Cinematic Era: 1909 Vintage

An interest film about a Paris nursery.

Japanese horror movie from 1909.

Short film about a deep-sea fishing steamer

Various views of the Palm Tree’s Ally, the Corcovado funicular and the high tide in Rio de Janeiro before Christ the Redeemer came to dominate the scene.

Dog must rescue girl.

Early Pathecolor film

Using their Edison camera, the Corricks filmed Sports at Sea during their return trip to Australia on the White Star Line’s S.S. Runic following their international tour. The film features the family and other passengers enjoying various on-board entertainments, including staged wrestling matches, blind boxing, and a costume parade.

Valse Caprice, a popular pas de deux created by Nikolai Legat.

The first film about Ljubljana, with parades, perfomances of choral societies, a public festival, and a panoramic view.

A short love story about jealousy and deceit; a soldier is in love with a girl, but when he gets injured, a jealous rival in love tells this girl that the soldier has died. She jumps into a ravine but is saved, and everything turns out well.

A detective poses as a cleric to save a squire's daughter from marrying a murderer.

This picture story is a series of stirring war scenes occurring in 1865, at the homestead of Captain Warren, Confederate officer, near St. Petersburg, Va., at that time headquarters of General Logan.

The scene is laid at the White House, the President's home. Looking down the broad avenue are seen two autos approaching it with great haste. One stops in front of the building and a man dressed in military clothes quickly ascends the broad steps. He is shown into the President's private office. The President is seen handing him a letter which is of a very secret and important nature. He is warned to be extremely careful and deliver it with utmost speed. Outside his machine is waiting.

A short on industrial hemp, locally sourced from the Philippines.

Promoted as authentic safari footage, this early Selig production stages a lion hunt in California rather than Africa. Using animals from Selig’s game preserve and employing a Roosevelt look-alike for cutaways, the film presented itself as a record of Theodore Roosevelt’s celebrated expedition. In reality, it was one of the earliest “fake documentaries,” blending staged action and exotic branding to satisfy audience demand for Roosevelt’s big-game exploits.

A short film in which the members of the Motion Pictures Patents Company (which had been founded only a year earlier) congratulate Thomas Edison himself on receiving a new patent.

Jeannot sees a lithograph of a ballet dancer and decides he wants one of them and heads to the big city. Jeanette decides she can be one and likewise heads to the big city.

Follows legendary classical composer, Ludwig Van Beethoven, creating one of his most famous pieces called “Moonlight Sonata”.

Short documentary

Only 3 minutes of this Oskar Messter short film survive.

Documentary on Louis Blériot's 31 minute flight over the channel.

We follow a wedding celebration in Auvergne, France.

An adaptation not of Zola’s novel but of the play William Busnach and Octave Gastineau derived from it, with the consent but not the approval of the author, first performed at the Ambigu Theatre in Paris on January 18, 1879.

Documentary footage of folk-dancers.

Documentary about life in colonized Africa.

Mrs. Youngwife has become stage struck. She purchases a book, "How to Become a Great Actress," and soon imagines she is ready for her debut. The husband tries in vain to bring her to her senses and follows her in disguise. He breaks up her first performance, thrashes a too ardent admirer and tells her he will get a divorce. She prefers to sacrifice her "art" to her darling hubby and peace reigns forever.

A woman says good evening through moving flowers in stop motion animation.

Directed by Robert W. Paul.

In this weird picture we take a pleasure trip into the infernal regions and are entertained by his Satanic Majesty and all the spooks that are connected with his household.

In the vaults of the Film Museum is a short film which, when it arrived in the 1950s, was given the title Bloemenvelden in Haarlem (The Flower Fields of Haarlem). The film shows the visit of two women and a child to the bulb fields. One woman buys a bouquet of flowers from a farm labourer who is hard at work. At the end of the film, a man joins them. He also buys a bouquet of flowers. Both the husband and wife give their bouquets to the child.

An Indian cares for a dead white man's child, protecting him from a thieving fur trader.

It is Mr. Bunk's unlucky day. Before leaving for business, he is despoiled of all his ready cash by Mrs. Bunk for a bargain sale. At the office his homely stenographer (chosen by Mrs. Bunk) aggravates him by her eternal primping. About to discharge her, he is restrained by the sudden appearance of his wife laden with the spoils of the bargain counter. The bargains, of course, are of main importance. They are displayed and discussed with animation by the ladies. Business routine is shattered. Mr. Bunk, irritated beyond endurance, rages from the office intent on obtaining a stenographer of his own choosing. At the employment office, it is impossible to please him, until the arrival of Miss Dimples, a stunning blonde. Mr. Bunk can hardly wait for an introduction, and she is hired on the spot.

