Cinematic Era: 1904 Vintage

Two young girls in Ukrainian costume perform a dance near a palm tree in a garden.

Casey enters a subway station nearby City Hall and walks down the tunnel. He lights a fuse to set off a blast and runs away. Thinking the fuse has gone out, he creeps cautiously up to it, when it suddenly goes off, Casey is blown through the tunnel, all the way to Harlem.

Panoramic View, Aisle B, Westinghouse Works

The setting of this view is a series of underground grottoes, a part of the marvelous realm of Satan, through which the latter escorts a gentleman and works many wonderful tricks to the profound astonishment of the visitor.

The comedy generally known as “The Barber of Sevilla” is strongly recommended because it contains nothing offensive nor objectionable, and also that it appeals to everybody in its delightfully amusing humor. The cinematographic piece has been pantomimed with the greatest care by competent artists, who have been carefully selected and who have studiously striven to conform themselves to the masterpiece of Beaumarchais. We place also on sale a shortened edition of the same piece, in which the second, fifth and seventh tableaux are taken out. We give our customers the privilege of purchasing any of the tableaux taken out of the shortened edition, urging them to be careful to specify in their orders what tableau or tableaux they desire. In such case we advise first of all the Seventh Tableau, which terminates happily and brilliantly the piece and forms a fine finale to the cinematographic view.

This is a clever comedy production in several scenes. In the opening scene the hired man is complaining to Farmer Jones that the woodpile is being depleted by thieves. Farmer Jones decides to adopt drastic measures and loads one of the sticks with dynamite. In the next scene a colored deacon, one of the shining lights in the African Church, is seen making away with the wood. The next scene shows the home of the deacon, where he is taking his comfort at the kitchen fire, while his wife is busy with the washing. The loaded stick is, of course, put into the fire, and there is a terrific explosion and the building is ruined. Farmer Jones and his man appear at the critical moment and the colored thieves are given a punishment they will not soon forget.

A man with some sense of intestinal urgency needs to find the right door at a railroad station. He chooses... the wrong door.

A deranged man who believes he is Napoleon escapes the asylum and leads his keepers on a wild chase.

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.

A woman stands in front of a building, a chair to her left, dressed in black, full skirt, quarter sleeves, and a scooped bodice. Her hair is piled high. She bows slightly, and, with finger cymbals, begins to dance the cooch.

A group of men work on various parts of a large generator, assembling the pieces

The Brahmin, Iftikar, who enjoys a great reputation in India, has determined to create something miraculous which will place the seal upon his renown. (giornatedelcinemamuto.it)

A sexton reforms after dreaming of abduction by goblins.

A closeup of the steam whistle blowing at the "Westinghouse works" complex of factories in Pennsylvania, probably at the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.

Crowds of people in their Easter finery parade on the boardwalk near Green's Hotel, and near a pier in Atlantic City. Some people ride in stroller chairs, one man pushes a baby carriage, and the ladies hold their hats to keep them from being blown off in the wind.

Documentary clips from Palestine.

Only 8 surviving seconds of a man getting great pleasure from smoking a cigar.

The Count de Cagliostro, who occupies his spare time in working magic, has invited one of his friends to be present at an exhibition which has for its aim the object of showing how much the sense of sight can be abused and deceived. In the center of three fans he arranges a rose-window, which there appears a young page who is suddenly transformed into a marquis of the time of Louis XV. The count brings a large frame, the marquise arranges herself in it, and it seems to the visitor that she is changed into a nymph. He then approaches it to verify the fact, but he perceives that it is the count in person who is in the middle of the picture. But in order to assure himself that he is not mistaken, he strives to grasp him but the latter disappears mysteriously, and the frame, in the center of which he finds himself, is absolutely empty. What he has seen was only a marvelous illusion.

Giovanni -- whoever he may be when he's not on the stage -- exhibits his trained birds in various feats of gymnastics and cuteness. I particularly like the one in which two birds pull another in a cart, while the passsenger waves a flag.

A drunkard has taken off his overcoat and wishes to put in on again, but as he is not able to succeed in it. He asks aid of two bystanders, who hold the coat behind a lamp-post, so that when the drunk fellow has inserted his arms into the sleeves he finds himself fast to the lamp-post.

The camera was positioned on a seashore. In the distance, there is a small sailboat on which several people are standing. Two of the passengers on the small boat dive into the water and begin to swim toward the camera. Spectators in the water cheer the two swimmers. They reach the shore, walk out of the water and out of camera range. Each is wearing the insignia of the red cross on his swimsuit.

A large bucket is lowered into a pit by male workers using machinery. Molten material from a furnace is poured into the bucket using a slide. The bucket, which has flames coming from inside, is lifted up from the pit by a crane.

A couple perform a acrobatic dance.

On the left of the screen, a small group of men lift the top off of what appears to be a turbine with a crane and continue to check the machine, tightening various parts with wrenches. On the right side, a few men appear to be testing the workings of what may be a turbine.

