Bradford Coronation Procession - 1902

This film is part of the Mitchell and Kenyon collection - an amazing visual record of everyday life in Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century.
When Edward VII was crowned, it was a time of great confidence and pride in the British Empire, as shown here by the extravagant and sometimes exotic horse-drawn floats. This was a local event to mark a coronation of international importance, and other parts of this same procession emphasise Bradford's unique contribution to the almighty Empire in the form of its woollen industry. (Rebecca Vick)

March of the Queens - 1915

United Kingdom. Scenes of WWI troops relaxing on Streatham Common, South London in a Topical Budget newsreel. We assume that the title refers to one of the Queen's Own regiments.

Devonshire Hospital, Buxton - 1916

United Kingdom. Built in 1785 as a stable for the Duke of Devonshire's 110 horses, the former Royal Devonshire Hospital in Buxton features an impressive dome larger than St. Paul's in London. By 1881 the buildings had been converted into a pioneering hospital, and were later home to British soldiers returning from the battlefields of the First World War.
This Topical Budget newsreel footage of men undergoing new-fangled treatments in the gleaming thermal mineral water baths is wonderful, though you may wonder how pleasant some of these 'Vapour, Needle and Douche-Spray Baths' actually were. But unlike the happy, healthy-looking veterans shown here, for many horribly injured troops returning from the trenches of the Somme, rheumatism and sciatica would have been the least of their worries. (Simon McCallum)

The Dinosaur and the Missing Link - Part 1 - 1915

Country: USA
Also Known As: The Dinosaur and the Baboon
Two cavemen, The Duke and Stonejaw Steve, call on Miss Araminta Rockface. The hated rivals fight, and Steve wins when he throws The Duke into a pot of boiling water. A title card introduces a third rival, "our unassuming hero, Theophilus Ivoryhead." Miss Rockface invites the three men into her father's drawing room/cave, apologizing for not offering tea, since it has not been discovered yet. The Duke and Steve fight again, and everyone rushes out of the cave. Mr. Rockface notices his pot of food is empty; earlier, Wild Willie the Missing Link had eaten it. Mr. Rockface tells the three suitors they will have to procure their own dinner. Steve locates a desert quail and shoots an arrow at it, but the arrow misses the quail and happily (for Steve) hits The Duke's behind. Meanwhile, Wild Willie is still hungry and goes hunting for snakes. He finds a dinosaur's tail instead, and when he tries to eat it the dinosaur kills him...

The Dinosaur and the Missing Link - Part 2 - 1915

Country: USA
Also Known As: The Dinosaur and the Baboon
Two cavemen, The Duke and Stonejaw Steve, call on Miss Araminta Rockface. The hated rivals fight, and Steve wins when he throws The Duke into a pot of boiling water. A title card introduces a third rival, "our unassuming hero, Theophilus Ivoryhead." Miss Rockface invites the three men into her father's drawing room/cave, apologizing for not offering tea, since it has not been discovered yet. The Duke and Steve fight again, and everyone rushes out of the cave. Mr. Rockface notices his pot of food is empty; earlier, Wild Willie the Missing Link had eaten it. Mr. Rockface tells the three suitors they will have to procure their own dinner. Steve locates a desert quail and shoots an arrow at it, but the arrow misses the quail and happily (for Steve) hits The Duke's behind. Meanwhile, Wild Willie is still hungry and goes hunting for snakes. He finds a dinosaur's tail instead, and when he tries to eat it the dinosaur kills him...

Frogland - 1922

Made in 1922 while Starewicz was in Paris, this film (also known as "The Frogs who Wanted a King") is a fable in the best Aesop tradition... the moral: Be careful what you ask for... you might get it!
The Frogs of Frogland think they need a king... they beg Jupiter (their human god?) to send them one. First, he sends a Wooden King. The frogs realize the Wooden King doesn't do anything (he can just barely roll his eyes...), so they ask Jupiter for "a better King".
Jupiter complies... he sends a Stork King. Storks, of course, eat frogs.
Too late, the Frogs realize the error of their ways. They plead for help from Jupiter, while hiding underwater (This is a technically interesting scene... the frog puppets seem to be in an aquarium, but the bubbles flowing through the aquarium move in sync with their speech... it doesn't look like stop-motion, in other words. He may have used puppets on "rods" for this).
Jupiter is now irritated beyond belief, and "Gives 'em Thunder" (actually lightning). These naughty frogs won't bother anyone ever again.

