Pathé Frères

A whale is hunted in the southern hemisphere by the crew of a sailing ship: it is harpooned twice, using a cannon, and taken back to the shore. In the second part, the whale is butchered at a whaling station. A lady with a parasol looks on, while in the background are the sailing ships used to hunt whales. These are excerpts from a 1909 film called "La Pêche à Baleine dans les mers du Sud" made by Jean Nédelec and cut down in the 1920's for the Pathé Baby home movie projector.

The story of the life and passion of Jesus Christ, from the proclamation of his birth to his ascension into heaven.

Rome, June 1800. Floria Tosca is a celebrated opera singer, better known as La Tosca. Her lover is Mario Cavaradossi, a young artist and Bomapartist sympathizer. When the latter helps Angelotti, the leader of the opposition, to escape from prison and hides him in La Tosca's home, he antagonizes Baron Scarpia, the ruthless chief of police, all the more as his love for Tosca is unrequited. Scarpia has Mario arrested and condemned to death. Upset, Floria begs the Baron for her lover's life. He accepts to have the bullets of the firing squad replaced by blanks if... she sleeps with him. She agrees nominally but when she finds herself with Scarpia, she stabs him to death. She then goes to see Mario in his cell and lets him know about his phony execution. But Scarpia had had time to get the order reversed and in the early hours of the morning, Mario is executed in the proper manner. In despair, Tosca throws herself into the void...

Segundo de Chomón's remake of Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon.

For some, misfortune does not need the test of time. It is the case of three-year-old Marcelle Monfort who sees her mother die suddenly in a public garden while her ruined father is on his way to America. Taken in by Madame Jalin, a washerwoman, Marcelle grows up enduring the jealousy of Louise, Madame Jalin's daughter. Having had enough of the situation Marcelle leaves home and soon gets ill. Fortunately, she benefits for a time from Mademoiselle de Beaurenon's compassionate support. But her troubles are not over yet, for her benefactor dies and she is kicked out of home by the good lady's greedy relatives who think they are her heirs. Rose, the old domestic, takes care of Marcelle until, at long last, luck takes a turn for the better. Not only does her father come back from the USA but Madame de Beaurenon also leaves her all her assets.

The story begins with Jean Valjean as a humble worker endeavoring to provide for his invalid mother. They live in a squalid home, made more wretched by his inability to provide sufficient food. He goes out in search of work, but is unsuccessful. Finally, in desperation, he steals a loaf of bread regardless of consequences. He hastens home with it, pursued by a crowd, and gives it to his mother. Valjean is arrested for the theft and sentenced to five years at hard labor.

Everyman Coupeau's attempts to stop drinking are routinely thwarted by the wicked and vengeful Virginie. Based on Zola's novel, Capellani's film is about the free fall of a group of working-class French folk into degradation and tragedy due to carelessness, jealousy, and alcohol abuse. At the time of its release, L'Assommoir was hugely successful.

Two men get into a knife fight, in a Corsican tavern, and one of them kills another and escapes. He takes refuge in his house but escapes when the guard arrives, starting a persecution to the death.

"Le Pied de Mouton" is an adaptation of an old French stage play titled "The Talisman" written by Alphonse Martainville and César Ribié. The atmosphere is hilarious, oneiric and delicious. The film tells the story of Gusman and Léonora, two lovers who must deal with many spells and troubles in order to preserve their love. The tale is full of princes and princesses, damsels in distress, good witches and wicked lords and is an amazing piece of work.

As Jean is walking across the countryside in search of work, he helps and befriends a young woman, Françoise, who is having trouble controlling the cow that she is leading. Jean finds work at a local farm, but he soon finds himself caught in the middle of the conflicts in Françoise's family.

Based on the story of "Sleeping Beauty" by Charles Perrault. Titles read: The Christening of the Princess; The Good Fairies Fatal Prediction; The Royal Edict; The Princess is Sixteen Years Old; Searching for the Princess; The Prediction Comes True; Thou Shalt Sleep for a Hundred Years; A Hundred Years later the Prince Charming Goes Hunting; Prince Charming Dismisses His Escort; The Castle of Sleep; The Guard's Hall; You Have Been a Long Time Coming, prince; The Wedding of the Sleeping Beauty to Prince Charming.

Le comte de Monte Cristo (15 Episodes). Monte Cristo, based upon Alexandre Dumas' novel of the same name, tells the story of Edmond Dantès, an innocent man jailed for 14 years after being wrongfully convicted. He succeeds to escape prison, finds a treasure on the isle of Montecristo and wreaks revenge on the ones who put him in prison.

Dr Faust is continually obsessed with his quest for knowledge and absolute pleasure. One day, the demon Mephistopheles appears to him in his study in human guise and offers him a deal: a lifetime of total pleasure in exchange for the life of his fiancée Margaret. Faust accepts but is soon forced to realise the impossibility of crossing the boundaries of knowledge and the limits imposed by God.

Adapted from Hugo's eponym novel, the story concerns a Guernseyman named Gilliatt, a social outcast who falls in love with Deruchette, the niece of a local shipowner, Mess Lethierry. When Lethierry's ship is wrecked on the Roches Douvres, a perilous reef, Deruchette promises to marry whomever can salvage the ship's steam engine. Gilliatt eagerly volunteers, and the story follows both his physical trials and tribulations.

This Gaston Velle movie from 1904 was a fairly venturesome piece of film-making for the era. First, its credits include Jules Verne: his second after the Méliès TRIP TO THE MOON a couple of years earlier. Second, it uses a dozen cuts, irised lenses -- the balloonists' views through their telescope -- panning shots, combined images and tints. The tints were standard for the era, but everything else had to be achieved with great difficulty. In an era when most movies still lasted a minute with a stationary camera and a single set-up, this was pretty much state of the art.

Directed by Albert Capellani.

This French film isn't that well known today but it will mainly appeal to those film buffs with a thing for early cinema or those wanting to see some fantasy sequences but those there will probably be disappointed. The film runs just a few seconds short of four minutes as several women are dressed up as bees dancing around their hive. The "Queen Bee" goes to take a nap and she's attacked by a spider. The spider sequence is what gets this film a mention by fantasy fans but sadly this scene takes place around the 3:13 mark and lasts just a few seconds.