The Astronomer's Dream 1898
An astronomer has a terrifying dream.
An astronomer has a terrifying dream.
Divers go to work on a wrecked ship (the battleship Maine that was blown up in Havana harbour during the Spanish-American War), surrounded by curiously disproportionate fish.
The scene opens in an artist's studio where the unfinished statue of William Tell stands upon a pedestal. A clown appears and sticks a clay arm and clay head on the statue, thus completing it. He places a large brick on top of the head to make it stick. When he turns his back the statue turns into a living representation of William Tell. (Edison Catalog)
Santa arrives at a house on Christmas Eve to deliver his presents for the children.
One of the greatest of black art pictures. The conjurer appears before the audience, with his head in its proper place. He then removes his head, and throwing it in the air, it appears on the table opposite another head, and both detached heads sing in unison. The conjurer then removes it a third time. You then see all three of his heads, which are exact duplicates, upon the table at one time, while the conjurer again stands before the audience with his head perfectly intact, singing in unison with the three heads upon the table. He closes the picture by bowing himself from the stage.
St. Anthony is tempted by visions of women, including one that is transformed from the image of Jesus Christ Himself!
Film produced by William K. Dickson’s British Mutoscope and Biograph Company.
A skeleton dances joyously, often collapsing into a heap of bones and quickly putting itself back together.
Queen Vilhelminas coronation.
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.
Papa is reading his newspaper and his little girl tickles his neck with a long straw. Thinking it is a fly papa "shoos" away the supposed fly with his hand…
In this scene is shown a magician behind an ordinary table, upon which he suddenly and mysteriously causes to appear a large box, into which he leaps. The sides of the box fall to the ground, but instead of containing the magician a lively clown steps forth who further mystifies the audience by causing the box to disappear, and in its place is seen a fully laid table with a smoking dinner, to which the clown applies himself. The table, however, suddenly disappears much to the astonishment of the clown, who is confronted by the magician in the garb of Mephistopheles. This he suddenly changes to that of a sculptor, and in the background is seen a pedestal with the bust of a young lady, which comes to life as the sculptor applies the mallet and chisel.
“A file of Spanish soldiers line up the Cubans against a blank wall and fire a volley. The flash of rifles and drifting smoke make a very striking picture.” (Edison film catalog)
With the cameraman atop a moving train car the viewer is given a one minute glimpse of a French urban area.
An illusionist makes a woman disappear in thin air.
Backward tracking shot of a train going from Bushey, England, near the end of its journey to Euston.
Queen Vilhelmina greeting the crowds after the coronation.
The film was filmed in Bibi-Heybat, a suburb of Baku (now the capital of Azerbaijan), during a fire at the Bibi-Heybat oil field. The film was shot on 35mm film by the Lumiere brothers in 1898. On August 2 of the same year, a demonstration of Alexander Michon's program took place, which included the film "Fire at an oil fountain in Bibiheybat".
Several men in a basement barbershop become excited by women walking past the window. The ankles and knees of the passersby are visible to the men below, causing pandemonium among the barbershop customers. Possibly released in 1901.
A preadolescent boy, dressed like a street urchin, performs acrobatic stunts for the camera.