Cameraman's Revenge - 1912

Country: Russia
Release Date: 27 October 1912 (Russia)
The Cameraman's Revenge (1912, 13 minutes) is about infidelity among the insects, a topic which I dare say has never before or after been attempted on film.
Continuity: When the movie is shown in the theater, the camera angle is the one where we saw the scene from, but not the one where the grasshopper filmed the scene from.

Le rat de ville et le rat des champs - 1926

Country: France
Le Rat des villes et le champs (1926) The Town Rat and the Country Rat
The Country Rat visits his friend, the Town Rat, but finds that life in the great metropolis is rather too hectic (and dangerous - there's a live cat among all the puppet rats!)

Swords And Hearts - 1911

A poor girl is secretly in love with a wealthy young planter. During the Civil War she helps him escape capture by Union soldiers. After the war, with his fortune gone, she confesses that she loves him.
Cast
Wilfred Lucas ... Hugh Frazier
Claire McDowell ... Irene Lambert
Dorothy West ... Jenny Baker
William J. Butler ... Old Ben
Charles West ... The Suitor
Francis J. Grandon ... Jennie's Father
Verner Clarges ... Hugh's Father
Kate Bruce ... At Lambert House
Donald Crisp ... At Frazier House / Bushwacker
Frank Evans ... Bushwacker
Guy Hedlund ... At Frazier House / Union Soldier
Florence La Badie ... Undetermined Role
J. Jiquel Lanoe ... Union Soldier / Bushwacker
Charles Hill Mailes ... Bushwacker
W. Chrystie Miller
Alfred Paget ... Union Soldier
W.C. Robinson ... Bushwacker
Directed By D. W. Griffith
Written By Emmett C. Hall
Cinematography By G. W. Bitzer
Details
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: August 28 1911 (USA)
Filming Locations:Coytesville, New Jersey, USA
Production Co: Biograph Company

Are Crooks Dishonest - 1918

Miss Goulash has just finished conducting a séance at the Mystic Temple, so she and her father decide to take a walk to the park. Meanwhile, two con men are in the park, playing a confidence game with the use of fake jewelry. They succeed in conning Professor Goulash and several other targets. But when they try their trick on Miss Goulash, she becomes suspicious. She soon tricks them out of their money, and gets them pursued by the police. When the con men try to elude a police officer by hiding in the Mystic Temple, they soon find themselves in another battle of wits with Miss Goulash.
Cast
Harold Lloyd ... Harold
Bebe Daniels ... Miss Goulash
'Snub' Pollard ... Snub (as Harry Pollard)
William Blaisdell
Sammy Brooks
Lige Conley
William Gillespie
Helen Gilmore ... Old lady in park
Lew Harvey
Gus Leonard ... Old man in park
Charles Stevenson (as C.E. Stevenson)
Directed by Gil Pratt
Produced by Hal Roach
Details
Country:USA
Language:English
Release Date:23 June 1918 (USA)
Production Co:Rolin Films

Dunces and Dangers - 1918

This one-reel comedy will have you screaming and sweating, as Larry Semon and his girl are chased up and down the sides of buildings, fighting heavies on rooftop ledges, skittering across rickety bridges in mid-air and see-sawing on ladders over the city far below.
Hans Koenekamp was the cinematographer, and he later became senior visual effects wizard at Warner Brothers. This short will help show you why. And it's all a full year before Harold Lloyd stepped out on a ledge for the first time. Highly recommended.
Cast
Larry Semon ... Larry
Madge Kirby ... Larry's Wife
William Hauber
Owen Evans
Pietro Aramondo (as Pete Aromando)
Frank Alexander
Directed by Larry Semon
Written by Larry SEmon
Presented by Albert E. Smith
Country:USA
Language:English
Release Date:5 August 1918 (USA)
Production Co:Vitagraph Company of America

La Pêche aux poissons rouges - 1895

Country: France
Also Known As: Fishing for Goldfish
Production Co: Lumière
A man holds a child of about 10 or 11 months so the child can stand on a table and look down into a large clear goldfish bowl, nearly full of water, with two goldfish swimming in it. The child, dressed in a white gown with a white cap, makes an occasional grab for a fish. The fish evade the child.

Baignade en mer - 1896

Country: France
Also Known As: Sea Bathing
The sea is before us. Some rocks are visible to the right and a narrow jetty extends about ten meters or so about three feet above the sea, held up by two sets of pylons. A woman and several lads about ten years old are coming out onto the rocks, one climbs onto the jetty at the end. He jumps back into the sea as the lads and lady run out to the end of the jetty and jump off. Even though the sea looks to be only about a foot deep, one boy does a flip into the water and repeats it later. The others simply jump in.

