Cinematic Era: 1905 Vintage

Early Balkan footage.

The camera is high above Manhattan near the top of the Times Building, pointing down.

A servant kills his miser master and buries his corpse. The murderer is haunted by the ghost of his victim....or is it his own conscience?

This film was photographed in the winter, much of it during an actual snowstorm, and snow can be seen on the ground in all scenes. The subject is a group of men, clothed only in swimming trunks, who demonstrate their physical prowess by doing calisthenics, playing handball, and swimming during freezing weather.

1905 short film showing people walking down a Ljutomer street after mass.

Diving in the Swimming Pool at Palm Beach, Florida.

The French short film recreates key moments from the Russian revolution of 1905 in Odessa.

In this parody of 1903's "Great Train Robbery", also made by Edwin S. Porter, young bandits rob the passengers of a kiddie train and are chased by police officers.

This is another short, simple dance number. It’s quite stunning and unusual though with a bat turning into a woman who proceeds to give us a skirt dance before disappearing into thin air. The dance is mesmerising with the skirt stunningly changing colour throughout the film.

Chronophotographic short film, possibly species Protophormia terraenovae, c. 1904-1905.

Early Balkan footage.

Early football footage from Mitchell & Kenyon.

A woman receives her lover at home but the husband arrives having to hide him in a trunk. They go on a trip and the porters do not treat the trunk very well.

A living statue causes trouble for unsuspecting bystanders.

On Mar. 4, 1905, TR is inaugurated in Washington, D.C. with much celebration and fanfare. TR rides in an open landau on Fifteenth St., NW, escorted by mounted Rough Riders; Secret Service men and detectives walk on either side of the carriage; TR tips his hat to the crowd. Sitting beside him is Sen. John C. Spooner of Wis., Chairman of the joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Opposite, but not clearly visible, are Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge of Mass. and Rep. John Dalzell of Penn., members of the committee. Second sequence consists of long shots of TR taking the oath of office on a platform erected on the east front of the Capitol; Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller (1888-1910) administers the Presidential oath of office as Chief Clerk of the Supreme Court James H. McKenney holds the Bible. The platform is decorated with plants and garlands and a large banner with the American eagle on it hangs from the center of the railing.

Boats on the Nile.

Students collecting money for the children.

This is in poor condition and the hand colouring is a little rough around the edges compared to the others, but it contains some impressive ‘appearing’ effects as pieces of paper from a giant book turn into people and then back to paper in the punchline. It’s repetitive, but enjoyably trippy.

Prince Charles of Denmark, who was recently elected by a plebiscite of the Norwegian people as King of Norway, and whose election has been confirmed by the Storthing, has decided to assume the title of King Haakon the Seventh.

Polin performs a song.

The future king Gustaf VI Adolf and wife arrive in Stockholm

The apprentice at a pastry shop is more interested in playing tricks on people than sweeping the pavement in front of the shop; more interested in eating the pies with a friend than in delivering them; and so, when the butts of all his tricks set off after him, he runs.... but takes a few swipes at them.

Ferdinand Zecca's remake of his own film "Plongeur fantastique" (The Fantastic Plunger, 1901) with the same premise, showing a diver with reverse motion editing for a curious effect

A woman who hides her money in her stocking, only to be robbed of it.

A woman sneaks up behind a seated couple, stabs the woman in the back, and makes an escape.

A man is chased by ten women!

Félix Mayol performs The Trottins Polka (La Polka des Trottins, by A. Trebitsch and H. Christine) in this phonoscene by Alice Guy. This early form of music video was created using a chronophone recording of Mayol, who was then filmed "lip singing". Guy would film phonoscenes of all three major Belle Époque celebrities in France: Polin, Félix Mayol, and Dranem.

A magician shows tricks with money.

A couple of women are washing outside.

A fire on a boat requieres the assistance of some sailors

Documentary images from a market in Falkenberg.

Several chairs rest against a blank wall; three men, then a fourth and soon seven in all, divide into various pairs and wrestle for the camera.

1905 actuality film, director unknown, preserved by the Library of Congress. Also appears in Hollis Frampton's film, Public Domain.

Colourful fireworks

A portrait of the Dam family.

Lost trick film

Footage of aviation tests from 1905.

On a city street, a number of men take advantage of an old drunken bum.

Alice Guy experiment with visuals and sound by Félix Mayol.

This 1905 Gaumont produced film attributed to Alice Guy is lost. It has no surviving plot, summary or synopsis. Only a few stills are extant.

Travels in Burma.

The Manaki brothers document the hanged bodies in a town square, post-Ilinden Uprising; The disheartened mill about. The men were likely killed by Muslims loyal to the ruling Ottoman Empire in attempts to quash Macedonian support for Adrianople and greater Macedonian autonomy.

The wife is writing letters in the kitchen accompanied by the maid. The wife leaves and the husband enters, trying to embrace the maid. The ink on the table is knocked over and covers the husband's hands. Unaware of this, the husband continues his ministrations. The wife enters and discovers the maid's clothes with the marks of the husband's affections.

A framed bank clerk breaks jail and is sheltered by a vicar until the culprit is caught in Soho.

Various shots around Washington, D.C., on Roosevelt's 1905 inauguration, March 4th. View of the Capitol crowds, and the oath of office. Followed by a series different views of the parade, with military bands, Citizens Americus Club, and carriages of politicians. Three film segments totaling 10 minutes, now held at the LoC.

Chasing after a bicycle thief.

Early Balkan footage.

Four people, two women and two men, can be seen reclining in the bunks of an artist's conception of a Chinese opium den.

A short drama featuring three fictitious scenes of the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814).

Short documentary about this Valencian tradition directed by Ángel García Cardona.

A couple of young boys clamber over a fence and break into the hen coop. They steal some eggs and a fat chicken. The adults are after them, but the boys start a fire by accident and lead the adults on a long chase.

Balkan actuality.

The parade of Serbian army in Macedonian town.

Some gossiping women exaggerate the priest’s gift to a little girl.

A gentleman sits down and sees the prospective brides. They are all beautiful of face and form, and each carries a scroll on which her dowry is written in large letters.

Early Balkan footage.

Another magic short of Méliès.

An avid reader aimlessly stumbles through town, bystanders, and harm's way.

The Carnival in Nice, France, in 1905.