The Impossible Voyage

The Impossible Voyage 1904

7.20

Using every known means of transportation, several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea.

1904

The Mermaid

The Mermaid 1904

5.60

A magician conjures up a mermaid while fishing.

1904

Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer

Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer 1904

4.80

A Chinese conjurer stands next to a table, it becomes two tables. A fan becomes a parasol, lanterns appear and disappear. The conjurer spins the open parasol in front of himself, and a dog leaps out from behind it. The dog becomes a woman, then a masked man appears. The conjurer sits them each on a box a few feet apart: suddenly the woman and man have changed places. The disappearing and the transfers continue in front of a simple backdrop.

1904

The Christmas Angel

The Christmas Angel 1904

5.40

A poor family in a rundown house where snow falls through the broken roof, there's no coal to heat the pathetic little stove, mother is sick, father sends daughter out to beg. Rejected by other beggars, the girl collapses in the snow…

1904

A Fire in a Burlesque Theatre

A Fire in a Burlesque Theatre 1904

4.50

This short, otherwise unremarkable feature is of some interest because of the way that it unabashedly caters to the tastes that it perceived in its audiences. Besides combining the elements of the risqué 'blue' movies of the era with the popularity of movies about fires, it also attempted to use the combination to get extra mileage out of it. The movie's title summarises the setup, and most of the footage shows firefighters using ladders to rescue stage girls, clad in portions of their costumes, from an upper level. Although it all seems pretty tame by today's standards, it no doubt provided its male viewers with some brief moments of excitement as the various women hurried down the ladders with their costumes in disarray.

1904

Treloar and Miss Marshall, Prize Winners at the Physical Culture Show in Madison Square Garden

Treloar and Miss Marshall, Prize Winners at the Physical Culture Show in Madison Square Garden 1904

6.00

Opens with a woman posing on a pedestal, dressed in a white body leotard with a sash tied at her hips. Marshall continues with various feminine poses, reminiscent of classic Greek statuary, to accentuate her figure. Film cuts to Treloar posed on the bare stage without a pedestal. He wears brief leopard-skin trunks or short tunic, wrist bands, and Roman-looking laced sandals. His poses accentuate the muscular development of his upper body, particularly that of his arms, and include movements that make the muscles jump. Treloar finishes with a slight nod to the camera.

1904

Tit for Tat

Tit for Tat 1904

5.70

Georges Melies the magician. Melies removes his own head, puts it in a glass box on a stool, then grows another one. Melies lights up a cigarette and blows smoke at his old head. The head gets payback by levitating above Melies and spewing water on him.

1904

Burglary at Night

Burglary at Night 1904

5.90

A man hides his valuables under his mattress before going to sleep, blissfully unaware of the two burglars on his roof.

1904

The Untamable Whiskers

The Untamable Whiskers 1904

6.30

The background of this picture represents a scene along the beautiful river Seine in Paris. A gentleman enters, and taking a blackboard from the side of the picture, he draws on it a sketch of a novelist. Then, standing in the centre, he causes the living features of his sketch to appear in the place of his own, which is utterly devoid of whiskers. The change is made so mysteriously that the eye cannot notice it until one sees quite another person in the place of the first. Again another sketch is shown on the board, this one being that of a miser; then an English cockney; a comic character; a French policeman, and last of all, the grinning visage of Mephistopheles. It is almost impossible to give this film a more definite description; suffice it to say that it is something entirely new in motion pictures and is sure to please. (Méliès Catalog)

1904

Maniac Chase

Maniac Chase 1904

6.20

A “madman” escapes prison and the torments of his warders.

1904

Personal

Personal 1904

5.10

A man who has placed a personal advertisement for a prospective wife goes to wait at the meeting place that he designated. Soon a woman comes in response to the advertisement. Before the two have a chance to converse, several more women arrive on the scene. Now completely flustered, the man flees, initiating a lengthy chase.

1904

Panorama View, Street Car Motor Room

Panorama View, Street Car Motor Room 1904

5.70

A camera moving forward on an overhead crane gives a traveling view of men working on machinery. Carts carrying parts and pieces of machinery pass by on rails; cranes lift machinery; and men perform their various duties, including hammering objects. (Library of Congress)

1904

The Cook in Trouble

The Cook in Trouble 1904

5.20

A cook has his hands full with three mischievous devils, who pop in and out of his kitchen.

1904

A Day in the Hayfields

A Day in the Hayfields 1904

5.30

Documentary on the process of hay-making, from the cutting of the grass to the stacking of the hay.

1904

An Interesting Story

An Interesting Story 1904

5.90

The adventures of an inattentive man who can't look away from his book.

1904

Dog Factory

Dog Factory 1904

4.50

A brief vaudeville-style demonstration of a "Dog Transformator," a machine that instantly turns dogs into sausages, and amazingly, sausages back into dogs.

1904

The Wonderful Living Fan

The Wonderful Living Fan 1904

5.10

As a conjurer awaits an audience, a procession announces the arrival of a royal representative, carried in a sedan chair, to see him. The conjurer then has a large box brought in. It is opened, revealing a very large folding fan. When the fan is spread out, the designs on it begin to change and move. And this is far from the last of the surprises that the conjurer has in store.

1904