Cinematic Era: 1909 Vintage

An early Miyamoto Musashi silent short film

A dance demonstrated by Emma Meissner & Rosa Grünberg.

The film, produced by Filoteo Alberini and released in 1909 is a short drama about a young boy who is killed during the Spedizione dei Mille, a military campaign led by revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860 to defeat the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, an expedition aimed at unifying Italy. Both films were restored by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematograf ia–Cineteca nazionale as part of a joint project between them and the Grand Orient of Italy to mark the bicentennial celebrations of the birth of Guiseppe Garibaldi.

Selection of scenes from Nikolay Gogol's comedy of the same name. Lost movie.

A man is very nervous. His wife gives him some nerve powder which works. The man proceeds to give the nerve powder to everyone he meets.

A formerly lost Lubin short film.

Marzen photographs this multi-shot document of a Catholic procession.

A whale is hunted in the southern hemisphere by the crew of a sailing ship: it is harpooned twice, using a cannon, and taken back to the shore. In the second part, the whale is butchered at a whaling station. A lady with a parasol looks on, while in the background are the sailing ships used to hunt whales. These are excerpts from a 1909 film called "La Pêche à Baleine dans les mers du Sud" made by Jean Nédelec and cut down in the 1920's for the Pathé Baby home movie projector.

Directed by Giuseppe de Liguoro.

André de Santis, a young French officer, leaves for the war in despair for the cancelling of his marriage to Jeanne de Chazal. Jeanne entered the convent and became Sister Angélique. André, not far from the convent, was mortally wounded. He wrote to Jeanne asking her to come and receive his last breath. But the rule was strict, and Sister Angélique could not leave the convent. However, the statue of the Virgin before which Jeanne was prostrating came to life, descended from its pedestal, and took on the appearance of Sister Angélique, seemingly granting her the permission she had refused. Jeanne then went to close her ex-fiancé's eyes and then returned to the convent, where the Virgin resumed her original form.

Consequences result when a father breaks up his son's engagement.

Nymphs and cupids dance in celebration of the arrival of Spring.

A short film showing the industrial process of jute works in India.

A young sailor dozes off in the grass in Frederiksberg Have and wakes up surrounded by supernatural fairylike creatures. They take him to the mermaid Capriciosa, who gives him a magic, inexhaustible wallet. The only rule he must abide is never to share his fortune with his family. (stumfilm.dk)

Many of the scenes of this split-reel short about a bizarre group of tramp musicians who disappear into and out of drums, beach umbrellas and whatnots were shot in the street and the others were on stages decorated to look realistic.

Max Linder is an ardent suitor for the hand of a somewhat rampageous young lady. The gentle Max suffers sadly from her rough treatment, but at length he extracts the promise that she will marry him when he has learned to juggle with three balls.

A journey across the Atlantic.

The celebration of famous Swedish explorer Sven Hedin in Furusund and Stockholm on January 16 and 17, 1919.

Funeral of Afonso Pena.

A silhouette film of acrobatic mice.

Gus is making violent love to his cousin Sue, to whom he is engaged, when all at once, he has a desire to sneeze and finds to his consternation that he is without that very necessary article, a pocket handkerchief. Becoming very much excited in his embarrassment, he begins turning his pockets inside out and getting redder and looking more awkward every minute, until Sue, becoming disenchanted with her foolish looking lover, hastens to greet Arthur, whom she sees approaching. It is plain that the latter is gaining ground with Miss Sue, when all at once he begins to sneeze and is unable also to locate his handkerchief. He forgets that on entering he had laid it with his hat on the table, where Gus was fortunate to find it and owing to which good fortune the latter is able to regain the side of his fiancée, who is now alone, as Arthur, feeling that awful tickling sensation in his nose, had to flee.

“A husband and wife quarrel violently in front of their little girl. The husband is having an affair with an actress. The child follows her father to a florists where he orders flowers to be sent to his mistress. She bribes the messenger to be allowed to deliver the flowers. She meets the actress in her dressing room and makes a passionate appeal to her to give up papa. Filled with remorse, the actress agrees, and when the father calls to see her he is confronted by his child with a note from the actress ending the affair. Touched by his little girl's action, the father returns home and is reconciled with his wife.” - BFI.

