Fire! - 1901

American movie. Firefighters ring for help, and here comes the ladder cart; they hitch a horse to it. A second horse-drawn truck joins the first, and they head down the street to a house fire. Inside a man sleeps, he awakes amidst flames and throws himself back on the bed. In comes a firefighter, hosing down the blaze. He carries out the victim, down a ladder to safety. Other firefighters enter the house to save belongings, and out comes one with a baby. The saved man rejoices, but it's not over yet. Another resident appears upstairs. He jumps.
This is quite an ambitious film for 1901, and it's clear that a lot of thought and attention to detail has gone into its' making. It's very similar - for obvious reasons - to Edwin S. Porter's Life of an American Fireman, but was actually made two years earlier. Strange then that Porter's opus receives such attention from film historians while James Williamson's more impressive and exciting (for my money) effort seems to be held in much less regard.
Some of the scenes of the fire are particularly impressive and excitingly staged - especially the sequence when the fireman hacks his way into the victim's bedroom which is clearly genuinely ablaze (well, the curtains, anyway). It has to be said, though, that the film plays its strongest hand too early as nothing that follows matches the power of this scene. Definitely worth a look though...

Stop Thief -1901

American movie. A lad from a butcher shop is carrying a tray laden with a roast or a leg of lamb. A hobo grabs it and runs. The boy gives chase, joined by dogs, as neighbors watch the spectacle. The hobo jumps into a large rain barrel, followed by the dogs. The boy arrives on the scene and pulls out the dogs, one at a time, until he reaches the bottom of the barrel. He's in for a surprise.
The crime chase film was a popular genre in the early history of film, and it perhaps began here, with James Williamson's 'Stop Thief!' Many of these films, including this one, are notable for their fluid succession of shots to create (at least at the time) an exciting continuity of action. Demonstration of this can be seen in three 1903 crime chase films also included on Kino and the BFI's programs--they being 'A Daring Daylight Robbery', 'A Desperate Poaching Affray' and 'The Great Train Robbery'. Later, D.W. Griffith expanded upon this genre with his last-minute rescue films, such as in 'The Girl and Her Trust' (1912). Also, Williamson created one of the earliest comedy chase films, 'Our New Errand Boy' (1905). Pathé and Keystone comedies, notably, but also just about every other studio, continued the tradition of chase comedies passed the early stages of cinema history. By the 1920s, there was still Buster Keaton making some exceptionally funny slapstick chases, including the one in 'Cops' (1922).
'Stop Thief!' is a three-shot film and appears primitive compared to the chase films that followed it. It involves a vagabond stealing a loaf of bread; he's then pursued by the baker, or deliveryman, he stole the bread from. Some dogs also enter the chase. The thief hides in a barrel, but unsuccessfully, as his pursuer pulls him out and begins assaulting him. The continuity editing interestingly doesn't follow the modern rule of the axis of action. In the first shot, the characters exit the frame at the left side in the background. They enter the second shot from the left, which they had just exited from. After exiting the second shot at the right side, they then enter the third shot from the right. Following the modern continuity rules of direction across the screen, that's all backwards. In 1901, however, the rules hadn't been invented--because film pioneers like Williamson had only just begun to establish them. Another 1901 movie made by Williamson, 'Fire!', obeys this rule of continuity, as do his later films 'An Interesting Story' (1904) and 'Our New Errand Boy'. In addition, Michael Chanan ("The Dream That Kicks") makes an interesting suggestion that in 'Stop Thief!' Williamson was following theatrical continuity.
The other continuity element here is the direct cuts, which have continued to be the preferred transition between shots throughout the history of film. That's a given nowadays, but Williamson and other pioneer filmmakers were faced with conscious decisions on such elementary matters back then when there wasn't an established history of film grammar.

Chess Fever (1925, Russia)

Original Title: 'Shakhmatnaya goryachka'
Script: Nikolai Shpikovsky
Cast: Vladimir Fogel, Anna Zemtsova, Boris Barnet, José Raúl Capablanca
With an international chess tournament in progress, a young man becomes completely obsessed with the game. His fiancée has no interest in it, and becomes frustrated and depressed by his neglect of her, but wherever she goes she finds that she cannot escape chess. On the brink of giving up, she meets the world champion, Capablanca himself, with interesting results. (IMDB.com)
Though not his first film, Russian director/cinema theorist V. I. Pudovkin's 'Chess Fever' was the first to be released. Essentially a comedy, this 2-reel exercise in montage manages to make the game of chess seem thoroughly cinematic. Illustrating his theory that "The foundation of film art is editing", Pudovkin uses apparently unrelated images to fashion a smooth, well-integrated unified whole. He goes so far as to rabbet in shots of legendary chess master José Raúl Capablanca so that his film will have a 'star'.
Other grandmasters to be seen in this movie: Ernst Grünfeld, Frederick Yates, Frank Marshall, Richard Réti, Rudolf Spielmann and Carlos Torre (all playing in the 1925 Moscow International Tournament ).
00:40 At the tournament
02:25 In the days of the chess fever
04:39 − Remember, my darling, the most dangerous thing for the family life is... chess!
04:57 On the signboard is written "Chessplayer, stop here!"
05:50 On the wall-advert is written "Chess Tournament"
10:02 − I loved only you...
10:09 − And you love only chess!
10:16 − Between us all is finished!
10:29 − I will poison myself...
10:34 − I surrender. I will drown myself!
11:07 − Grandfather, my life is broken!
11:20 − My child, take the source of consolation and peace.
11:31 The title of the book is 'Pleasure of the sage. Anthology of the most antique chess problems'
11:43 Late wishes
12:12 − Kolecka has just played such a fine Queen's Gambit... I can't breathe!
12:26 There is no place in life
13:11 Pharmacy
13:28 − Give me something in big quantity and strong against pain.
14:09 Maybe love is stronger than chess?
15:14 Maybe love is stronger than chess?
15:29 Back to the fiancée
16:10 − Leave me alone! Because of chess I hate all the world...
16:19 − I understand this feeling. When I meet a beautiful woman, I also hate chess.
16:34 − Finally I meet a chess enemy!
16:41 − Tell me how you saved yourself from chess fever...
17:06 On the wall-advert is written "International Chess Tournament"
17:14 − I give a final look, and then ... that's all!
17:22 At the tournament
17:33 − Pass! Pass!
18:05 Here are the effects of the Champion's narrations
18:18 − Darling, darling! I didn't know it is such a wonderful game!
18:33 − Darling, let's play a Sicilian...
18:53 The family happiness begins!

How To Use A Telephone - 1927

Attention Central California Residents: This film shows the actual cutover date from operator assistance to direct-dial (local only) in Fresno and Madera California.