Cinematic Era: 1897 Vintage

Two teams of artillery carriages, parading side by side past the grandstand during the inauguration ceremony of President McKinley in Washington DC.

From F.Z. Maguire catalogue: The background of this picture is the Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, Cal. This observatory, the gift of James Lick, of Pennsylvania, was constructed at a cost of $700,000, being equipped with one of the most powerful telescopes that has ever been produced, and is famous the world over. The view of the Observatory is very complete, showing the style of architecture, including the glass covered dome in which are placed the various astronomical instruments. Every Saturday night throughout the year is set apart for visitors to inspect the Observatory and look through the great glass. This view shows a coach load driving up and alighting.

Three military men, seen inside a fortification, are firing on an unseen enemy force. The call for reinforcements but ladders appear signalling the enemy is about to overrun this position.

A Japanese family having tea.

A parade of horses pulling a very large and, one must assume, heavy cart. Not to be confused with "Transport d’une tourelle par un attelage de 60 chevaux"

A 19th century wire-walker performs his stage act on a woman's clothesline. An early comedy by pioneer director Robert W. Paul.

Several shots of the carnival in Nice, floats and parade costumes, passing along the crowded streets.

The waterfalls in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Switzerland, form a cloud of suspended droplets.

In a grove, a small boy and a small girl are dancing together.

Johan Carl Joensen, a Danish colonial manager in Greenland, drives his dog sled in Copenhagen’s Fælledparken. (stumfilm.dk)

The Flicker Alley DVD "Georges Méliès: Encore New Discoveries (1896-1911)" misidentified a partial hand-colored print of the 1906 film "Alchimiste Parafaragaramus ou La cornue infernale" (The Mysterious Retort) as this film, "L'hallucination de l'alchimiste" (An Hallucinated Alchemist) from 1897, which continues to be considered a lost film.

Another street scene of daily life.

An artillery parade in Cairo near Cairo Citadel filmed by Alexandre Promio for the Lumière Brothers. Original title was "Défilé de l’artillerie turque"

The second Venezuelan film produced. It was screened at the Baralt Theatre in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on 28 January 1897. The film shows a group of young people enjoying the Lake.

Three people playing cards.

A rocky sea voyage as reenacted by Georges Méliès.

A series of actuality films showing the procession to mark Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee.

Early short film

The first Swedish film by photographer Ernest Florman. Kung Oscar II welcomes King Chulalonkorn of Siam, now Thailand, at Logårdstrappan. King Chulalonkorn visited Sweden in connection with Stockholmsutställningen 1897.

A man peeping through a keyhole at an attractive young woman gets his comeuppance. This film, presumed lost, is often mistaken for Ferdinand Zecca's "What Is Seen Through a Keyhole" (1901).

“A comic subject, clear, bright and characteristic. Shows four girls in their night dresses, engaged in an animated pillow fight. During the action the pillows become torn, and the feathers fly over their heads and about the room in great numbers, producing with the white dresses and the black background a novel effect. Sharp, full of action, and popular in character.” (Edison Catalog)

The Swedish Royal family arrives at the General Art and Industrial Exposition at Djurgården in Stockholm on 15 May 1897.

Lasting for roughly 50 seconds, it shows the goodbyes of many passersby - first Europeans, then local Arab residents, then Jewish residents of the city - as a train leaves Jerusalem, then part of the Ottoman Empire.

1897 version of Annabelle Moore performing a serpentine dance.

At first this looks like another of those innumerable fire brigade movies of the era in which you saw the horses charging pellmell out of the firehouse, pulling the firemen and the equipment. Usually they would be on wheels, occasionally on sleigh runner, but always the same: fire departments from Buffalo, New York, Chicago and probably Omsk and Tomsk. This one is different: you see not only the fire brigade heading out for the fire, you see the site of the fire itself.

A group of four children, circle dancing.

Lovers are comically interrupted

Descent of the Great Pyramid.

As the only survivor of a battle, a cavalryman heroically defends his flag.

A kickboxing movie. While the film is lost, there is a new digital version based on re-creation from a flipbook produced by Léon Beaulieu around the same time.

Mephistopheles demands that Faust kill Marguerite.

An old man gets progressively livelier - and drunker - as he downs his bottle of beer. Finally, he cocks a snook - and doesn't bother to uncock it as he continues to drink.

Crawford's had a store in Madison Square, New York. The horse-drawn buses were typical and can be seen in photographs of Madison Square at this date.

"The picture shows the Devil working at a fire. Two cavaliers appear, and the Devil takes the form of a seer, old, bent and wrinkled. Then he disappears in a cloud of smoke, to reappear shortly as a ghost, whose head comes off and floats around the room. Suddenly the table gets up of itself, and flies up the chimney. All sorts of wonderful things happen. A cannon takes the place occupied by the table, and belches forth flame and smoke. A large cage appears mysteriously in the center of the room, through the bars of which the Devil passes as if it were an open door. By his magic, he makes the cavalier pass through the bars in the same wonderful fashion. Everything is so weird and fantastic, that such a small trifle as a man turning into a donkey excites but passing notice." -Edison catalog

Tennis match between two women and a man.

Shows the S.S. "Queen" at Seattle with an immense crowd of miners crowding the decks of the boat and the docks, carrying aboard baggage, implements, etc. Taken at the height of the excitement and gives a good idea of the vast numbers that started for the gold fields.

Staged assassination from the Lumiere company.

Men run a training course

Short clip of a football match, filmed on the Lumière cinematograph, 33 years before FIFA's 1st World Cup.

This early film made by Georges Hatot for the Lumière Company is a brief single shot-scene of the assassination of the French revolutionary writer, Jean-Paul Marat--who has the notorious distinction of having influenced the Reign of Terror.

A short reenactment of a scene from Goethe's Faust.

The victim is lying on a trolley car fender. Ambulance drives up and the injured man is removed in a stretcher.

Beirut: place cannons.

In a field, three women are using pitchforks in order to feed a small fire with weeds.

Photage of people at Praterstern square in Vienna, Austria.

A staging of Jesus' passion.

A view taken from Brighton beach on the Channel coast of the transit of Magnus Volk’s amazing seagoing electric railway, long celebrated as one of the world’s more bizarre railway experiments. All aboard for “A Sea Voyage on Wheels!"

Small glimpse of city life in Jerusalem.

"Stable door opens and ambulance dashes out into the street. Policeman holds back a furniture van till ambulance passes by."

A line is shot to the man clinging to the overturned boat. He fastens it to his body using all his fast failing strength. The crew pull him through the surf to the shore, where he is rolled and patted and worked over until resuscitated.

Two boxers miss their punches - until they don't.