Cinematic Era: 1910 Vintage

In the glittering salons of Parisian high society, a celebrated duchess known for her beauty and charm becomes entangled in a provocative game of power and pride when a stoic and decorated general resists her allure. What begins as a flirtatious challenge soon unravels into a story of unrequited love, emotional reckoning, and the consequences of vanity. As their paths diverge, the two are drawn together once more under unexpected and tragic circumstances, revealing the enduring grip of passion and the quiet devastation of missed chances.

Our friend Blink is a baseball bug and a devotee of the sport. One day he finds he will have time in the afternoon to visit the ball park, and from that moment until noon he is in an excited fever, refusing to talk anything but baseball to the business men who call on him.

The story of Canto V of the Inferno is briefly summarized. The film is a remake of The Two Brothers (a.k.a. Francesca di Rimini), and based on the play Francesca da Rimini by Gabriele D'Anunzio. Both films have Florence Turner and James Stuart Blackton starring and directing, respectively. The critics of the time panned the ending, which was said to be 'a pathetic fizzle'.

A silent Western.

A Chinese mandarin named Chang is blind and finds his only happiness is the caresses of his wife and the adoration of his son. One day, while out walking with his servant, Chang comes across a sorcerer who recognizes his rank and begs to be allowed to give the great man a potent liquid which will restore his sight. Chang submits to the administration of the sorcerer's cure and in a moment, for the first time in his life, he beholds the beauty of the world; everything about him holds untold ecstasies for his unaccustomed sight. He finds beauty in the very soil on which he walks. Hastening home he admonishes his servant not to say anything, but decides to surprise his family. Stealing into the house he peeks through the door into the study where his son and his tutor are supposed to be at work. There he witnesses his son's burlesque of his own helplessness and the tutor crawling on the floor in mirth. In the garden he discovers his young wife in the embrace of a neighboring mandarin.

A story of grim vengeance.

Jean Comandon, pioneer of microcinematography, recorded this time-lapse film in c. 1910, using a ultramicroscope. The film show living spiral shaped syphilis bacteria moving among red blood cells of frog. Notice the back-and-forth movement, characterizing the disease-causing form. (Wikipedia)

"Swift Arrow, a lithe and willowy Indian, leaving the encampment of his fellow braves, is well on his journey when he is thrown from his horse and receives a broken leg and injuries from which he is disabled and lies helpless and alone." -Moving Picture World Synopsis excerpt

Little Mario, the child musician, lives with his old father in impoverished circumstances. The father is very feeble and able to do but little work. Mario is obliged to play his violin on the streets to earn what money he can. One day his father is confined to the home by sickness

This deft comedy about a foiled elopement and assumed identity shows the importance of a carefully worked out scenario for narrative flow.

The cowboys and gamblers of Curzon are very much interested in a placard which appears one day in the saloon, giving the information that the Rev. A.B. Cole is due to arrive from Glue Gulch, and that services will be held in the schoolhouse. The cowboys plan to give the preacher a warm reception, but are surprised and chagrined when the new minister turns out to be a pretty woman. The immediately apologize and agree that religion must be a good thing if taught by such a charming woman. The attendance at the schoolhouse is large, and the barroom is almost deserted. The bartender is in despair and is on the point of closing out his business. He is urged against this, however, by one steady patron, Joe Lane, who tries his best to bring the deserters back into camp.

A shot during a struggle, and Frank Morrison is branded with the mark of Cain, but by his own efforts the real murderer is discovered.

Bent on having a summer’s vacation, two working girls hire a tent and pitch their camp on the shore of a beautiful lake. As fate would have it, two farmer lads, living with their widowed mother and their pet border collie Jean, unexpectedly come onto the tent of the girls.

A small journey through time into a lost, barely recognisable Berlin: With the vehicle, the city center with the romantic fishing island and the magnificent buildings from the period before the First World War is explored and recorded.

The versatile Max Linder heads a novel chase in this film, the pursuers being three dogs, the pets of the comedian's fiancée. Max was dreadfully afraid of dogs anyhow, and of these dogs in particular, because they were jealous when their mistress caressed Max. On the wedding day he had them locked up, but they escaped and ran to the parlor, where the ceremony was in progress. Max fled through numberless streets, houses, rooms, and finally to the roof, where he gave up and sent back a note by the dogs declining to marry and be devoured. The picture amuses.

