Cinematic Era: 1896 Vintage

Sandow and Peerless Annabelle were the first performers filmed by the new American Mutoscope Co. Annabelle reprised her Butterfly Dance and several others, among them this example of American patriotism.

Two girls do one of their chores. Standing alongside a tree-lined farmhouse, two children who are about ten and four years old toss grain to a flock of about 50 domesticated ducks. A woman watches them briefly and then moves on. The older girl has her grain in a bucket, the younger one's grain is in her apron. The children stay in one spot, as does the camera; it's the ducks that move around. Chickens are in the background; only one braves the ducks' territory.

The camera shows a view of the American Falls and Goat Island.

From the BFI Collection, this film is actually two films spliced together into one. The first is Birt Acres' work 'A Corner of Barnet Fair' which is the first film seen . This shows a merry-go-round and some people sitting in a doorway while street traffic goes by. The second film is a fragment of unknown origin of a street outside a very large building of what looks like a possible theatre, with a large Victorian awning. the shop next door appears to be selling wines and spirits. A horse drawn charabanc goes past, followed by a male bicyclist. This is closely followed by a male and female couple in an open carriage and two carts with workmen staring at the camera as they pass. Both films are believed to be from Barnet, given they have been spliced together. The film is in a deteriorated state with some rippling.

Back from fishing, fishermen in a boat pull out sardines caught in the net.

In commercial sales catalogs from the Société L. Gaumont et Cie, this film (cataloged under "Vues animées") is credited to the system of Georges Demenÿ. Like many early Gaumont "views," it was filmed as a demonstration of Demenÿ's 60mm (later 58mm) Chronophotographe camera. His name is the only one appearing on legal and technical documentation for this production period.

Walking four abreast, in groups of six rows, 144 of Chicago's finest parade past a stationary camera. Each of the six groups that pass is escorted by an officer. All are men, all are white, all look tall, all wear identical high-buttoned uniforms and badges and carry a nightstick. Almost all sport mustaches. Behind the police comes a horse-drawn carriage.

Turcos regiment parade.

The film reproduces a magic act Méliès performed at his Paris theater-of-illusions, the Théâtre Robert-Houdin. Conjuring is notable as Méliès's second film, and as his first to move beyond the actuality film genre pioneered by the Lumière brothers and experiment with using the camera to capture a theatrical magic act. (Later in 1896, with his discovery of the substitution splice technique, Méliès was able to begin augmenting his theatrical illusions with new special effects unique to film.) Conjuring can thus be seen as Méliès's first foray into the world of fiction film. The film was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and numbered 2 in its catalogues.

Félicien Trewey, performing his spinning plates routine.

Sovereign Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna and President Félix Faure, walking by, followed by their respective escorts.

At the start line of the Lyon-Geneva bicycle race.

A clip by Gabriel Veyre showing horses galloping at a Mexican festival.

Released on October 4, 1896 in Lyon ( France ) under the title “ Fêtes de l'inauguration du monument de Guillaume Ier à Breslau : II. - Le voile tombe (Lyon républicain, 4 octobre 1896)”. (catalogue-lumiere.com)

People board a leisure ship while porters ship their luggage in the town of Évian-les-Bains.

Félicien Trewey performs a trick by writing backwards the words "Ladies and gentlemen, my grateful thanks" on a board.

Lyon, Men rescue rabbits from flood.

Filmed in 1896, this actuality captures everyday life at Alexanderplatz, one of Berlin’s central squares. The camera records crowds of pedestrians crossing the square, streetcars passing through, and horse-drawn vehicles navigating the busy traffic. The film presents a vivid snapshot of Berlin’s modern urban rhythm at the close of the 19th century.

Taken in 1896 on the Boulevard (upper Broadway) on the occasion of a bicycle parade in the heyday of the wheeling craze. Old-fashioned horse cars lend interest to the scene.

The first recorded moving images of Frankfurt am Main.

A fixed camera gets images of traffic and passers-by in Vienna's chic thoroughfare, popularly known as Ringstrasse (The Ring), at a junction with another large street.

Soldiers dancing.

A Football Match at Newcastle-on-Tyne refers to a one-minute film recorded in October 1896 by English film pioneer Robert William Paul. According to several film and sports historians, it was the first known recording of a football match.

A short documentary clip released by Pathé Frères.

Britain's first drama (i.e. non documentary) film.

Circulation of passers-by and cars in the paved street on the occasion of the Tsar's coronation.

A small boy feeds his dog sugar cane by making him perform high jumps.

Evian-les-Bains, lac Léman : as people board boats, the steamboat "France" is about to dock.

View of the Westminster Bridge.

A barber's customer is not accustomed to the blade. Luckily, the coiffeur has a modern solution.

The crowd gathers, on the lawn, in front of the grandstand.

A street scene with a government building in the background.

A very graceful dance with voluminous draperies, by Annabelle Moore, well-known on the metropolitan stage.

A woman and a young girl each carry containers of bird feed, and they toss occasional handfuls to the chickens and doves in the farmyard. Most of the chickens stay nearby, but the doves occasionally fly off and then return to eat more.

Dense pedestrian, trams and cars traffic on the street, in front of the Palais de la Bourse in Marseille.

Filmed in 1896 by the Lumière brothers, this short actuality captures a dramatic cavalry charge by cuirassiers — heavily armed horsemen in traditional military uniforms. The riders gallop across open ground directly toward the camera, creating an energetic and imposing image that thrilled early audiences with its sense of motion and spectacle.

Lost film by Kazimierz Prószyński. A shot of people walking on Ujazdow Avenue.

The crowd gathered along the fence wave their hats at the passing riders, before slowly starting to clear.

Lumière Brothers film automobiles driving at the Champs-Elysées.

A steamboat coming to port.

Two men have a contest to see which one can be the first to eat a large slice of watermelon.

A short film of boats sailing in the New York Harbor

Shot in 1896 by a Lumière cameraman, this short actuality shows three horse-drawn carriages, escorted by liveried footmen and soldiers, arriving as part of the coronation festivities in Moscow. The passengers are identified as the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and Grand Duchess Eugénie. A brief but vivid glimpse of imperial pomp during the celebrations for Tsar Nicholas II’s coronation.

A Lumière Brothers short film showing a street scene in Paris.

The facade and the traffic in front of the Cinematographe in London, close to the large ensign of the historical Empire Theatre, in London.

Horses and their riders make their way into the compact and agitated crowd of spectators.

London: A parade of horsemen, accompanied by a few onlookers.

A gardener is watering his flowers, when a mischievous boy sneaks up behind his back, and puts a foot on the water hose. The gardener is surprised and looks into the nozzle to find out why the water has stopped coming. The boy then lifts his foot from the hose, whereby the water squirts up in the gardener's face. The gardener chases the boy, grips his ear and slaps him in his buttocks. The boy then runs away and the gardener continues his watering. Three separate versions of this film exist, this is the first remake.

Filmed during the coronation ceremonies of Nicholas II in Moscow in 1896, this short by Lumière operator Francis Doublier shows the imperial procession approaching the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin. As the crowd advances, a company of guards escorts the imperial dais while the Tsar and Tsarina make their way into the church. An early actuality offering rare moving-image documentation of a major royal ritual.