Cinematic Era: 1908 Vintage

One of the most popular of all Japan folk-tales is the famous undersea myth of Urashima Taro, the fisherman who is taken by a turtle to an underwater kingdom; in the palace of the Dragon King, he dreams for three centuries before returning to find himself in the distant future.

International Workers' Day and the 250th anniversary of the Treaty of Roskilde. May Day demonstration and flower procession in Kristianstad and the Roskilde Festival in Karlshamn.

Short film from 1908

Little Johnny is presented with an air gun that shoots darts. He decided to play pranks with it.

A country girl leaving home for the seminary.

When the father of high-born son refuses to let him marry the beautiful seafood seller, she and her brothers determine on a grisly vengeance.

A couple of performers perform the big love number from the Oscar Strauss operetta.

Rempailleur is the French word for the person who repairs the wicker seat in chairs, and that's the central joke in this short comedy. A rubber-legged clown carries around more chairs than he can hold, has them stolen and steal other chairs.

Here's something a little lighter than usual from the series of three-minute musical shorts produced in Germany from 1906 to. 1910 - twenty years before most people think of the birth of talkies. Instead of serious music, it's a duet from an operetta, THE DOLLAR PRINCESS.

Brussels in the Belle Epoque, recorced on film in a straightforward way. Camera work and editing are purely functional. The film observes busy everyday life in the metropolis as it happens on the street (including Boulevard Anspach, Rue de la Loi, Boulevard Emile Jacqmain), in the parks (Brussels Park and Parc du Cinquantenaire) and on the markets (including Grand Place). The iconic buildings feature extensively, buildings such as the Bourse, the Law Courts, St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral, Brussels' City Hall and the Parliament. After the tram ride through the Forêt de Soignes to the Congo Museum in Tervuren, the film ends with panoramic images of the city.

A proud father takes his many children to an outing.

These extraordinary views of life and landscape in Beijing were filmed during the last years of China's Qing dynasty, before the 1911 Xinhai Revolution overthrew imperial rule. The focus is on everyday life, and the views of hawkers, laborers, traders, and artisans reveal the city’s vibrant street culture. Especially striking is the shot of a barber preening his client’s 'Manchu queue' hairstyle.

1908 Vitagraph Company one-reel short film.

Early Balkan footage.

Shots of Morocco, including a harbour town with a fortress.

Émile Cohl mixes live-action and stop-motion animation in this charming evocation of the power of imagination. A magician shapes his cane into a hoop with strange properties for a young girl. Costume changes and city promenades give way towards greater abstraction as the film becomes absorbed by what goes on inside the ring.

This thrilling story of the days of '61 and '65 shows a scene in the woods and our hero doing sentry duty. His work has been tiresome, his strength is about given out and he sits down to rest. He falls asleep and is awakened by the general and a squad of soldiers, who come unexpectedly upon him, place him under arrest and march him off to the guardhouse. He is later brought to the general's headquarters, where he is tried for his laxity. The buttons are torn from his uniform and he is otherwise degraded and sentenced to be shot. In the guardhouse the man sits meditating over the fate in store for him. He is visited by the chaplain, who consoles him as best he can. As a last resort the prisoner determines to write home and have his wife intercede in his behalf. She succeeds in getting a reprieve in a thrilling manner.

The mishaps of a man who steps into the street wearing his brand-new white suit, and who instantly encounters every conceivable insult to his suit's integrity: a coalman bumps into him, a waiter spills food on him, a painter walks into him.

On a dock, men and women are bustling about. The fish is unloaded and brought to the covered market. The fish merchants gut the fish with dexterity, before salting it. While the men weigh the fish, the women rinse out their clothes and tools in the port’s water.

A Pathé camera slid into the bullring to film the bullfight that day.

A day in the life of a Stockholm drifter.

Travelling through Swedish Lappland, exploring the Northen Light, a Sami village, and the nature of Abisko National Park.

Travelogue taking viewers on a tour of Stockholm in 1908. The film begins with a panoramic view from the Belvedere, then shows the busy harbor, wharves, and rail yard with a jack-knife bridge in operation. It concludes with a tram-top ride through the city’s main business streets, capturing the bustle of modern urban life. Issued in Sweden under the title Ett besök i Stockholm, it is distinct from the newsreel footage of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra’s state visit.

Actuality film documenting the state visit of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra to Stockholm on 26–27 April 1908. The footage shows the English royal couple’s arrival and reception in Stockholm, crowds lining the streets, and ceremonial events. Originally released as part of the compilation newsreel Stockholm i festskrud.

Actuality coverage of the London 1908 Olympic Games, issued by Pathé and released in Sweden as Olympiska spelen i London 1908. The reel includes ceremonial scenes in the royal box and events at the White City Stadium. The Games were officially opened by King Edward VII on 13 July 1908, and surviving Pathé footage shows the royal arrival and stands alongside athletics highlights.

An Innkeeper introduces his young and pretty daughter to a wealthy old man who is in quest of a wife, but she being already in love spurns his protestations.

A trip from Stockholm to Gothenburg by two canals.

Pierrot and his Columbine are seated at a little feast with another friend, when Pierrot becomes jealous of his friend's attentions to the girl and orders him from the room. The friend complies promptly and the lover, in despondence, begins to drink until he is almost helpless. In this condition he wanders out.

A thief hides inside a huge fake crocodile and crawls away, creating fear wherever he goes.

A kabuki scene starring actors Ichikawa Udanji an Uchikawa Unosuke.

French horror short from 1908.

