The Great Train Robbery

The Great Train Robbery 1903

7.01

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

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

Frankenstein

Frankenstein 1910

6.02

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

Carmencita

Carmencita 1894

5.19

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

Parsifal

Parsifal 1904

1

Klingsor seeks admission to the Holy Grail. Evil summons Kundry. Herzeloid appears with the child Parsifal. Crowning of Amfortas. Wounding of Amfortas. Carrying Amfortas to his bath. Kundry brings relief to Amfortas. Parsifal reproached for killing the Swan. Kundry succumbs to Evil. Knights entering the Holy Grail. Parsifal unmoved. Klingsor summons Kundry. Parsifal enters the Magic Garden. Kundry kisses Parsifal. Parsifal calls upon the Saviour. Parsifal repulses Kundry. Klingsor hurls the Sacred Spear. Destruction of the Magic Garden. Guernemanz restores Kundry. Parsifal appears with Sacred Spear. Kundry washes Parsifal's feet. Amfortas tears open his wound. Parsifal heals Amfortas. Parsifal becomes King of the Holy Grail.

1904

Life of an American Fireman

Life of an American Fireman 1903

6.00

Porter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of firemen responding to a house fire. They leave the station with their horse drawn pumper, arrive on the scene, and effect the safe rescue of a woman from the burning house. But wait, she tells them of her child yet asleep in the burning bedroom...

1903

Luis Martinetti, Contortionist

Luis Martinetti, Contortionist 1894

5.00

Luis Martinetti, a contortionist suspended from acrobatic flying rings, contorts himself for about thirty seconds. This is one of the first films made for Edison's kinetoscopes.

1894

Newark Athlete

Newark Athlete 1891

4.44

Experimental film fragment made with the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film.

1891

The Kiss

The Kiss 1896

5.25

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

1896

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 1910

6.30

Made by the Edison Manufacturing Company and directed by Edwin S. Porter, the film starred Gladys Hulette as Alice. Being a silent film, naturally all of Lewis Carroll's nonsensical prose could not be used, and, being only a one-reel picture, most of Carroll's memorable characters in his original 1865 novel similarly could not be included. What was used in the film was faithful in spirit to Carroll, and in design to the original John Tenniel illustrations. Variety complimented the picture by comparing it favorably to the "foreign" film fantasies then flooding American cinemas.

1910

Blacksmithing Scene

Blacksmithing Scene 1893

5.55

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 Treasure of Captain Kidd

The Treasure of Captain Kidd 1913

1

The story of this film begins with the ominous day on which Lord Bellomont gave William Kidd a commission to rid the seas of pirates. Instead of complying with Lord Bellomont's desires, Kidd immediately commenced a series of piratical attacks at first on French and Spanish vessels and later on ships of all nationalities indiscriminately.

1913

A Morning Bath

A Morning Bath 1896

4.00

“Mammy is washing her little pickaninny. She thrusts him, kicking and struggling, into a tub full of foaming suds.” (Edison film catalog)

1896

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol 1910

6.40

Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.

1910

The Call of the City

The Call of the City 1915

5.00

A naive young lady comes to the big city but is unfortunately befriended by a couple who probably are up to no good. However, she is unaware of this and accepts their offer to help. Soon, and completely out of the blue, another crook accosts them--and the two men struggle until one of them is killed.

1915

Monkeyshines, No. 3

Monkeyshines, No. 3 1890

3.10

Experimental film that follows up on the results of "Monkeyshines, No. 1" and "Monkeyshines, No. 2". Once again, an Edison company worker moves around in front of the motion picture camera. Lost film.

1890

The Adventure of the Hasty Elopement

The Adventure of the Hasty Elopement 1914

6.00

An amateur detective's automobile is stolen by a young woman who is determined to elope, leading to a complicated chase involving several vehicles.

1914

The Awakening of Ruth

The Awakening of Ruth 1917

1

Ruth Hoagland grows up on the Florida Keys with no companion other than her father, a half-witted fisherman who spends most of his time hunting for buried treasure. Vacationing yachtsman Bob Winthrop and Ruth fall in love, but Winthrop returns to New York, and after a year, has forgotten Ruth. After finding two chests in a cave, Ruth locates her father unconscious from a fall. She goes to the mainland for help, but returns with the Reverend Josiah Arbuthnot and Dr. William Strong, to find her father dead. Strong, out of kindness, offers to marry her, but Ruth declines, sure that Winthrop will return.

1917