French horror short from 1909. A traveler takes refuge inside an old, bewitched manor where objects move, ghosts appear, and comic of frightening transformations occur.

One of 3 movies released 1909 with the same name.

Wicked foreign agents trying to destroy navy ships are foiled by a very English detective.

This Spanish short film tells the story of Guzmán el Bueno, a hero of the Reconquista.

'Sexton Blake' poses as a gang's messenger to save a kidnapped girl.

A true story of ante-Rebellion days.

Italian film from 1909

Aristocrat Armand Duval meets the courtesan Marguerite Gauthier, after which he never stops thinking about her. The young man’s family is adamantly opposed to his relationship with a girl of easy virtue. For the sake of Armand’s future, Marguerite, who is dying from consumption, sets him free.

A silent feature short film by Vasily Goncharov based on a folk song of the same name. It was filmed with actors from the Vvedensky Folk House troupe. The movie is preserved without inscriptions.

This film recounts an episode in Eugène François Vidocq's life and the events that led him to escape from the Brest penal colony disguised in a uniform.

Comedy from a series about the character Cretinetti (Gibrouille). He is organizing a Christmas party but it ends up being a total mess. He buys a Christmas tree, but the tree is so big that he can hardly transport it to the party. As he runs around the city with the tree he creates one disaster after another.

A count has decided to marry. When his former lovers hear of this, they decide to kidnap him from the office of the Justice of Peace and bring him to a manson.

Hardy trawlermen brave bad weather and rough seas off the coast of north-west England to bring in the catch.

An old woman and her jealous dog.

A delightfully pleasing and beautifully hand-colored series of panoramic views, giving the history of the fan. A large ostrich feather fan opens and closes alternately, showing each time a different scene and the various styles of fans in use throughout ages and by many peoples. Scenes illustrated are: Adam and Eve, The Egyptians, The Greeks, Romans, Sixteenth Century, Modern Use.

A banker's daughter rejects a rich client who then withdraws money to cause a run on the bank.

A shipwrecked captain's dog swims ashore to fetch help.

Directed by Roberto Omegna.

Three-Fingered Kate, a cunning jewel thief, disguises herself to infiltrate a wealthy home and steal a prized necklace. Using her wit and daring, she manages to stay one step ahead of her pursuers.

Once Madame Ducordon discovers the joys of a new fashionable dance, she starts performing it wherever she happens to be.

A Segundo de Chomón film filled with stop-motion animation and ghosts.

André Deed is tired of being beat up, so a strong man has no trouble selling him one of the springs with handles at either end. When I was a kid, exercise mavens like Jack Lalanne would sell them, only made out of rubber. Anyway, Deed alternates exercising with this device and getting beat up on by almost everyone for the length of this one-reel comedy.

Documentary footage shot around Naples. Coastline around Lake Fusaro (Pozzuoli). Wheat threshing. Fishermen. Hunting lodge used for oyster farming. People bathing.

A man buys a magic powder that makes him invisible.

A bearded man drinks goat's milk and butts people.

One of 3 movies released 1909 with the same name.

A man gamles his wife away.

Some gnomes are searching for a wonderful spider that weaves webs of golden coins. Intent on their search, they are unaware that their movements are closely followed by a poor woodcutter, who also penetrates into their caves when they have caught the spider and imprisoned it there. He watches the wonderful spider making gold and other articles with wonder and in this scene the moving picture camera has excelled itself in turning out some good tricks, and finally he steals the golden spider. (Moving Picture World)

Nymphs and cupids dance in celebration of the arrival of Spring.

From the opening of the Bergen Railway in 1909 with King Haakon. We follow the train along the track up to Höfjellet with stops at various stations, i.a. Gulsvik, Myrdal, Mjølfjell.

A political comedy with scenes of slander and libel, filmed by A. Tsutsunava, considered lost.

An Italian movie.

Monsieur de La Valette, arrested on the return of the Bourbons and sentenced to death as a conspirator, escapes from prison thanks to his wife's plan.