A Corner in Wheat

A Corner in Wheat 1909

6.20

On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.

1909

The Voice of the Violin

The Voice of the Violin 1909

4.71

A music teacher is in love with Helen, one of his students, but she rejects him. In his hurt he joins an anarchist group who plan to blow up a rich capitalist's house. When he realizes it's Helen's house, he tries to stop the plan.

1909

The Lonely Villa

The Lonely Villa 1909

6.00

A gang of thieves lure a man out of his home so that they can rob it and threaten his wife and children. The family barricade themselves in an interior room, but the criminals are well-equipped for breaking in. When the father finds out what is happening, he must race against time to get back home.

1909

Those Awful Hats

Those Awful Hats 1909

6.10

A pair of young ladies cause trouble at the cinema with their lavish hats.

1909

The Diabolic Tenant

The Diabolic Tenant 1909

6.75

A man rents an apartment and furnishes it in remarkable fashion.

1909

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream 1909

4.77

An early film adaptation of the Bard's comic fantasy-- and perhaps the first screen adaptation of a Shakespeare play.

1909

Nero, or The Fall of Rome

Nero, or The Fall of Rome 1909

5.50

Roman emperor Nero is used to getting what he wants. He has grown tired of his wife Octavia, and has become infatuated with Poppea. He succeeds in making Poppea the new empress, but soon he faces opposition from an outraged populace. Informed of the danger of an imminent popular uprising, Nero orders to set fire to the city, which he watches from a terrace, rejoicing and playing his lyra.

1909

The Country Doctor

The Country Doctor 1909

6.20

While caring for his sick daughter, a doctor is called away to the sickbed of a neighbor. He finds the neighbor gravely ill, and ignores his wife's pleas to come home and care for his own daughter, who has taken a turn for the worse.

1909

A Strange Meeting

A Strange Meeting 1909

4.33

Mary Rollins is torn between selfish depravity and righteous living. After she's coerced into helping with the burglary of her minister's apartment, she comes face to face with her misdeeds.

1909

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe 1909

5.14

As Poe's lover is slowly dying, he struggles to make money to care for her.

1909

The Sealed Room

The Sealed Room 1909

5.07

The Count sets out to make a private room for him and his Countess, built in such a way no one can see, hear, and most importantly, disturb them. But unbeknownst to the Count, his wife has set her eyes on the court minstrel. Based on Edgar Allan Poe's “The Cask of Amontillado” and Honoré de Balzac's “La Grande Breteche”.

1909

The Mended Lute

The Mended Lute 1909

4.50

In an Indian tribe, a girl escapes from her father and suitor to be with the man she loves.

1909

Le Voleur invisible

Le Voleur invisible 1909

6.40

A man in a suit and cap stops in front of the display of a bookseller, finds and flips… "Invisible Man" by H. G. Wells! Fascinated by the subject, he buys the book and goes home with the intention to test the invisibility formula described by the author…

1909

Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy

Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy 1909

5.80

A smoker falls asleep, and two mischievious fairies play with his pipe. He discovers this, and imprisons them in a cigar box. He removes a flower from the box, which contains a fairy smoking a cigarette. Next, he leaves briefly while his smoking paraphenalia clears itself from the table and the flower reassembles itself into a cigar. He lights the cigar, then breaks a bottle containing the fairy, who interacts with him in various ways reeling from his cigar smoke, building a bonfire that he extinguishes, etc.

1909

Whimsical Illusions

Whimsical Illusions 1909

6.10

In this hand-colored short, a magician and his assistant do a series of magic tricks, including making potted plants appear, among others. Melies played the magician, and the actor Manuel played his assistant.

1909

The Curtain Pole

The Curtain Pole 1909

4.50

An upper class drawing room. A gentleman breaks the curtain pole and goes in search of a replacement, but he stops into a pub first. He buys a very long pole, and causes havoc everywhere he passes, accumulating an ever-growing entourage chasing him, until he escapes them through a bit of movie magic, only to discover that the pole has already been replaced.

1909

The Cord of Life

The Cord of Life 1909

3.50

Antonine, a worthless, good-for-nothing scoundrel, demands money of his cousin Galora, an energetic, provident husband and father. His demands are met with a positive rebuff, and when he becomes insistent be is forcibly ejected by Galora. As he leaves the tenement he vows to get even, and lies in wait until Galora has gone out on business. Climbing to the fifth floor, on which the Galoras live, he watches his chance, which comes when Mrs. Galora goes for an instant to visit a neighbor on the same floor. Darting into the apartment and raising the window he perceives the awful result of a drop to the ground, five stories below, and so evolves a plan that is dastardly in the extreme. Taking the infant child from the cradle, and placing it in a basket he lets it out with a short rope, the end of which he secures by letting the sash down on it, so that to raise the window would precipitate the baby to destruction.

1909

The Mill

The Mill 1909

6.20

Johanna loves poor farmer Joachim, yet marries the wealthy miller. One day, Joachim visits Johanna when he is away. When the miller finds out, he takes revenge.

1909

A Trap for Santa Claus

A Trap for Santa Claus 1909

5.50

The children of a household attempt to capture Santa, but they catch something else entirely.

1909

Comata, the Sioux

Comata, the Sioux 1909

4.20

This story of the Black Hills consistently tells of the unrequited love of a Sioux brave for his chief's daughter, and how he premonished the awful results of her ominous marriage with a white cowboy. Clear Eyes, the daughter of Chief Thunder Cloud, is beloved by Comata, a Sioux brave, but having met and listened to the persuasion of Bud Watkins, a cowboy, leaves her mountain home to become his squaw. Poor little confiding Clear Eyes lives only for Bud, and he at first seems devoted to her, but at the end of two years, a little papoose arriving meanwhile to bless their union, he tires of her, and courts Miss Nellie Howe, a white girl, who thinks him single. Comata, however, has unremittingly watched his movements, and vows to avenge his lost one. Following him to the white girl's home, he sees enough to convince him of the whelp's villainy, so he goes and reveals the truth to Clear Eyes.

1909