Corps Marching

Edwin Thanhouser re-made The Vicar of Wakefield in 1917 as a eight-reel feature film providing us with a frame of reference for the maturation of film language and cinematic techniques over the ensuing eight year period.

Lost short film about the death of the last Aztec Emperor.

Ben Turpin stars as Happy Mike, a tramp hired by an actress to deliver her hobble skirt to the Baby Fund Bazaar. Instead, the tramp dons the skirt himself and impersonates the actress, igniting chaos and an epic chase.

This deft comedy about a foiled elopement and assumed identity shows the importance of a carefully worked out scenario for narrative flow.

Albert Yearsley, shoots the local Manila Carnival in motion picture.

A Danish crime drama set deep within Copenhagen.

He's a regular "fan" and studies the baseball news as carefully as some people do their Bibles. He comes to breakfast with his dear little wife and finds his morning paper as usual at his plate. "By Jove!" he shouts, as he glances at the news, "a game this afternoon." Then he begins to wax eloquent about the strikes, flies, home runs and base hits, putting his hand in the hominy, knocking the coffee pot from the table and winding up his exposition by pulling the table-cloth off and everything else with it. He has gone the limit and wifey can humor his craze no longer. She swoops down upon him with an umbrella and gets in some "swats" that nearly knock the cover from his dome. He makes a run for the office with a deep laid plan to go to the ball game by pretending he has a toothache.

"Bullets" Brown, the hero of our story, is a rare track tout, and a true type or this particular parasite.

Unsuccessful in his suit for Mabel, John goes to farm in western Canada. Mabel's father convinces her that John has found another sweetheart, so Mabel accepts an old suitor. A spinster who cares for John discovers he still loves Mabel and brings her out west where she and John are reunited.

A historical short film inspired by the Biblical story of Belshazzar's Feast.

Benitez pretends to be a toreador and his friends decide to pull a prank on him.

Hell hath no fury like Léontine with a piece of string! Our favorite mutinous miscreant returns with her weapon of choice, “pulling the strings” as she baits greedy bystanders to snatch at the tempting objects that ever elude their grasps. Léontine is an evil puppet-master who preys on consumer capitalism’s vicious loop between wanting and having. Her angry victims form a vengeful mob and chase after her, but she trips them with string and then rides off into the woods. Real violence is averted by a clever substitution trick and Léontine celebrates with her iconic victory dance.

The West Texas Borax Company is practically insolvent. John Graham, the president, has been unable to find the white mineral in sufficient quantities to satisfy the eastern stockholders, and a letter from his partner arrives which brings the disagreeable news that their backers are about to back out, unless, in the language of Missouri, they "are shown" something. Graham is in a quandary, and appeals to his stenographer for advice. That young woman has had so little to do in, the office that she is overcome with surprise and confusion. The postman enters and hands Graham a letter and a package. Listlessly the president opens them, but his manner changes and he leaps to his feet with a whoop of joy. There is a chance of saving the company.

A travel documentary on landscapes, which utilizes the phantom ride technique and which makes use of the momentum of shots taken with the camera mounted on moving vehicles. Each means of transport answers to differing rules in perceiving the scenario.

The plot revolves around US President Abraham Lincoln pardoning a hapless sentry who had fallen asleep while on duty during the height of the American Civil War.

A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.

A proto-"documentary" film depicting workers of a mine owned by the Wilgan Coal and Iron Company

The very first Spanish full feature-length film is based on musical composed by Enric Morera on a libretto by Francesc Pujols i Morgades, based on a work by Víctor Balaguer premiered on October 7, 1922 at the Tívoli Theater in Barcelona. The action takes place around the Catalan gang in the seventeenth century; it is a story of impossible love between "nyerros" and "cadells" that culminates with the execution of the titled protagonist.

The versatile Max Linder heads a novel chase in this film, the pursuers being three dogs, the pets of the comedian's fiancée. Max was dreadfully afraid of dogs anyhow, and of these dogs in particular, because they were jealous when their mistress caressed Max. On the wedding day he had them locked up, but they escaped and ran to the parlor, where the ceremony was in progress. Max fled through numberless streets, houses, rooms, and finally to the roof, where he gave up and sent back a note by the dogs declining to marry and be devoured. The picture amuses.

