Ashes

Ashes 1917

5.80

Dame Eleonora Duse plays a poor woman who, incapable of raising and feed him, leaves her illegitimate son with foster parents. Before she leaves her boy, the woman gives to the child an amulet in order to protect him. The amulet will be the key to put him in connection with his old mother when the boy grows up.

1917

Tweedledum as Aviator

Tweedledum as Aviator 1911

6.70

Robinet, the lead in this Italian slapstick comedy, wants to be an aviator in the worst way, and this being an Italian slapstick, that's how he does it. Italian slapstick in this period was absolutely bone-breaking, so much so that it makes Keystone slapstick look like drawing-room comedy by contrast.

1911

The Queen of Nineveh

The Queen of Nineveh 1911

1

The Queen of Nineveh plots with Prince Canach to destroy the King. Hidden behind a curtain they see the King drink poisoned wine. The High Priest takes the King's young son Aznra, and hides him, and fifteen years later brings him forth and presents him to the populace, which greets him with acclamation and moves on the palace to avenge the death of the King. Prince Canach cravenly hides when the Queen bids him lead the royal guard against the mob, and she dons his armor and takes his place at the head of the troops. A sensational battle takes place .reaching its height on the steps of the palace. Azura singles out, as he thinks, Prince Canach and when his opponent falls mortally wounded he finds it was his own mother.

1911

Parsifal

Parsifal 1912

6.90

A fantasy film about the knight Parsifal, who has to protect the Holy Grail from wizards.

1912

The Last Days of Pompeii

The Last Days of Pompeii 1908

5.10

Pompeii 79AD, mere days before the Vesuvian eruption. Glaucus and Jone are in love with each other. Arbaces, the Egyptian High Priest, is determined to conquer Jone. Glaucus purchases Nydia, the blind and long-suffering slave. Nydia falls in love with Glaucus and asks Arbaces for his help. He gives her a potion to make Glaucus fall in love with her-- In fact, a poison which will cause violent insanity.

1908

The Extraordinary Adventures of Saturnino Farandola

The Extraordinary Adventures of Saturnino Farandola 1913

5.60

Saturnino Farandola: Raised by monkeys, taken in by sailors, captain of a frigate. He sets off to chart unknown worlds with his loyal crew. Beneath the sea he encounters love in the person of Mysora the beautiful. On land he comes up against a mad wise man, a Machiavellian mandarin and bloodthirsty Apaches, but nothing will be able to stop his desire to explore.

1913

Nero, or The Fall of Rome

Nero, or The Fall of Rome 1909

5.50

Roman emperor Nero is used to getting what he wants. He has grown tired of his wife Octavia, and has become infatuated with Poppea. He succeeds in making Poppea the new empress, but soon he faces opposition from an outraged populace. Informed of the danger of an imminent popular uprising, Nero orders to set fire to the city, which he watches from a terrace, rejoicing and playing his lyra.

1909

If One Could See Into the Future

If One Could See Into the Future 1911

6.40

A mother confronts Death as to why he has to take her young boy. And he shows her the future to explain why he need to be eliminated.

1911

The Last Days of Pompeii

The Last Days of Pompeii 1913

5.40

Well-respected Pompeiian Glaucus performs an act of kindness by purchasing Nydia, a blind slave being mistreated by her owner. Nydia falls in love with her new master, but he only has eyes for Ione. Ione in turn is lusted after by Arbace, an Egyptian high priest of Isis. When Nydia beseeches Isis for help in capturing Glaucus' heart, Arbace gives her a "love" potion-- an elixir made to drive Glaucus mad, securing Ione for himself. Ultimately, Mount Vesuvius will end their lives and seal their fates in a terrible, glorious eruption.

1913

Pedestrian Love

Pedestrian Love 1914

5.10

The story of the meeting and falling in love of a man and a woman. The story is told by showing the characters from below the knees only. A man in smart shoes prepares to go out. His maid gives him his coat, he dusts off his shoes and leaves. As he leaves the building an elegant woman drops her purse. He returns it to her and follows her home.

1914

Tweedledum's Itching Powder

Tweedledum's Itching Powder 1910

1

Fricot finds his father asleep and takes advantage of the opportunity to pour down his parent's hack a handful of itching powder. The poor man's antics in attempting to relieve himself of his distress are ludicrous and finally result in incurring the wrath of his wife and her mother, who set upon him and beat him until exhausted. To his amazement he discovers that the blows have a salutary effect and he submits to the thrashing. When the women finally leave him alone he arises well pleased, as his affliction has been overcome.

1910

The Faun

The Faun 1917

6.20

The model Fede loves the writer Arte, but he is enmeshed by the beautiful Femmina. Fede takes comfort in the Faun, a mythological creature who becomes animated from the stone sculpted by Arte. The love story with the Faun represents a return to a dreamt wildness impossible by now, for the modern man, to reach and maintain.

1917

Robinet Reporter

Robinet Reporter 1913

1

Marcel Perez is, as you might guess from the title of this movie, a reporter. He's been assigned a new story: a general is in town to review the troops. Get an interview! The general does not wish to give an interview, so Perez has to resort to subterfuge. Good thing he's a comic and can raid the studio's wardrobe department for disguises.

1913

Robinet boxeur

Robinet boxeur 1913

5.20

Robinet gets punched by a boxer in the ring and decides to challenge him for a match. To win, he needs to train as much as he can.

1913

Robinet’s White Suit

Robinet’s White Suit 1911

5.50

In this play on the symmetry of black and white, Robinet leaves home in his bright new suit for a stroll through a blackening industrial landscape. (MoMA)

1911

Othello

Othello 1914

1

The 1914 Italian version of William Shakespeare's Othello.

1914

Miss Tweedledum

Miss Tweedledum 1912

4.30

Robinet disguises himself as a woman to get away from his girlfriend’s husband, and discovers the unexpected pleasures of public drag amidst mobs of flirtatious men. (MoMA)

1912