The '?' Motorist

The '?' Motorist 1906

6.42

A magical glowing white motorcar ignores policemen, drives up buildings, flies through outer space, and can transform into a horse and carriage.

1906

The Countryman and the Cinematograph

The Countryman and the Cinematograph 1901

5.35

A satire on the way that audiences unaccustomed to the cinema didn't know how to react to the moving images on a screen - in this film, an unsophisticated (and stereotypical) country yokel is alternately baffled and terrified, in the latter case by the apparent approach of a steam train.

1901

A Chess Dispute

A Chess Dispute 1903

5.84

A stationary camera looks on as two dapper gents play a game of chess. One drinks and smokes, and when he looks away, his opponent moves two pieces. A fight ensues, first with the squirting of a seltzer bottle, then with fisticuffs. The combatants wrestle each other to the floor and continue the fight out of the camera's view, hidden by the table. The waiter arrives to haul both of them out.

1903

An Extraordinary Cab Accident

An Extraordinary Cab Accident 1903

5.73

A man and a woman talk beside a street near a corner where a cop stands. Just as a horse-drawn cart rounds the corner, the man backs off the sidewalk saying good-by to his companion. The horse and cart flatten him and continue on, out of the camera's stationary range. The cop runs after the cab, the woman dashes to the body. The cop brings back the driver; is the victim dead?

1903

Rough Sea at Dover

Rough Sea at Dover 1896

5.07

The surf pounds against a breakwater on which are visible several people standing. The wall looks to be about 20 feet above sea level and extend at least 100 feet into the water. A large wave rolls picturesquely along the wall toward the shore. Smaller waves follow. Then the scene changes to river water flowing. We see both shores: in the foreground a log and tree branch are visible; on the far shore, there appears to be a low wall with trees beyond it. The camera is stationary in both shots.

1896

Buy Your Own Cherries

Buy Your Own Cherries 1904

4.58

A barmaid plies a swell with smiles and with cherries from a box that's just been delivered. When she refuses a cherry to a roughly-dressed tradesman who runs a tab at the bar, he pays off his debt in a huff, using all his week's pay. He then storms penniless and without provisions into his ill-furnished house where his wife and two children, ill-clad and ill-fed, cower. Is there any hope for him and for his family? If he does realize how low he's sunk, what help is there to lift him up? Will the family ever know the taste of cherries?

1904

The Vanishing Lady

The Vanishing Lady 1897

5.40

Robert W. Paul production, "The Vanishing Lady", 1897. Man in roman costume carves figure of girl in doorway. As he finishes, the statue comes to life. The man expresses great love and desire for her, but every time the man goes to grab the girl she vanishes and reappears somewhere else.

1897

Come Along, Do!

Come Along, Do! 1898

4.67

Come Along, Do! is an 1898 British short silent comedy film, produced and directed by Robert W. Paul. The film was of 1 minute duration, but only forty-some seconds have survived. The whole of the second shot is only available as film stills. The film features an elderly man at an art gallery who takes a great interest in a nude statue to the irritation of his wife. The film has cinematographic significance as the first example of film continuity. It was, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "one of the first films to feature more than one shot." In the first shot, an elderly couple is outside an art exhibition having lunch and then follow other people inside through the door. The second shot shows what they do inside.

1898

The Haunted Curiosity Shop

The Haunted Curiosity Shop 1901

5.25

An old proprietor is startled and haunted by the strange happenings inside his curiosity shop.

1901

Tom Merry, Lightning Cartoonist, Sketching Kaiser Wilhelm II

Tom Merry, Lightning Cartoonist, Sketching Kaiser Wilhelm II 1895

4.00

A tiny fragment of an actuality film of Tom Merry (William Mechem), a 'lightning sketch' caricaturist performing his act for the camera and producing a large profile caricature of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The loss of the rest of the film has bequeathed us 6 seconds that are of Mechem standing next to the completed portrait and sadly, that is all there is. An early film made by Birt Acres for R.W. Paul. (see release information for further detail).

1895

A Railway Collision

A Railway Collision 1900

4.10

The scene is a railroad track on the side of a steep mountain, with a tunnel in the background, toward which a train is running at a high rate of speed. At this instant the audience is appalled at the sight of a second train rushing out of the tunnel. Both trains are on the same track and traveling toward each other at a high rate of speed. They collide. Cars and engines are smashed into fragments and thrown down the steep incline. (Edison Catalog)

1900

Whaling Afloat and Ashore

Whaling Afloat and Ashore 1908

6.00

A short documentary about industrial whaling. The surviving footage runs for approximately 12 minutes.

1908

Untitled Kinetoscope Comedy

Untitled Kinetoscope Comedy 1895

3.20

An 1895 British short black and white silent comedy film featuring two drunken men and a boy squabbling in a small bar.

1895

The Miser's Doom

The Miser's Doom 1899

4.00

A miser dies of shock when the ghost of a poor woman appears.

1899

The Waif and the Wizard

The Waif and the Wizard 1901

6.50

The Waif and the Wizard features the same young man who appeared in Undressing Extraordinary (and who might be early filmmaker Walter Booth). It's another early example of a two-shot film along the lines of Paul's earlier film Come Along Do!. The young man plays a magician who, after completing his act, agrees to go home with the young boy from the audience who helped him perform his tricks. At the boy's home he finds a sick sister and a worried mother being threatened with eviction by her landlord.

1901