The Electric Hotel

The Electric Hotel 1908

6.08

An enthusiastic young couple is astounded with modern technology's giant leaps in the fascinating field of electricity.

1908

The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ

The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ 1903

6.32

The story of Jesus Christ, from the proclamation of His Nativity to His Ascension into heaven. Impressive staging and beautiful hand-coloring distinguish the film from its Passion-play counterparts; Its scale and dynamic crowds prelude the Italian epics to come.

1903

The Red Spectre

The Red Spectre 1907

5.97

A demonic magician attempts to perform his act in a strange grotto, but is confronted by a Good Spirit who opposes him.

1907

The Bewitched House

The Bewitched House 1907

6.50

A group of travellers go into a house for protection. Little do they know, it is filled with ghosts who make unusual things happen to them.

1907

What Is Seen Through a Keyhole

What Is Seen Through a Keyhole 1901

5.40

Pathé film number 380, also known as "What Happened to the Inquisitive Janitor" (US) and "Peeping Tom" (UK). It should not be confused with its remake from 1905 also titled What is Seen Through a Keyhole, a film now considered lost. As a janitor is cleaning a hotel, he decides to peek through the keyholes to observe some of the guests in their rooms. In room 8, a woman is busy making herself look more attractive, and the janitor enjoys watching her. There are also some interesting things going on in the other rooms on the floor.

1901

L'Assommoir

L'Assommoir 1908

5.50

Everyman Coupeau's attempts to stop drinking are routinely thwarted by the wicked and vengeful Virginie. Based on Zola's novel, Capellani's film is about the free fall of a group of working-class French folk into degradation and tragedy due to carelessness, jealousy, and alcohol abuse. At the time of its release, L'Assommoir was hugely successful.

1908

Don Quichotte

Don Quichotte 1903

5.10

An early Pathé version of Don Quixote told in 15 chapters.

1903

The Golden Beetle

The Golden Beetle 1907

5.80

A magician is surprised when he attempts to transform a beetle.

1907

La Tosca

La Tosca 1909

1

Rome, June 1800. Floria Tosca is a celebrated opera singer, better known as La Tosca. Her lover is Mario Cavaradossi, a young artist and Bomapartist sympathizer. When the latter helps Angelotti, the leader of the opposition, to escape from prison and hides him in La Tosca's home, he antagonizes Baron Scarpia, the ruthless chief of police, all the more as his love for Tosca is unrequited. Scarpia has Mario arrested and condemned to death. Upset, Floria begs the Baron for her lover's life. He accepts to have the bullets of the firing squad replaced by blanks if... she sleeps with him. She agrees nominally but when she finds herself with Scarpia, she stabs him to death. She then goes to see Mario in his cell and lets him know about his phony execution. But Scarpia had had time to get the order reversed and in the early hours of the morning, Mario is executed in the proper manner. In despair, Tosca throws herself into the void...

1909

History of a Crime

History of a Crime 1901

5.80

A convicted criminal dreams about his past the night before his execution.

1901

Cléopâtre

Cléopâtre 1910

4.00

Short directed by Henri Andréani and Ferdinand Zecca.

1910

The Missing Bride

The Missing Bride 1910

1

During a wedding party, according to tradition, hide-and-seek is played in a local abandoned castle. The bride falls into a hidden corridor. As she enters a room, the door falls shut behind her. Inside, she finds a dead woman and a book that says she cannot get out of here. However, a cat taking her scarf outside is her salvation. The cat puts the searchers on the right track, and the groom finds his bride.

1910

The Dancing Pig

The Dancing Pig 1907

6.20

A pig dressed in fancy clothes flirts with a pretty girl, but she humiliates him and tears off his suit; she then makes him dance for her affections.

1907

Le Coupable

Le Coupable 1917

5.50

At trial the prosecuting attorney makes a startling confession: the defendant is his son whose pitiful fate led him to murder. The attorney left the young man's pregnant mother, and the unwed poor thing had to fight against a hostile world.

1917

J'accuse

J'accuse 1919

7.42

The story of two men, one married, the other the lover of the other's wife, who meet in the trenches of the First World War, and how their tale becomes a microcosm for the horrors of war.

1919