The Great Train Robbery

The Great Train Robbery 1903

7.00

After the train station clerk is assaulted and left bound and gagged, then the departing train and its passengers robbed, a posse goes in hot pursuit of the fleeing bandits.

1903

The Land Beyond the Sunset

The Land Beyond the Sunset 1912

6.35

A poor young boy goes on a field trip and dreams of escaping to a land beyond the sunset.

1912

Frankenstein

Frankenstein 1910

6.04

Frankenstein, a young medical student, trying to create the perfect human being, instead creates a misshapen monster. Made ill by what he has done, Frankenstein is comforted by his fiancée; but on his wedding night he is visited by the monster.

1910

The Cossack Whip

The Cossack Whip 1916

8.00

Feodor Turov, chief of the Russian Czar's secret police, orders his Cossacks to attack a village he believes to be infested with rebels. The Cossacks attack the village and massacre almost everyone, and the young Katerina is whipped to death. Before escaping to England, her sister Darya swears to avenge her sister's death. Years later--now one of the world's most famous prima ballerinas--she returns to Russia. Turov falls in love with her and manages to secure a meeting. She coyly asks him to take her to see a prison first. As it turns out, what he has planned for her is nothing compared to what she has planned for him.

1916

Annabelle Serpentine Dance

Annabelle Serpentine Dance 1895

5.86

In a long, diaphanous skirt, held out by her hands with arms extended, Broadway dancer Annabelle Moore performs. Her dance emphasizes the movement of the flowing cloth. She moves to her right and left across an unadorned stage. Many of the prints were distributed in hand-tinted color.

1895

The 'Teddy' Bears

The 'Teddy' Bears 1907

5.60

A combination of the story of Goldlocks and the Three Bears with the true story of how Teddy Roosevelt spared a bear cub after killing its mother while hunting, an event which led to the popularization of the teddy bear. Goldilocks goes to sleep in the bears' home after watching six teddy bears dance and do acrobatics, viewing them through a knothole in the wall. When she is awoken by the returning bear family, they give chase through the woods, but she runs to the aid of the Old Rough Rider, who saves her.

1907

Monkeyshines, No. 1

Monkeyshines, No. 1 1890

4.90

Experimental film made to test the original cylinder format of the Kinetoscope and believed to be the first film shot in the United States. It shows a blurry figure in white standing in one place making large gestures and is only a few seconds long.

1890

The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots 1895

6.10

A short film depicting the execution of Mary, Queen of the Scots. Mary is brought to the execution block and made to kneel down with her neck over it. The executioner lifts his axe ready to bring it down. After that frame Mary has been replaced by a dummy. The axe comes down and severs the head of the dummy from the body. The executioner picks up the head and shows it around for everyone else to see. One of the first camera tricks to be used in a movie.

1895

What Happened on Twenty-Third Street, New York City

What Happened on Twenty-Third Street, New York City 1901

5.30

A street level view from the sidewalk, looking along the length of 23rd Street. Following actuality footage of pedestrians and street traffic, the actors, a man in summer attire and a woman in an ankle-length dress, walk toward the camera.

1901

Blacksmithing Scene

Blacksmithing Scene 1893

5.50

Three men hammer on an anvil and pass a bottle of beer around. Notable for being the first film in which a scene is being acted out.

1893

The Kiss

The Kiss 1896

5.22

They get ready to kiss, begin to kiss, and kiss in a way that brings down the house every time.

1896

The Enchanted Drawing

The Enchanted Drawing 1900

6.37

A cartoonist defies reality when he draws objects that become three-dimensional after he lifts them off his sketch pad.

1900

The Night Before Christmas

The Night Before Christmas 1905

6.10

On Christmas Eve, Santa feeds his reindeer and loads his sleigh, before going on his journey to deliver toys to the children of the world.

1905

Maniac Chase

Maniac Chase 1904

5.92

A “madman” escapes prison and the torments of his warders.

1904

Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk 1902

5.91

Porter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of the famous fairy tale story of Jack and his magic beanstalk. Borrowing on cinematographic methods reminiscent of 'Georges Melies' , Porter uses animation, double exposure, and trick photography to illustrate the fairy's apparitions, Jack's dream, and the fast growing beanstalk.

1902

Fencing

Fencing 1892

3.40

Early Edison short showing two men fencing.

1892

A Japanese Peach Boy

A Japanese Peach Boy 1910

1

The story begins with the finding of a wonderful peach which comes floating down a small stream and is brought to shore by a little Japanese woman, who takes it to her home. It there transpires that she and her husband are still mourning the loss of a baby, and the wonderful peach when it is cut brings healing to their sorrow, for as the father's hands separate the two parts of the luscious fruit, between them miraculously appears the figure of a tiny baby.

1910

Carmencita

Carmencita 1894

5.20

The first woman to appear in front of an Edison motion picture camera and possibly the first woman to appear in a motion picture within the United States. In the film, Carmencita is recorded going through a routine she had been performing at Koster & Bial's in New York since February 1890.

1894

The Gay Shoe Clerk

The Gay Shoe Clerk 1903

5.50

A woman being fitted for shoes exposes her ankle to the shoe clerk, who is intrigued. He kisses her, but her chaperone hits him with her umbrella.

1903

Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel 1909

2.80

One of the first, of not the first, film adaptation of Grimm's fairytale.

1909