Although not the first feature-length animated film, as is sometimes thought, it was the first cartoon to feature a character with an appealing personality. The appearance of a true character distinguished it from earlier animated "trick films", such as those of Blackton and Cohl, and makes it the predecessor to later popular cartoons such as those by Walt Disney. The film was also the first to be created using keyframe animation.
A traveler stays the night at a rural inn, but gets no rest as he is tormented by various spectres and mysterious happenings.
Cartoon figures announce, via comic strip balloons, that they will move - and move they do, in a wildly exaggerated style. Also known as "Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics".
A hungry mosquito spots and follows a man on his way home. The mosquito slips into the room where the man is sleeping, and gets ready for a meal. His first attempts startle the man and wake him up, but the mosquito is very persistent.
A cartoonist draws faces and figures on a blackboard - and they come to life.
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.
To avoid ruin, an impoverished count arranges a marriage between his daughter and a wealthy man she does not love. After an accident, she is taken in by a gifted artist who saves her from an unseemly fate.
This domestic comedy depicts a woman who stops her husband's gambling habit by having her cousin stage a fake police raid on the weekly poker game.
A condensed silent film version of the Charles Dickens classic about the French Revolution and its subsequent Reign of Terror.
A bumbling sawmill employee tries to win the hand of the owner's daughter while staying out of the clutches of the mill's bullying foreman.
Robert Ware takes it upon himself to tame wild girl, Mag, to prove to his doubting friend Arnold, he can turn her into a graceful young lady. Later, when Arnold is in the war, he meets a pretty nurse who greatly impresses him. Back home he recalls the pleasant encounter to Robert, telling him of the gentle beauty he never forgot. Mag, now Margaret, overhears the story and reveals to Arnold, she was the nurse. The surprised Arnold now has to admit that Robert was right about gentling the little wild cat.
An early film adaptation of the Bard's comic fantasy-- and perhaps the first screen adaptation of a Shakespeare play.
Newly married Thomas and Mary MacGregor attend the village fair on their honeymoon. The balloon ascension is advertised for the afternoon. Everything is in readiness and Mary induces Thomas to enter the basket of the balloon. Some mischievous boys cut the ropes holding the balloon and it rises, taking the pair on a honeymoon trip entirely unexpected. They travel fast and long until the balloon collapses upon a desert island, among a tribe of cannibals, who think the couple are gods descended from the skies. Thomas deposes the king and runs things with a high hand. The natives, however, as they become better acquainted with Thomas and Mary, realize that they are only human beings like themselves. They decide to put an end to their reign and begin preparations for their execution and cooking. The night before the day they are to be put to death, Thomas and Mary escape to the seashore, where they hail a passing vessel, which lands a boat loaded with men, who rescue the terrified couple.
Even though his widowed mother and sweetheart, Mary Putnam, disapprove, Worth Stuyvesant insists on going to West Point and becoming a soldier. Ultimately, Mary breaks off their engagement and Stuyvesant goes on a bender. His conduct is reported to the commander, who sends him to the sub post of Del Rio for 60 days of tour duty. There, Stuyvesant meets Lola Montez, an adventuress. With the help of a couple of her pals, Lola gets him drunk and marries him. But Stuyvesant lives up to his duties as a husband and surprisingly, Lola renounces her old ways and becomes a model wife.
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.
Larry and his wife are desperately poor—with no food. However, the butcher and grocer show up to collect money they are owed and they won't take no for an answer. They are ready to take anything and everything and eventually chase the pair up onto the room—where various stunts occur.
A government official staying in a hotel puts some important secret papers in the hotel safe. A ring of spies out to get the papers manages to steal them from the safe, and a lady government agent enlists the help of the hotel's bumbling bellhop in getting back the papers and breaking up the spy ring.
The household of Senator Walker consists of himself, his ward, Mary, and his nephew, Herbert. The other members of his household are John, an old servant, Lucy the maid, and a half dozen more servants. John is smitten with Lacy. She doesn't take him seriously, owing to the difference in their ages. Mr. Walker, rather old and feeble, draws up his will and leaves the bulk of his property to Mary and Herbert. He bequeaths $5,000 to his faithful servant John. Herbert is very fond of his uncle. The old gentleman is very much attached to Mary and very desirous that she and Herbert should be wed at the proper time.
That the way to a man's heart is by means of his appetite, is strikingly shown. Mother-in-law comes to visit the newly wedded couple and finds the young man somewhat discontented. It is no wonder, for his wife is so engrossed in her "art," although only an amateur, that she forgets all about cooking dinner and such like trivialities.