Short comedy about a man who dreams that he runs over everyone with his skates. A man falls asleep on the sidewalk and dreams that he gets into trouble with his homemade skates because he runs over everyone. He is woken up with a garden hose by two mischievous boys. When he takes the garden hose away, a police officer gets wet, which puts the man in trouble after all.

A boy puts glue in his brother's moustache lotion.

Market in Jonkoping

Images of Gotland

Pictures of travel in such places as the Orient and the black continent are always sure to be interesting, for not many of us have sojourned in these countries. In this picture we see the black race in their own land and have an opportunity of studying their peculiar ways at close range. We see the natives unloading the boats and carrying the merchandise to the shore on their heads. The grain is heaped up and they sort it and make their flour by breaking the grain between two stones. They are seen weaving rugs, the men at work washing the clothes, and the women attending to their duties of cooking and feeding the little ones. We see the Pacha going among the poor and distributing food to the unfortunates, who clamor for it like hungry wolves. Lastly, there is a fête on the public square, and the girls are dancing the native dances, while the men sit around and gamble

Tonbild (Sound Picture) for the duet "Wenn ich im Kampf für dich siege" from the first act of Richard Wagner's opera "Lohengrin".

Distinguished physician and sanitation officer Dr. William Gorgas takes a train ride around Colón, Panama Canal Zone with a companion.

Here is seen an old miser preparing for bed, but before retiring he counts his money and hides it under his mattress. He is just dropping off to sleep when two thieves climb on the roof and come down through the skylight into the attic directly over his room. They proceed to bore a hole in his ceiling, but the noise awakens him, and jumping out of bed does not taken time to dress, but starts off on a bicycle for the police. He has a long way to go and during his absence the thieves succeed in getting into his room and stealing all his valuables. He gets back after some time with a policeman perched on the front of his bicycle, and as they enter the house the thieves jump out of the window, seize the bicycle and ride away.

A quartet are making merry at a feast, and one of them is so full of liquor that he falls from his chair. At this his companions conceive, a clever plan for some fun. Taking a white fur suit from a wardrobe, they put him into it, and finishing the outfit with heavy white gloves and fitting a hollow bear head tightly over his own, they turn him out of the house resembling an intoxicated Polar Bruin.

A submarine coming into port is seen gliding smoothly on the water and the little rowboat which is to bring the captain of the vessel to his post is seen leaving for shore. We see the dashing young officer bidding his love adieu, and then seating himself in the frail craft is soon once more on duty at the wheel. Away they go, and reaching the wide sea the ship gives a lurch and disappears under the water.

A young woman is seen in thin film laughing at a youth, who, having fallen desperately in love with her at first sight, is ardently pressing his suit. Hearing footsteps in the passage, the young woman explains to her suitor that her husband is returning, and, terrified at the news, the timid Romeo jumps out of the window. He rushes down the street, and, seeing a messenger sitting on his stand at the corner, bribes the man to lend him his outfit; this accomplished he takes the boy's place and keeps watch over the residence of his Juliet. The husband returning, informs his wife in high glee that he has been appointed salesman for one of the largest crockery stores in the town, and before long is on his way to his new office, much to the satisfaction of the enamored messenger keeping watch.

A woman gets a dog from the pound. But her husband, jealous that the dog is getting so much attention, pays a man on the street to steal the dog. The women put a reward which attracts the attention of the thief.

The film documents the course of events taking place during the Sokol Festival Gathering of the North-Bohemian District held in the town of Prostějov. We can see the busy square and the adjacent streets, a parade marching through the town, and parts of individual exercise pieces performed near the Prostějov Sokol hall.

Two singers do not enter and take up their position in the center of the stage. Instead, the camera discovers them, the woman on her balcony and the man just outside, whereupon they launch into the duet "Liebchen Komi In Mein Stubchen".

Here's a travelogue that takes its audience to Palermo and shows them the big sights, and the hidden ones. It ends with a slow but impressive panorama shot of the skyline.

A lion hunt filmed in 1908 by the aristocrat Hyacinthe Octavie Frédérique Louise Irénée Rolande Pirmez. This is the oldest known film to be shot in Ethopia.

German Tonbild.

A man steals a sheep and is chased by the shepherds and the police.

It is the only known surviving film footage from the 1908 Rodman Wanamaker-sponsored expedition to record American Indian life in the west, filmed and produced both for an educational screening at Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia and to document what Wanamaker and photographer Joseph K. Dixon considered a “vanishing race.” Dixon and his son Roland shot motion picture film as well as thousands of photographs (most of the photographs are archived at Indiana University). This film captures life on Crow Agency, Crow Fair and a recreation of the Battle of Little Big Horn featuring four of Custer’s Crow scouts.

For the benefit of those who are not fortunate enough to travel and enjoy the beauties and customs of different countries, a film of this kind is an innovation, for it takes us on a boat down the beautiful Imperial Canal of China. If we were there in reality it could not be much more enjoyable than this picture, which favors us with a wonderful view of the famous wall of China as it stands to-day in a stage of decay, a monument to a famous fanatical nation.

A mischievous boy steals the calf's head from a drunk man, who has been sent by his wife to buy it. The boy then places the ruminant's head on the man's shoulders.

Recording of the voice of an African man.

Children play with their toys while Grandpa dozes. He dreams that the doll's house catches fire and the toys rush to put out the flames. He awakens to find the children squirting him with water.

Documentary short showing traditional marriage celebration in rural France.

A pesky fly and the determination to get it.

After an altercation two men exchange cards, an invitation to adjudicate their differences on the field of honor. The seconds make all arrangements and at the appointed hour, the combatants appear. Both, however, are possessed of mortal fear and their aim is so uncertain that after numerous attempts and trials of various forms of weapons the seconds cheerfully call the match a draw.