La Voltige - 1895

Country: France
Also Known As: Trick Riding
Filming Locations: Lyon, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France
In the background is a house. In the foreground, a groom holds the reins of a sleek black horse that stands in profile. A tall man, dressed in a black uniform, demonstrates how to mount the horse then encourages and tries to assist a man in white. The man in white keeps falling, and soon it's apparent that he's an putting on a show. His pratfalls become more elaborate and stylish. The horse stands patient. The little groom laughs to see such sport. And finally, the man in white finds a comic accommodation. The story, though brief, has a beginning, middle, and end.

La Fée aux Choux (1896, France)

Considered to be the first ever fiction film by historians. Directed by Alice Guy Blaché. Also known as "The Cabbage Fairy" (literal title) (English title)

Breathing - 1927, pt 1 of 2

Part 1 of 2. This American film illustrates the many components of the respiratory system, from the nose and throat to the lungs, with the aid of many informative intertitles, illustrations, animations and examples using human models. 2 segments.

Breathing - 1927, pt 2 of 2

Part 2 of 2. This American film illustrates the many components of the respiratory system, from the nose and throat to the lungs, with the aid of many informative intertitles, illustrations, animations and examples using human models. 2 segments

The Deerslayer - 1920

Starring- Emil Mamelok, Herta Heden and Bela Lugosi
A silent film made in Germany and based on the James Fenimore Cooper novel. Bela plays Natty Bumpo's Indian sidekick.

Sherlock Holmes - 1922

American movie. For decades the 1922 version of Sherlock Holmes starring John Barrymore was thought to be lost, surviving only in the form of a few tantalizing production stills, until a battered and incomplete print finally resurfaced in the mid-1970s. Even so, it wasn't until just a couple of years ago that a viewable version was painstakingly completed at the Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y., and it is this restoration which has received several public screenings in recent months. Bearing this background in mind, it's especially dismaying to report that the film, seen at long last, is a decided disappointment. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases in which a rediscovered work falls short of the imagined movie projected in our minds. Silent film buffs and viewers with a special interest in the Barrymores will want to see it anyway, but dedicated fans of the original Holmes stories, in particular, will most likely find it unsatisfying.
Seemingly all the elements were in place for something special when the movie went into production. John Barrymore, in the year of his legendary stage Hamlet, was in his prime; the supporting cast was full of first-rate actors, two of whom (Roland Young and William Powell) made their film debuts here; a number of scenes were filmed on location in London-- an unusual practice at the time --and the constructed sets were strikingly designed and well photographed. But the first and perhaps biggest problem was the structure of the screenplay, which feels off-kilter and oddly lopsided from the outset. The early scenes are focused on the activities of the arch-criminal Professor Moriarty (who was played by that magnificently-named character actor, Gustav von Seyffertitz). We're given much information about this villain's apparently unmotivated evil, but very little information about our hero and his eccentricities. After awhile we're forced to conclude either that the screenwriters thought we already knew enough about Sherlock Holmes, or that they found their bad guy more interesting than their hero.
Cast
John Barrymore ... Sherlock Holmes
Roland Young ... Dr. Watson
Carol Dempster ... Alice Faulkner
Gustav von Seyffertitz ... Prof. Moriarty
Louis Wolheim ... Craigin
Percy Knight ... Sid Jones
William Powell ... Foreman Wells (as William H. Powell)
Hedda Hopper ... Madge Larrabee
Peggy Bayfield ... Rose Faulkner
Margaret Kemp ... Therese
Anders Randolf ... James Larrabee
Robert Schable ... Alf Bassick
Reginald Denny ... Prince Alexis
David Torrence ... Count von Stalburg
Robert Fischer ... Otto
Lumsden Hare ... Dr. Leighton
Jerry Devine ... Billy
John Willard ... Inspector Gregson
Albert Bruning ... Count Orlonieff
Directed By Albert Parker
Written By Earle Browne, Marion Fairfax
Written By Arthur Conan Doyle (story)
Written By William Gillette (play)
Executive Producer Samuel Goldwyn
Producer F. J. Godsol
Cinematography J. Roy Hunt
Art Direction Charles L. Cadwallader
Details
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: March 7 1922 (USA)
Also Known As: Moriarty
Filming Locations: London, England, UK
Production Co: Goldwyn Pictures Corporation
Did You Know?......
This is one of a few silent Holmes films that have survived, including his first appearance on screen (an Edison short called Sherlock Holmes Baffled (1900)), the 1912 Danish short "The Copper Beeches" and a number of the series produced in Britain in the 1920s and starring Eille Norwood as Holmes.
The restoration of this film began in 1970, when the George Eastman House discovered several cans of negative of the film, consisting of incomplete, out-of-order clips. Film historian Kevin Brownlow screened a print of these clips for the film's director, Albert Parker, and with the information Parker gave him began a decades-long process of reassembling the film from the bits and pieces that survived.

