The Great Train Robbery

The Great Train Robbery 1903

7.01

After the train station clerk is assaulted and left bound and gagged, then the departing train and its passengers robbed, a posse goes in hot pursuit of the fleeing bandits.

1903

The Kingdom of the Fairies

The Kingdom of the Fairies 1903

6.80

At the royal court, a prince is presenting the princess whom he is pledged to marry when a witch suddenly appears. Though driven off, the witch soon returns, summons some of her servants, and carries off the princess. A rescue party is quickly organized, but the unfortunate captive has been taken to a strange, forbidding realm, from where it will be impossible to rescue her without some special help.

1903

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland 1903

6.04

This is the first movie version of the famous story. Alice dozes in a garden, awakened by a dithering white rabbit in waistcoat with pocket watch. She follows him down a hole and finds herself in a hall of many doors.

1903

The Sick Kitten

The Sick Kitten 1903

5.68

A simple scene of two rather flamboyantly-dressed Edwardian children attempting to feed a spoonful of medicine to a sick kitten. The film is important for being one of the earliest films to cut to a close-up, then back again to the same medium shot as before.

1903

Happy Hooligan Interferes

Happy Hooligan Interferes 1903

4.00

An organ-grinder is playing beneath the window of a cranky old woman. She objects strenuously. The organ-grinder, egged on by Hooligan, keeps on playing until a policeman appears.

1903

La Vie d'un joueur

La Vie d'un joueur 1903

1

A 8-chapter ("tableaux") short film that tells the story of a gambler who ends his life on the guillotine.

1903

Down the Hudson

Down the Hudson 1903

5.50

Film taken from a boat heading down the Hudson is shown at varying speeds, often giving a sense of rapid transit.

1903

Life of an American Fireman

Life of an American Fireman 1903

6.12

Porter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of firemen responding to a house fire. They leave the station with their horse drawn pumper, arrive on the scene, and effect the safe rescue of a woman from the burning house. But wait, she tells them of her child yet asleep in the burning bedroom...

1903

Old London Street Scenes

Old London Street Scenes 1903

6.00

London street scenes, showing varieties of horse-drawn traffic. Views of Parliament Square, Charing Cross, Pall Mall, the Royal Exchange and others.

1903

The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ

The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ 1903

6.27

The story of Jesus Christ, from the proclamation of His Nativity to His Ascension into heaven. Impressive staging and beautiful hand-coloring distinguish the film from its Passion-play counterparts; Its scale and dynamic crowds prelude the Italian epics to come.

1903

A Chess Dispute

A Chess Dispute 1903

5.94

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

The Melomaniac

The Melomaniac 1903

6.67

The leader of a marching band demonstrates an unusual way of writing music.

1903

The Ghost Train

The Ghost Train 1903

4.62

Special effects film with a train double exposed on the negative, creating a ghostly image.

1903