Cinematic Era: 1896 Vintage

Russian sovereign Nicholas II and Alexandra Fiodorovna, and President Felix Faure, parading down the Champs-Elysées in a carriage, followed by horsemen.

The first of two Lumiere wall demo films. As workers carry wheelbarrows full of rubble away, a wall tips over and collapses in a cloud of dust. The workers then return to clear away the debris.

A train arrives in Cologne Central Station and employees and travellers are seen on the platform.

A Japanese veil dance is performed

View of a group of Milanese rowers. The video was made by the operator Giuseppe Filippi, the official dealer of the Lumière Brothers for the Italian territory.

Several military companies parading, on foot, in front of Wilhelm II, in Breslau, Germany (nowadays Wroclaw, Poland).

Lancers parading, during the inauguration ceremony of William I's monument in Breslau, Germany (nowadays Wroclaw, Poland).

Herding cows

A street scene in Munich from the Lumière Brothers.

A bout between a tall man and a dwarf.

Students in Lyon.

Geneva (Exhibition 1896): back to the barn.

Performance of a ballet - was found among the films collected by Gregorio Antonino María Sagarmínaga

Made in 1896 during the flat racing season (March-October) at Stockton Racecourse, a former horse racing venue in Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, UK. Several horses are ridden by jockeys past the camera. Many men in flat caps from the crowd run onto the course and run past the camera at the end of the race. Two policemen follow the men.

A large wedding procession.

This picture was taken at one of the curves on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, along the beautiful Susquehanna River. The train is seen rapidly approaching in the distance, clearly outlined against the grey mountains. Smoke can be seen pouring in volumes from the stack of the locomotive, and as the train approaches closely, she sounds a whistle, warning some section men, who are working on the tracks in the foreground. As she rushes by the camera, the swing motion of the train gives a vivid idea of the lightning speed at which she is traveling. (Edison film catalog)

Carmaux is in south-central France, near the Tarn River. As a brick of coke, about four feet high and three feet wide, is gradually pushed out of a smelter into a yard, one worker sprays it with water from a hose while two workers with long metal rakes wait to spread it out. Other workers buzz in and out of the foreground of the stationary camera. Atop the first level of the brick smelter, workers push full carts of coal along a track.

A man and a woman dance "jarabe tapatío" while some people watch.

Workers fill in a large hole left by an uprooted tree, while others pick up ropes.

Sovereign Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna and their suite slowly walk down a staircase, preceded by a company of cuirassiers.

Three men are chopping and transporting firewood, among passers-by, on a square in Lausanne.

The first movie audiences took particular delight in scenes of rushing, churning water. These scenes of Niagara Falls were taken in September 1896, while Dickson and Bitzer were filming McKinley and the Empire State Express.

In a sunny open air setting with a background of high, deep foliage trees, and a white-walled storeyed house, an acrobat with light shirt and trousers and white plimsolls is doing acrobats in a trapeze in the center of the area. Behind it, a pair of men in similar dress seem to be carrying barbells from one place to the other, rather then exercising with them.

A view of the Ferris wheel from the Chicago Exposition of 1893, turning slowly.

A short clip from the Lumière Brothers.

Passengers descend from the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

Poor pedestrian, horse drawn carts, wagons and bus travel across bridge at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.

Another street scene from the Lumiere company

The parade occupies only a small portion of the screen, the crowds are a seething mass that do really move and the Independence Bell is nowhere to be seen.

The German infantry parades in front of Nicholas II and Wilhelm II.

Shot in 1896, this playful actuality captures workers from the Lumière factory in Lyon competing in a sack race. The scene shows the participants’ comic struggles and falls, with onlookers enjoying the lighthearted contest. Beyond its humor, the film offers a glimpse of everyday leisure and camaraderie among the Lumière workforce during cinema’s earliest years.

An abridged version of the tale of Rip Van Winkle, a lazy American man, who wanders off one day with his dog Wolf into the Kaatskill mountains where he runs into an odd group of small men drinking and playing. He drinks some of their mysterious brew and passes out. When he wakes up under a tree he is astonished to find that 20 years have passed and things are a lot different.

Children diving into the river.

People being fully dressed walking on the beach.

"A well-known character, in a dance that created considerable excitement when first introduced in America."

A train ride with a view from the back of the train.

Rollerskating in Central Park.

Pedestrian, trams, carriages and carts traffic at the intersection of two streets on La Canebière in Marseille.

The Tsar travels to Paris.

A look at a public square in Paris.

A man does tricks by forming hats and then putting them on. Fragment available in flipbook format, otherwise lost.

Short from (1896)

Short from 1896.

Two men are sitting on a park bench. One of them attempts to play a trick to the other, by tying up his handkerchief. In the end, however, the table is turned on him.

The camera shows a water ride at Bergen Beach at Coney Island. A raised track filled with water forms a chute, and a small boat full of park visitors slides down the chute. Alongside, empty boats are hauled back up to the top of the ride.

A short clip of United States military on horses

People dismount and mount a gondola. Not to be confused with Panorama of the Grand Canal Taken from a Boat.

A man performs a balancing act with a ball and a pair of sticks.