History and Appreciation Of The Cinema
by BrockPace | created - 16 Jun 2014 | updated - 23 Jun 2014 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Landmarks of Early Film (1997 Video)
PG-13 | 118 min | Drama
A collection of early silent films.
Votes: 27
2. The Kiss (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Romance
In a medium close-up shot of the first kiss ever recorded on screen, two fervent lovers cuddle and talk passionately at hair's breadth, just before the love-smitten gentleman decides to give his chosen one an innocent peck.
Director: William Heise | Stars: May Irwin, John C. Rice
Votes: 3,677
3. Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1895)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
Annabelle (Whitford) Moore performs one of her popular dance routines. She uses her dance steps and her long, flowing skirts to create a variety of visual patterns.
Directors: William K.L. Dickson, William Heise | Star: Annabelle Moore
Votes: 2,405
4. Sandow (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Sport
Strong-man Eugene (Eugen) Sandow poses in a long shot on a bare stage against a black background, wearing only tight trunks and laced sandals. He begins with his arms folded against his ... See full summary »
Director: William K.L. Dickson | Star: Eugen Sandow
Votes: 1,078
5. Glenroy Brothers (Comic Boxing) (1894)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short, Sport
The Glenroy Brothers perform a portion of their vaudeville act, "The Comic View of Boxing: The Tramp & the Athlete", which depicts a boxer with a classic style trying to contend with an opponent who uses a very unorthodox approach.
Director: William K.L. Dickson | Star: The Glenroy Brothers
Votes: 851
6. The Cock Fight (1894)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
Two gamecocks fight in the Edison Company film studio. This feature was remade later in the same year, with additional detail added.
Director: William K.L. Dickson
Votes: 649
7. The Barbershop (1893)
1 min | Documentary, Short
Customer gets a lightning-fast shave.
Directors: William K.L. Dickson, William Heise
Votes: 1,208
8. Feeding the Doves (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Documentary
A woman and a young girl each carry containers of bird feed, and they toss occasional handfuls to the chickens and doves in the farmyard. Most of the chickens stay nearby, but the doves occasionally fly off and then return to eat more.
Director: James H. White
Votes: 910
9. Seminary Girls (1897)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Comedy
"A number of young ladies, in their night robes, are having a frolic, and are interrupted by a teacher. One girl makes herself *very* conspicuous by crawling under a bed."
Director: James H. White
Votes: 928
10. Leaving the Factory (1895)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
Workers leaving the Lumière factory for lunch in Lyon, France in 1895; a place of great photographic innovation and one of the birth places of cinema.
Director: Louis Lumière
Votes: 7,557
11. The Arrival of a Train (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
A train arrives at La Ciotat station.
Directors: Auguste Lumière, Louis Lumière | Stars: Madeleine Koehler, Marcel Koehler, Mrs. Auguste Lumiere, Jeanne-Joséphine Lumière
Votes: 12,879
12. Baby's Meal (1895)
1 min | Documentary, Short
As part of a maiden public film screening at the Salon Indien, on December 28, in Paris, Auguste Lumière pivots the centre of attention around his baby daughter, as he tries to feed her from a spoon.
Director: Louis Lumière | Stars: Auguste Lumière, Mrs. Auguste Lumiere, Andrée Lumière
Votes: 3,515
13. The Waterer Watered (1895)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Comedy
An impudent child plays a prank on a gardener innocently watering his plants.
Director: Louis Lumière | Stars: François Clerc, Benoît Duval
Votes: 5,849
14. Dragoons Crossing the Sâone (2016)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
A stationary camera looks across Burgundy's River Sâone toward a small military encampment. Four horsemen enter the water in the foreground, each riding his horse as it swims across toward ... See full summary »
Votes: 624
15. Promenade of Ostriches, Paris Botanical Gardens (1896)
1 min | Short, Documentary
Fin de siécle elegance. A parade of sorts passes in front of a stationary camera. An ostrich pulls a cart in which two well-dressed girls sit, two mules pull a large cart full of children, ... See full summary »
Director: Louis Lumière
Votes: 630
16. Childish Quarrel (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
"Two babies are shown seated in high chairs and apparently enjoying themselves. Suddenly one snatches a toy from the other, and they indulge in hair-pulling."
Director: Louis Lumière | Stars: Andrée Lumière, Suzanne Lumière
Votes: 963
17. Lion, London Zoological Garden (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Documentary
A male lion, right next to bars that are about 6 or 8 inches apart, keenly watches a uniformed zoo attendant toss small morsels of food into the cage. The lion alternates between finding ... See full summary »
Director: Alexandre Promio
Votes: 710
18. Demolition of a Wall (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
Auguste Lumière directs four workers in the demolition of an old wall at the Lumière factory. One worker is pressing the wall inwards with a jackscrew, while another is pushing it with a ... See full summary »
Director: Louis Lumière | Star: Auguste Lumière
Votes: 2,771
19. Transformation by Hats, Comic View (1895)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Comedy
The transformation of the same character in six different characters. A vision of the act of transformation.