When war breaks out between Denmark and Germany in 1848, Christian from poor Nyboder is hired as a bugler. Zealous and proud, he leaves Copenhagen with his old father and cousins Orla and Frants to defend Schleswig against the German enemy. One day, Christian takes on the dangerous task of delivering a depeche about a German attack on the line of defence near Egå – a trip full of obstacles and grim revelations. (Stumfilm.dk)

A documentary drama about people who live by the sea.

A seducer named Dupont is ordered to marry a woman to "repair" the damage done to her, which is a little complicated for him because he is already married, and cannot enter into a new union under penalty of bigamy. And yet, the dilemma is: marriage or death! Fortunately, this unfortunate man discovers a double on the street corner who agrees, for a fee, to play the role. All works fine, the double easily gets used to his character until Mrs. Dupont, meeting him in the street and taking him for her legitimate husband, insists on accompanying him.

Filmed by the Cinema Theater Company.

The Flag Oath ceremony before the monument to Francisco Bolognesi. The events alluded to referred to the kidnapping of President Augusto B. Leguía by associates of Nicolás de Piérola, to force his resignation.

A short film in which every time a beggar sells his dog it returns to him.

The funeral of George Biddall. Biddall's circus travelled the country. The most famous part of their show was the "Biddall's Ghost Illusion", which gave the impression of pictures moving. When George Biddall died in 1909, people flocked to his funeral in Cockermouth. Buffalo Bill Cody was amongst the mourners.

Italian Short

Celebrations for the consecration and inauguration of the Igreja Matriz Nossa Senhora da Conceição, in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on December 5, 1909. People leaving the church for the celebration, the fair and the procession. At the train station: the boarding platform, the service cars, the passengers and the locomotive departing.

A portrait of the French city of Lourdes.

A documentary film on crocodile fishing

Newsfilm about the world’s first aviation meeting

Five tinted views of the city and port of Algiers in the early 20th century.

Japanese horror movie from 1909.

The first-released film to capture the ghostly legend of Sakura Sôgotô, the subject of numerous gruesome kabuki plays of spectral horror. Sôgorô (also known as Kiuchi), was a 17th century farmer who was tortured and crucified, along with his family, for daring to question the Shogun. He became a legendary martyr, and stories of his ghost returning to seek revenge passed into myth, The Sôgorô saga became one of the most-filmed ghost stories in early Japanese cinema.

Sugawara no Michizane was a poet/politician of the Heian period, who fell from grace and died in exile. It was said that his vengeful ghost was the cause of subsequent plagues, natural disasters, and deaths.

The Gauls are gathered around the betrothal table. The chieftain's daughter enters and presents the cup to Vercingetorix, whom she has chosen as her husband. The rival, in his anger, challenges the chosen one to a duel. Vercingetorix disarms him but spares his life. The traitor offers his services to Caesar, who is leading his armies into Alesia.

The first film vision of another seminal Japanese folk legend. Momotarô, the boy who was conceived when his elderly parents ate a magic peach and were rejuvenated for one final night of passionate sex. He proved to be a mighty hero, and an invincible defender of the Japanese people, travelling to the mythic island of Onigashima and killing all its demons. One of three movies released in 1909 in Japan. All of them share the same name.

Early japanese horror film from 1909. From the 1759 kabuki play, in which Kiyo-hime transforms into a giant serpent.

This remarkable ape, extraordinarily human-like in its manners and ways, gives a splendid exhibition. When first seen Adam appears to be in a rather morose mood in a chair. The weather is so hot that at the suggestion of the professor Adam removes his coat and gratefully accepts a fan. The question of dinner is then discussed and Adam focuses his attention on the bill of fare with all the interest of an epicure. A bottle of wine is shared by the two friends, the ape seeing to it that he gets his. After dinner a game of cards, followed by a pipe, with which we will leave him, although we have described only a few of his many accomplishments.

A scout trails burglars, locks them in, and fetches police.

Short silent film about the main street of Košice (now Slovakia).

The Youghal Clock Tower is a light-hearted and playful exploration of the possibilities of animation in its infancy. In this short, the well-known landmark is depicted dancing into frame as the clock gate comes to life, spinning and dancing through the main street of the Cork town. It is likely that James Horgan was one of the earliest animators in Irish film history, as he experimented with film production techniques including stop-motion animation and the use of models, as well as retouching still photographs.