Holmes - The Devils Foot - 1921

Full Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes #2: The Devil's Foot
Cast
Eille Norwood ... Sherlock Holmes
Hubert Willis ... Dr. John Watson
Harvey Braban ... Mortimer Tregennis
Hugh Buckler ... Dr. Sterndale
Directed By Maurice Elvey
Story Written By Arthur Conan Doyle
Details
Country:UK
Language:English
Release Date: April 1921 (UK) June 11 1922 (USA) May 21 (New York)
Production Co: Stoll Picture Productions

Holmes - The Dying Detective - 1921

Full Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Dying Detective Sherlock Holmes (Eille Norwood) knows that a man has killed a former partner but he can't prove it unless he finds a dying detective who knows what really happened. Norwood would play Holmes in over thirty films and he's quite good in the role bring an intelligent looking character but that's about the only good thing here. The story is somewhat hard to follow and again, Holmes isn't given much to do.
Cast
Eille Norwood ... Sherlock Holmes
Hubert Willis ... Dr. John Watson
Harvey Braban ... Mortimer Tregennis
Hugh Buckler ... Dr. Sterndale
Directed By Maurice Elvey
Story Written By Arthur Conan Doyle
Details
Country:UK
Language:English
Release Date: April 1921 (UK) June 11 1922 (USA) May 21 (New York City)
Production Co: Stoll Picture Productions

Holmes - Man With The Twisted Lip - 1921

Full Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes #8: The Man with the Twisted Lip
Nellie St. Clair becomes distraught over the disappearance of Neville, her respectable, middle-class husband last seen in the second story window of a seedy waterfront dive, and goes to Holmes and Watson for help. When Holmes and the police arrive, they find a filthy beggar, not St. Clair, in the building which also serves as an opium den. The missing man's clothes are found in the room along with his son's broken toy and a bloody fingerprint on the window sill. Holmes initially suspects foul play especially after St. Clair's coat, weighted down with with copper coins, is found on a nearby riverbank. However, after the Great Detective interviews the beggar in his cell, he is able to solve the case and reunite Mrs. St. Clair with her husband.
Cast
Eille Norwood ... Sherlock Holmes
Hubert Willis ... Dr. John Watson
Robert Vallis ... Neville St. Clair
Paulette del Baze ... Mrs. Nellie St. Clair
Mme. d'Esterre ... Mrs. Hudson (uncredited)
Directed By Maurice Elvey
Written By William J. Elliot
Story Written By Arthur Conan Doyle
Cinematography By Germain Burger
Details
Country:UK
Language:English
Release Date: April 1921 (UK) February 1 1922 (USA)
Filming Locations: England, UK
Production Co: Stoll Picture Productions

A Helpful Sisterhood - 1914

A girl joins a wealthy sorority and soon finds herself unable to keep up with their free-spending ways
Cast
Norma Talmadge ... Mary
Mary Maurice ... Grandmother
Marie Weirman ... Sophie
Marie Tener ... Louise
Mary Anderson ... Alice
Leo Delaney ... Detective
Van Dyke Brooke ... Mr. Vardon
Arthur Cozine ... John
Cortland Van Deusen ... Bert (as C. Van Deusen)
Ernest Cozzens ... (unconfirmed)
Directed by Van Dyke Brooke
Written by Margaree P. Dryden (story)
Details
Country:USA
Language:English
Release Date:31 March 1914 (USA)
Production Co:Vitagraph Company of America

Sarah Bernhardt on Stage - 1905

So They Tell Me - circa 1919

American movie. So They Tell Me, circa 1919, skewers the top headlines of its day, the World War I era.
Crude animation attempts to punctuate the sardonic and off-color humor supplied by political raconteur Warren W. Brown(?). Though the jokes are somewhat esoteric by today's standards, the tone straddles between bombastic entertainment and nativist propaganda.
Targets include labor activist Eugene Debs, Prohibition, the League of Nations, the Wobblies, Russian & German instability, the Bolsheviks, and fat women in bathing suits and burnt Christmas pudding.
An interesting snapshot of the mood of the US during the war at the beginning of the last century, WWI.

The Martyrs Of The Alamo - The Birth Of Texas - 1915

American movie. The story of the defense of the mission-turned-fortress by 185 Texans against an overwhelming Mexican army in 1836.