The Great Train Robbery

The Great Train Robbery 1903

7.01

After the train station clerk is assaulted and left bound and gagged, then the departing train and its passengers robbed, a posse goes in hot pursuit of the fleeing bandits.

1903

The Land Beyond the Sunset

The Land Beyond the Sunset 1912

6.36

A poor young boy goes on a field trip and dreams of escaping to a land beyond the sunset.

1912

Frankenstein

Frankenstein 1910

6.02

Frankenstein, a young medical student, trying to create the perfect human being, instead creates a misshapen monster. Made ill by what he has done, Frankenstein is comforted by his fiancée; but on his wedding night he is visited by the monster.

1910

The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots 1895

6.24

A short film depicting the execution of Mary, Queen of the Scots. Mary is brought to the execution block and made to kneel down with her neck over it. The executioner lifts his axe ready to bring it down. After that frame Mary has been replaced by a dummy. The axe comes down and severs the head of the dummy from the body. The executioner picks up the head and shows it around for everyone else to see. One of the first camera tricks to be used in a movie.

1895

Mr. Edison at Work in His Chemical Laboratory

Mr. Edison at Work in His Chemical Laboratory 1897

5.13

“This film is remarkable in several respects. In the first place, it is full life-size. Secondly, it is the only accurate recent portrait of the great inventor. The scene is an actual one, showing Mr. Edison in working dress engaged in an interesting chemical experiment in his great Laboratory. There is sufficient movement to lead the spectator through the several processes of mixing, pouring, testing, etc. as if he were side by side with the principal. The lights and shadows are vivid, and the apparatus and other accessories complete a startling picture that will appeal to every beholder.” (Edison Catalog)

1897

The Innocence of Ruth

The Innocence of Ruth 1916

4.50

The young Ruth Travers, left an orphan after the death of her father financially ruined by Mortimer Reynolds, is welcomed at home by Jimmy Carter, a young millionaire who becomes her guardian. Ruth's winsome qualities gradually win Jimmy's heart. Meanwhile at a Charity Ball, Ruth meets Mr. Reynolds, who is contriving to ruin her virtue.

1916

The Kiss

The Kiss 1896

5.25

They get ready to kiss, begin to kiss, and kiss in a way that brings down the house every time.

1896

Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk 1902

5.91

Porter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of the famous fairy tale story of Jack and his magic beanstalk. Borrowing on cinematographic methods reminiscent of 'Georges Melies' , Porter uses animation, double exposure, and trick photography to illustrate the fairy's apparitions, Jack's dream, and the fast growing beanstalk.

1902

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol 1910

6.40

Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.

1910

Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel 1909

2.80

One of the first, of not the first, film adaptation of Grimm's fairytale.

1909

Dickson Experimental Sound Film

Dickson Experimental Sound Film 1894

6.09

William K.L. Dickson plays the violin while two men dance. This is the oldest surviving sound film where sound is recorded on the phonograph.

1894

The High Cost of Living

The High Cost of Living 1912

1

Forbidden from marrying the man she loves by her wealthy businessman father because he is too poor Mildred Lord determines to find a solution. Attempting to live within the means her fiancée could afford, she finds the cost of food exorbitantly high and begins a campaign to force the prices down including taking on her father’s own company.

1912

Electrocuting an Elephant

Electrocuting an Elephant 1903

2.61

This is a film taken of the execution of Topsy, an elephant employed to help build Luna Park on Coney Island.

1903

Ching Ling Foo Outdone

Ching Ling Foo Outdone 1900

4.30

The magician enters upon a stage, and removing a covering from a small table, shakes it before the audience to show that there is nothing whatever concealed inside, places the cloth upon the floor, and when he removes it five large geese are found to be swimming in the water. The magician takes the geese out of the tub, and places them on the stage, and they walk away. He again places the cloth over the tub, and when he removes it the tub disappears and a small boy stands in its place.

1900

The Awakening of Ruth

The Awakening of Ruth 1917

1

Ruth Hoagland grows up on the Florida Keys with no companion other than her father, a half-witted fisherman who spends most of his time hunting for buried treasure. Vacationing yachtsman Bob Winthrop and Ruth fall in love, but Winthrop returns to New York, and after a year, has forgotten Ruth. After finding two chests in a cave, Ruth locates her father unconscious from a fall. She goes to the mainland for help, but returns with the Reverend Josiah Arbuthnot and Dr. William Strong, to find her father dead. Strong, out of kindness, offers to marry her, but Ruth declines, sure that Winthrop will return.

1917

The Adventure of the Hasty Elopement

The Adventure of the Hasty Elopement 1914

6.00

An amateur detective's automobile is stolen by a young woman who is determined to elope, leading to a complicated chase involving several vehicles.

1914

Bucking Broncho

Bucking Broncho 1894

4.20

Lee Martin, one of the cowboy stars in 'Buffalo Bill's Wild West', rides a bronco as a crowd looks on. While the horse is trying to throw Martin off its back, another cowboy stands on top of a fence rail and occasionally fires his six-shooter, to spur on both horse and rider.

1894

The Lord and the Peasant

The Lord and the Peasant 1912

4.00

In a peasant's cot we find a fair, young maiden who is loved by an honest, true-hearted peasant lad, while yonder stands the manor of Glenwood with its noble lord, who chanced to pass by one fair day and there noble eyes met peasant meekness and love found work a-plenty to do. But maiden thought naught of my lord o' the manor, nor so much as gave him cause to hope that all his castles and lands could win her heart from the true peasant lad who had gone forth in the world to win humble living for his bride to be. It was then that Dame Poverty came knocking at the peasant's door and upon her heels crept a fever which held the young sister close within her breast only waiting for death to knock gently at the humble cot. And still no word from the loved one in a foreign land! Had he deserted his fond-hearted lassie? Weeks passed by and still no word nor sign of the one held most dear, and then my lord of Glenwood Keep came suing for her hand.

1912

A Romance of the Cliff Dwellers

A Romance of the Cliff Dwellers 1911

6.00

The story itself deals with the primitive instinct of mankind; to desire was to take at strength of arms, and thus one of the chiefs chose for his own a maiden fair who was loved in turn by a young brave, and whose admiration she returned. But like unto the dark ages, whenever a man desired a maid he took her with or without her leave. Thus far did the chief go, but her lover decides to match his strength of arms for so fair a bride, and they fight upon the cliff's edge. But here the maid takes up the bow of fate and sends an arrow into the heart of her captor. Thus the two forest lovers are united, but a life for a life is the law of their race and the lover is brought to the council chamber and tried before his kinsmen. To shield the woman he loves he remains silent.

1911