A boy pulls a prank on his poor old mother.

The 1904–1905 Pathé short Un coup d’œil par étage (literally “A Glance on Each Floor”) is an inventive early comedy that presents a whimsical peek into life across multiple apartments in a single building. It plays with cinematic point-of-view and narrative structure in a way that was novel at the time. The film cuts between brief vignettes on each apartment floor: a man at a phone, a pillow fight between children, an elderly lady with a cat—and finally, a resident scrambling to extinguish curtains that have caught fire. Structured as a vertical tour ("par étage"), the short runs about 6 minutes in restored screenings and was featured in retrospectives on early cinem

A tramp gets involved in mischief on a train.

Filmed in south London, this slight comedy stars director Alf Collins as an exhausted father who bungles putting up a swing for his two small daughters.

Trade Guilds' Parade at Christiansborg Ridebane in 1904.

It shows General Baden-Powell, hero of the Anglo-Boer war, and his family visiting Accrington.

"Danced at the Casino de Paris by the Elks and their Indian troop."

A small child in the surf at the seashore. The child is evidently frightened at the rushing waves and stands terrified until a larger wave than usual comes along, whereupon the child turns and runs toward the shore.

It's one on those thingies you see at amusement parks. You get into a small gondola, the machine starts whirling about, and centrifugal force lifts the gondolas up in the air.

Actuality film showing a busy Salvation Army parade in a rural village under the British Raj.

An aged villager, reminded of his boyhood days in the church choir by the sound of the bells, totters to the church door and begs the vicar to allow him to join in and sing once more. He expires in the chancel, happy.

Several young women stand on a pedestal and remove one garment at a time until there is a large pile of clothing beside them.

A couple of Sunday school teachers invite Chinese laundry workers to their session. In return the Chinese invite them to an opium den, where the devout schoolmarms quickly abandon their morals!

An Englishman travel's abroad

Part of the funeral procession of Tom Kim Yung, filmed on September 23, 1903.

A girl elopes but is deserted by her husband. After her baby dies, she returns home to her father.

Baby Parade at Asbury Park, N.J., in 1904.

A camera on an overhead crane travels down a large, long aisle where men are shown working on large machinery on either side. Carts carrying equipment are shown traveling on rails down the aisles. There are also men walking in the aisles. From Bitzer's Westinghouse Works series.

A large bucket full of molten material is poured into a large container, possibly a mold, by a group of men using machinery. Some other men stoke the fire under the container. When finished pouring, the men lift the bucket up from the container and take it away on a crane. Two men put prods down repeatedly into the container, while others lay covers on top of it.

People doing the Cake Walk dance on the Beach at Coney Island.

An office boy at Biograph learns how to operate a camera, and when he spies the boss kissing his secretary, he records their illicit act.

As the title implies, the film shows women delegates parading at the st. Louis World's Fair in 1904. They are employees of the national cash register company.

Men working in teams carry buckets of molten material and pour the material into what appear to be molds lined up on the ground.

Rows of women are shown at tables with winding machines. They wind using material from spools behind them, apparently putting the finished products on the table in front of them. Various supervisory staff, male and female, walk through the aisles, checking the work of the women.

[A]n excerpt from the novel by a chap named Marchmont in which the hero, a fellow with the heroic name of Hamylton Tregethner attempts to dissuade a fellow soldier from insisting on a sword duel for some unexplained offence.

Lancashire children perform physical education exercises in (almost) perfect unison.

A captured Indian marauder is beaten by a gang of cowboys. Seeking vengeance, the Indians attack a stagecoach and abduct its passengers. The cowboys ride in pursuit and successfully rescue the captives.

A criminal woman is brought in by the police to be photographed (a mug-shot, presumably), capturing her making faces or grimacing. This simple, short film has been often cited as an early instance of a "tracking-in" or dolly-in in cinema, where the camera moves closer to the subject instead of remaining fixed.

Showing thousands of young people enjoying their favorite Winter Sport.

When a group of diners boards a carriage, one man is left behind and chases after them on foot.

A location actuality filmed in Philadelphia (May 27–28, 1904) documenting the Inter-Collegiate Athletic Association’s championships: sprint and field events, crowds, and collegiate pageantry, presented with intertitle introductions.

A woman agrees to kiss the winner of a race between a horse and a motorcar.

A man reads a newspaper whose moving letters form 'Bill Bailey has come home'.

The first scenes were photographed from a boat that was either rowed or sculled along the waterway of the st. Louis exposition. The film shows the principal exhibit buildings lining the mall, as well as statues and bridges. The next camera position was stationary. The scenes show decorated rowboats and motorboats laden with costumed people as though part of a parade. The lead boat in the parade contains a single occupant in military uniform. See also: parade of floats.

Some cowboys of the Wild West Show saddle bronchos not without difficulties.