Y. subway, 14th St. to 42nd St. - 1905 (Part 1)



The camera platform was on the front of a New York subway train following another train on the same track. Lighting is provided by a specially constructed work car on a parallel track. At the time of filming, the subway was only seven months old, having opened on October 27, 1904. The ride begins at 14th Street (Union Square) following the route of today's east side IRT, and ends at the old Grand Central Station, built by Cornelius Vanderbuilt in 1869. The Grand Central Station in use today was not completed until 1913.

Lower Broadway - 1903



The film shows a view which appears to be looking north on Broadway at the intersection of Wall Street, in front of Trinity Church. The sidewalk along Broadway is crowded with people, and the traffic in both streets is very heavy. A horse-drawn streetcar passes in front of the camera [Frame: 2814], with a sign giving its destination as the "Courtland and Fulton Street Ferry."

New York City Ghetto Fish market -1903



A timetravel to the new york city of 1903 (no sound). Isn't it amazing?

Skyscrapers of New York City - 1903

Statue of Liberty -1898



The Statue of Liberty is seen in New York Harbor in 1898, filmed by the Edison Film Manufacturing Company.

Titanic Disaster - 1912



An extremely rare film, by Gaumont of France, of the Titanic before she sank and the aftermath of the disaster.

Moscou sous la neige/ Moscow Clad in Snow - 1908



Moscou sous la neige / Moscow Clad in Snow
Pathé Frères, 1908
The film is in four parts. First, the camera pans the Kremlin and Marshal's Bridge. Sleds are parked in rows. Horse-drawn sleighs run up and down a busy street. Next, we visit the mushroom and fish market where common people work and shop. In Petrovsky Park are the well-to-do. Men are in great coats. A file of six or seven women ski past on a narrow lane. Last, there's a general view of Moscow. A slow pan takes us to a view above the river front where the film began.

MADAME L'AVOCAT - 1908



Founded as Société Pathé Frères in Paris, France on September 28, 1896 by brothers Charles, Émile, Théophile and Jacques Pathé, during the first part of the 20th century, Pathé became the largest film equipment and production company in the world as well as a major producer of phonograph records.

SANG ESPAGNOL - 1908



Founded as Société Pathé Frères in Paris, France on September 28, 1896 by brothers Charles, Émile, Théophile and Jacques Pathé, during the first part of the 20th century, Pathé became the largest film equipment and production company in the world as well as a major producer of phonograph records.

The driving force behind the film operation was Charles Pathé who had helped open a gramophone shop in 1894 and then established a phonograph factory at Chatou on the western outskirts of Paris. Successful, he saw the opportunities that new means of entertainment offered and in particular by the fledgling motion picture industry. Having decided to expand the record business to include film equipment, Charles Pathé oversaw a rapid expansion of the company. To finance its growth, he took the company public under the name Compagnie Générale des Établissements Pathé Frères Phonographes & Cinématographes (sometimes abbreviated as "C.G.P.C.") in 1897, and its shares were listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.[1]
Headquarters of Associated British-Pathé at 142 Wardour Street in London.

In 1896, Mitchell Mark of Buffalo, New York, may have been the first American to import Pathé films to the United States, where they were shown in the Vitascope Theater.

In 1902, Pathé acquired the Lumière brothers patents then set about to design an improved studio camera and to make their own film stock. Their technologically advanced equipment, new processing facilities built at Vincennes, and aggressive merchandising combined with efficient distribution systems allowed them to capture a huge share of the international market. They first expanded to London in 1902 where they set up production facilities and a chain of movie theaters. By 1909, Pathé had built more than 200 movie theaters in France and Belgium and by the following year they had facilities in Madrid, Moscow, Rome and New York City plus Australia and Japan. Slightly later, they opened a film exchange in Buffalo, New York. Prior to the outbreak of World War I, Pathé dominated Europe's market in motion picture cameras and projectors. It has been estimated that at one time, 60 percent of all films were shot with Pathé equipment.