If a Wall Street financier is to escape arrest, he must flee his house at once. He chooses instead to stay in order to watch his daughter get married. Thanks to kindhearted police, he is permitted to take part in the wedding while they wait discreetly in the next room, ready to take him away.

Directed by Alfred Machin.

A doddering old gentleman, out for his morning's constitutional, suffers an attack of epilepsy in front of a saloon in the country town. Pedestrians run to his rescue and the barkeeper of the saloon brings out a good jolt of whiskey to revive the stricken one. A tramp who has noted the accident, has also mentally noted the glass of whiskey, and being thirsty for a drink himself, he turns away, a brilliant scheme revolving in his mind. A few minutes later the tramp in passing another saloon is seen to fall and go into violent contortions. A crowd gathers and the saloonkeeper comes out with the dose of whiskey. "Weary" is delighted, and meeting an old tramp friend of his, puts him wise to the little game.

Always on the lookout for easy money. "Hank and Lank." our favorite comedians, see an opportunity to get a square meal when they are inspired by the methods of a blind man, preying upon public charity.

A love story complication with Western trimmings.

A pioneering effort in bringing shadow puppetry to the cinema.

A touching story of a pampered dog and an abused orphan forced to go out into the world alone.

Nora, who is the president of the Bachelor's Club, receives a letter announcing the death of her uncle in the west and that he has made her heir to his immense fortune. Including a ranch at Grey Oaks. Nora decides to go west and take charge of the ranch and run it herself a la suffragette fashion. She invites all the girls to go with her and they start for their new home. Arriving at Grey Oaks they pay no attention to the cowboys who greet them at the station but go at once in the old stage-coach to the ranch. The cowboys follow, approach the ranch, offer their services and are rewarded by being driven from the premises. The boys make up their minds to "get next" to the girls and devise a scheme.

A Story of the Lumber Regions of Western Canada: a lumberjack remember his past while he listens to a record of the song his fiancée used to sing him.

Directed by J. Stuart Blackton.

John Gary, a hotel owner, who wants to revitalize his business. After reading about a reported mermaid sighting, he has his daughter Ethel pose as a mermaid and gets a newspaper reporter to witness and photograph the mermaid. The publicity results in the hotel becoming famous, but Ethel eventually discloses the joke to the guests of the hotel in her mermaid suit.

The lure of the white-top and the music of the band is food for the bronco buster and he is happy with plaudits of the gathered throng. The grand entry is on and all is agog with excitement as Tom and Jerry cut their capers. Just then Sheriff Ketchem rudely announces he has an attachment for an unpaid feed bill at Hebron, Ind., and proceeds to "sew" the show up.

A lost film by the Foster Photoplay Company.

Directed by Sigmund Lubin.

Allan Ardmore and his sister, Edith, two young eastern people, pay a visit to their uncle's ranch in Arizona. Young Ardmore has suffered a physical breakdown and is seeking to regain his health. Albert Weston, his uncle, believes in the doctrine of "back to nature" and sees plainly that what the boy needs is fresh air and plenty of rough, hard work.

Jack Tyler, a handsome young Boston youth, receives a letter from his attorneys, Post & Post, that his uncle, a Western ranchman, has died and that he is one of the heirs of the $1,000,000, left by his uncle. This part of it is very good but the condition prescribed in the will is not so agreeable, because the whimsical old uncle has stipulated that he is to receive his portion of the inheritance, providing he marry his uncle's niece.

Young Tom Powers has a wild, irresponsible lifestyle which is condemned by his father but indulged by his well-meaning mother. Tom is pressed to pay his gambling debts, but his father refuses to give him the money. Later, the father plans a business trip on which he will be carrying a large amount of cash. In desperation, Tom disguises himself and surreptitiously enters the house to steal his father’s wallet. Seeing the "burglar" but unaware of his identity, his mother removes the money from the wallet and substitutes the timetable on which Tom’s father had marked his itinerary, intending to give Tom the money and blame the theft on the "burglar". Tom is later apprehended by the police, and his father, called to the station, opens the retrieved wallet and finds the timetable inside. Instantly realizing what has happened, he allows his son to go free. Tom is sobered by the incident and goes away to make a fresh start in life.

Anonymous silent