Silent films with English intertitles and musical accompaniment; some have audio commentary. Note:This recording does not have a British classification. To comply with the Video Recording Act 1984 it must be viewed in the library or in a classroom, and may not be borrowed for home use]. Commentary: Barry Salt (v. 2-3).
Contents:
v. 1, The great train robbery and other primary works (75 min.). Edison shorts, 1894-1897 (The kiss (1896), Serpentine dances (1895), Sandow, the strong man (1894), Glenroy Brothers, comic boxing (1894), Cock fight (1896), The barber shop (1894), Feeding the doves (1896), Seminary girls (1897)); Lumière films, 1895-96 (Swimming in the sea, Children digging for clams, Loading a boiler, Dragoons crossing the Sâone, Promenade of ostriches, Childish quarrel, Lion London Zoological Garden, Photograph, Transformation by hats, Carmaux drawing out the coke, Poultry-yard, Arab cortege Geneva, New York Brooklyn Bridge, New York Broadway and Union Sq., Policemen's parade Chicago); A trip to the Moon (Voyage dans la lune, 1902)); Actualities (President McKinley at home (1897), Packtrain on Chilkoot Pass (1898), Skyscrapers of New York City (1903), San Francisco aftermath of earthquake (1906), The dog and his various merits (1908), Moscow clad in show (1908), Airplane flight and crash (1910)); Blue movies (Fire in a burlesaque theatre (1908) Airy fairy Lillian tries on her new corsets (1908), From show girl to burlesque queen (1908), Troubles of a manager of a burlesque show (1908)); The great train robbery (1903); The whole Dam Family and the Dam dog (1905); The golden beetle (1907). v. 2. The European pioneers (58 min.). Louis and Auguste Lumière (Leaving the factory (1895), The baby's meal (1895), Demolition of a wall (1895), The sprinkler sprinkled (L' Arroseur arrosé, 1895), Arrival of congress (1895), Arrival of a train (1895), Card party (1895), Leaving Jerusalem by railway (1896), Snowball fight (1896), A fire run, Lyon (c1896), Niagara Falls (1897), Spanish bullfight (1900)) ; Rough sea at Dover (1895) / Birt Acres ; R.W. Paul (Come along do! (1898), The derby (1896), The countryman and the cinematograph (1901), A chess dispute (1903), Extraordinary cab accident (1903), Buy your own cherries (1904), The motorist (1906)); George Albert Smith (The miller and the sweep (1898), The kiss in the tunnel (1899), Let me dream again (1900), Grandma's reading glass (1900), As seen through a telescope (1900), Sick kitten (1903), Mary Jane's mishap (1903)) ; Daring daylight burglary (1903) / Sheffield Photographic Co. ; Desperate poaching affray (1903) / Haggar & Sons ; Bamforth and Company, Ltd. (The kiss in the tunnel (1899), Ladies skirts nailed to a fence (c1900), The biter bit (1900), Rough sea (c1900) ; Williamson's Kinematograph (Attack on a China mission (1900), The big swallow (1901?), Stop thief! (1901), Fire! (1901), An interesting story (1905). v. 3. Experimentation and discovery (93 min.). Hepworth Mfg. Co. (How it feels to be run over (1900), Explosion of a motor car (1900), Rescued by Rover (1905), The other side ofthe hedge (1905), That fatal sneeze (1907) ; A visit to Peek Frean & Co. (1906) / Cricks and Martin ; A day in the life of a coalminer (1910) /Kineto Production co. ; Pathé Frères (Peeping Tom (1901), History of a crime (1901), Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1905), Reve et réalité (1901), La révolution en Russe (1905), Aladin, or the wonderful lamp (1906), Le cheval emballé (1907), The physician of the castle (1908), Magic bricks (1908)) ; Edison Manufacturing Co. (Dewar's--It's scotch (1898), The gay shoe clerk (1903), Dream of a rarebit fiend (1906). v. 4. The magic of Méliès (103 min.). The untamable whiskers (1904), The cook in trouble (1904), Tchin-Cao, the chinese conjurer (1904), The wonderful living fan (1904), The mermaid (104), The living playing cards (1905), The black imp (1905) The enchanted sedan chair (1905), The scheming gambler's paradise (1905), The hilarious posters (1906), The mysterious retort (1906), The eclipse (1907), Good glue sticks (1907), Long distance wireless photography (1908) The impossible voyage (1904), Georges Méliès, cinema magician (1978). v. 5. Comedy, spectacle, and new horizons (85 min.). The policemen's little run (1907) / Pathé Frères ; Troubles of a grass widower (1908) / Max Linder ; Nero, or the Fall of Rome (1909) ; Onésime, clock-maker (1912) / Pathé ; Winsor McCay an his animated pictures (1911) / Vitagraph ; Making an American citizen (1912) / Alice Guy Blaché ; The Girl and her trust (1912) / Biograph ; directed by D.W. Griffith ; The Bangville Police (1913) / Keystone, directed by Mack Sennett, with Mabel Normand.
Summary:
The genesis of the motion picture medium is recreated in this collection of 133 complete films from cinema's formative period. More than crucial historical artifacts, these films reveal the foundation from which the styles and stories of the contemporary cinema would later arise.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.