Director: Louis Lumière | Star: Félicien Trewey
Votes: 1,239
20. Carmaux, défournage du coke (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Documentary
Carmaux is in south-central France, near the Tarn River. As a brick of coke, about four feet high and three feet wide, is gradually pushed out of a smelter into a yard, one worker sprays it... See full summary »
Director: Louis Lumière
Votes: 812
21. Poultry-Yard (1896)
1 min | Short, Documentary
Two young girls feed a flock of domesticated ducks while an adult woman walks by and watches them.
Director: Louis Lumière
Votes: 578
22. Bataille de neige (1897)
1 min | Documentary, Short, Comedy
People start a snowball fight on a street in Lyons, France.
Director: Louis Lumière
Votes: 1,996
23. Partie de cartes (1897)
1 min | Short
A card game over drinks with three men, including Antoine Lumiere and Felicien Trewey.
Director: Leopoldo Fregoli | Star: Leopoldo Fregoli
Votes: 515
24. New York: Broadway at Union Square (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Documentary
Short film depicting New York's Broadway and Union Square that gives an insight of everyday life and traffic at that time.
Director: Alexandre Promio
Votes: 724
25. A Trip to the Moon (1902)
TV-G | 13 min | Short, Action, Adventure
A group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Georges Méliès, Victor André, Bleuette Bernon, Brunnet
Votes: 55,840
26. The Great Train Robbery (1903)
TV-G | 11 min | Short, Action, Adventure
A group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.
Director: Edwin S. Porter | Stars: Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, A.C. Abadie, George Barnes, Justus D. Barnes
Votes: 21,007
27. Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
Not Rated | 68 min | Documentary
A man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
Director: Dziga Vertov | Stars: Mikhail Kaufman, Elizaveta Svilova
Votes: 28,010
28. The Dog and His Various Merits (1908)
Not Rated | 2 min | Short, Documentary
We see a working dog, a beggar's dog, a shepherd's dog, and a milkman's dog. The working dog is locked inside a large wire wheel; the dog runs inside the wheel, turning it to run a machine.... See full summary »
Votes: 463
29. The Policemen's Little Run (1907)
6 min | Comedy, Short
A policeman spots a dog stealing a piece of meat from a butcher's shop, and gives chase. Soon several more policemen have joined the pursuit. But the chase does not turn out as the policemen expect.
Director: Ferdinand Zecca
Votes: 678
30. The Girl and Her Trust (1912)
17 min | Short, Drama, Thriller
Some tramps assault the telegraph office trying to rob $2000 delivered by train. The telegraphist girl, trying to help, telegraphs the next station and then the men are captured.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Dorothy Bernard, Wilfred Lucas, Alfred Paget, Charles Hill Mailes
Votes: 1,299
31. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
G | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.
Directors: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly | Stars: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen
Votes: 260,860 | Gross: $8.82M
32. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Romance
When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey
Votes: 73,895
33. My Man Godfrey (1936)
Approved | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler - but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye.
Director: Gregory La Cava | Stars: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick
Votes: 26,464
34. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
San Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre
Votes: 166,659 | Gross: $2.11M
35. Strangers on a Train (1951)
PG | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A psychopathic man tries to forcibly persuade a tennis star to agree to his theory that two strangers can get away with murder by submitting to his plan to kill the other's most-hated person.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll
Votes: 141,092 | Gross: $7.63M
36. Paths of Glory (1957)
Approved | 88 min | Drama, War
After a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready
Votes: 212,450
37. Breathless (1960)
Not Rated | 90 min | Crime, Drama
A small-time crook, hunted by the authorities for a car theft and the murder a police officer, attempts to persuade a hip American journalism student to run away with him to Italy.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Van Doude, Jean-Luc Godard
Votes: 87,983 | Gross: $0.34M
38. Persona (1966)
Not Rated | 83 min | Drama, Thriller
A nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personae are melding together.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook, Gunnar Björnstrand
Votes: 131,028
39. Taxi Driver (1976)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama
A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Albert Brooks
Votes: 921,541 | Gross: $28.26M
40. Unforgiven (1992)
R | 130 min | Drama, Western
Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner Ned Logan and a young man, The "Schofield Kid."
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris
Votes: 436,443 | Gross: $101.16M
41. Adaptation. (2002)
R | 115 min | Comedy, Drama
A lovelorn screenwriter becomes desperate as he tries and fails to adapt 'The Orchid Thief' by Susan Orlean for the screen.
Director: Spike Jonze | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton
Votes: 203,171 | Gross: $22.25M
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