1900

As if by magic, a weary traveller trying to undress, is foiled by his mutinous clothes as they teleport and multiply before his eyes, refusing to stay on the clothing rack.

An express train crashes into a goods train and plunges down an embankment.

The only film record ever made of the original star of Rostand's famous play performing a scene from his most famous role. It is accompanied by a sound-on-cylinder recording of Coquelin's voice reciting one of Cyrano's speeches.

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

When this picture opens, you see a large book mounted on an easel. An old student is seen poring over old manuscripts when he advances toward the book, and by the aid of some mysterious power he causes an old man, a clown and a pretty girl to emerge therefrom, turning the page each time and taking a different person from the page in view. Each tries to make love to the maiden, when they are immediately returned to the place from whence they came. Marvelously mystical.

Right in front of our very eyes, two attractive and feminine women metamorphose into two professional wrestlers who begin a no-holds-barred wrestling match.

A divinely inspired peasant woman becomes an army captain for France and then is martyred after she is captured.

A band-leader assembles an orchestra by mystifying means.

The entire story of Christmastide is here depicted. The scene opens in a large boudoir of an apparently wealthy man's home. His children, assisted by their governess, are about to retire. Before lying down they hang up their stockings on the edge of the bed. The picture changes and night appears. We see the housetops of the town and angels are flying about depositing packages in each of the chimneys. Santa Claus is also busy and furnishes our little friends with numerous presents. Again a change in the picture and we see the corridor of the old village church. The sexton, an old grey haired man, stands by, while a number of lusty boys pull the rope attached to the great bell in the belfry. The bell tolling in the steeple bursts into view, after which the interior of the church is seen with the full choir accompanied by the organist and choir boys singing the Christmas hymn. Another change and the boudoir is again before us and the children are looking over their presents while their parents are receiving the congratulations of their friends who have come to visit them. The picture changes into that of the great dining hall with the guests sitting around the table and the beggar is brought in and given a place at the table. The conclusion of this beautiful subject is a pretty tableau. We cannot speak too highly of the dissolving effects of this film. One picture dissolves into the other and thus the story is continuous from beginning to the end. Artistically beautiful.

A crew of railroad workmen are busy along the tracks of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. When the Black Diamond Express appears in the distance, they begin to pull back from the rails to clear the way. As the train approaches their work site, some of them begin to wave at it.

In one glorious point-of-view shot, a vehicle dashes full-speed into an ill-starred passer-by.

This panoramic scene is taken from a Seine steamboat and gives a rapid view of the banks of the river. The launch steams under six bridges and past the Street of Nations. The United States Building is a prominent white domed structure, gay with national flags. The picture ends at the famous three million dollar bridge, the Pont Alexander III.

Presumably, this is one in a series of four short dance performances devoted to the seasons. WINTER, SNOW DANCE appears to be the only one of these films to survive (although it isn't clear if Alice Guy made the other three or not). Note the unusual copyright notice that appears momentarily in the lower right-hand corner of the screen and then disappears just as quickly. Numerous tricks of this sort were used during the era to discourage counterfeiting and illegal distribution.

The titles tell us this film is based on an incident in the Boxer Rebellion. A man tries to defend a woman and a large house against Chinese attackers. They attack with swords, guns, and paddles. He's over-matched. What will become of the mission, its defenders, and its occupants?

From a stationary camera, we see the base of the Eiffel Tower, a crowd walking in the foreground during the 1900 Paris Exposition. Behind the tower and to the left is a smokestack pouring out smoke. A man and a woman, each wearing a hat, walk in front of the camera and appear in silhouette. Except for the trail of smoke, the sky is clear.

A man comes onto the stage through the fireplace, divides himself, and sits on stools on either side of a table. He places a woman's head on the table and a hat on her head. She speaks to both men, turning her head as she talks. One man crawls under the table to demonstrate that no body is hidden there. The second conjurer produces the rest of her and both men seek her affections. A Mephistophelian figure enters and dispatches the woman in to thin air. The first two conjurers leave, and the devil removes his disguise, bows, and exits.

A man and two women sit down to eat dinner, but several unexpected surprises prevent them from their repast: the legs of the table grow, the table disappears into the floor, and a ghostly spirit appears and takes possession of the man.

A marvelously clear picture taken from the top of the elevator of the Eiffel Tower during going up and coming down of the car. This wonderful tower is 1,000 feet in height, and the picture produces a most sensational effect. As the camera leaves the ground and rises to the top of the tower, the enormous white city opens out to the view of the astonished spectator. Arriving at the top of the tower, a bird's eye view of the Exposition looking toward the Trocadero, and also toward the Palace of Electricity, is made, and the camera begins its descent. The entire trip is shown on a 200-foot film.

You aren't imaging things. This short, filmed on the aforementioned Avenue de l'Opera in Paris, is backward as intended. As a bit of excessive cleverness, the music (a recent addition) is scored (or, rather, recorded) back-to-front as well. If you'd ever wondered what things were like in the most famous city in France at the beginning of the twentieth century and, specifically, in reverse, now you'll know.

The stairs of the Alma Bridge.

This picture was taken at the historical point signified by the above title, where so many daring and venturesome miners have lost their lives in attempting to shoot these mad and turbulent rapids in their flat bottom boats, constructed for the purpose of navigating the treacherous Yukon River, which flows through the rich gold fields of Alaska. This picture was secured at the time a party of miners in a boat were making their way over one of the very rough spots. As they are tossed about by the mad current, the waves and spray are seen to dash high into the air and at times entirely envelop the eager gold seekers. This is a very realistic and exciting picture.

A boy looks through glasses at various objects, seen magnified.