annos singulos 1907

In this film, Méliès concocts a combination fairy- and morality tale about the foolishness of trying to look too deeply into the workings of an unstable and inscrutable universe. At a medieval school, an old astronomer begins to teach a class of young men, all armed with telescopes, about the art of scrutinising an imminent eclipse. When a mechanical clock strikes twelve, all the young men rush to the windows and fix their telescopes on the heavens.

An impecunious chap is unable to pay his rent, whereupon he is ejected, but all his furniture is retained and he is allowed to remove only his rolling bed. Pulling this a few blocks, he is exhausted and lies down on the bed to rest. He is soon the center of attraction, and the crowd continues to gather, when the police order him away, and as he refuses to move he is started off by the officers, who guide him for a time, but are forcibly deterred by indignant citizens from further interference. The impecunious man and his bed, which gains momentum as it runs down the inclines, cause much excitement en route, and finally arrive at the business center, where it comes to a stop alongside the walk. Our friend has purloined a fur coat and an auto horn on his tour, and now presents a modern chauffeur. (Gaumont catalogue)

A piano entices anyone who comes near.

A boy spreads glue all over town.

The film, a parody of the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, follows a fisherman, Yves, who dreams of traveling by submarine to the bottom of the ocean, where he encounters both realistic and fanciful sea creatures, including a chorus of naiads played by dancers from the Théâtre du Châtelet. Méliès's design for the film includes cut-out sea animals patterned after Alphonse de Neuville's illustrations for Verne's novel.

The first adaptation of Lew Wallace's novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.

Dramatization of the real-life shooting of Stanford White by Harry K. Thaw.

An extremely clumsy man tries to clean a woman's house with disastrous results.

Behind-the-scenes footage showing Alice Guy directing an early sound film.

A peddler of "the best glue" sets up his outdoor stall. A crowd gathers for a demonstration. As he gives his pitch, two observant cops decide drive off his customers and close him down, much to his fury. He seeks revenge as they sit on a park bench.

The plot follows King Edward VII and President Armand Fallières dreaming of building a tunnel under the English Channel.

The story centers on a gregarious but rather undependable man whose attentions to a young gypsy woman lead to complications for them both.

More than a dozen shots, some less than a second, of people wearing roller skates in various settings: a young man in skates sits on a low guardrail next to a city sidewalk reading, a woman with a child shoots by, a constable skates gingerly, a man skates by in suit and vest, another cleans front steps, children skate into a room where papa and siblings sit, someone slips at the base of stairs, a man in a cowboy hat moves fast, two jovial chubby women shake hands, our man in the hat trips over a wheelbarrow, then falls again as he rounds a corner, then down goes the constable. It's a crazy day on the city sidewalks.

A magician is surprised when he attempts to transform a beetle.

During the Paris Commune, a boy runs across trouble at the barricade.

A group of military men uses explosives to de-root trees.

A pig dressed in fancy clothes flirts with a pretty girl, but she humiliates him and tears off his suit; she then makes him dance for her affections.

A short film about a dirigible.

A demonic magician attempts to perform his act in a strange grotto, but is confronted by a Good Spirit who opposes him.

A four-year-old saves the day.