L'Empereur des pauvres

L'Empereur des pauvres 1922

1

Marc Anavan, a rich young man, leads a profligate life and when he understands his fortune is about to evaporate he decides to change his life, to become a vagabond and to do good around him. The task is not easy but his faith in his mission and the love of Silvette will help Marc to overcome all the hardships on his way.

1922

Whale Fishing

Whale Fishing 1909

4.00

A whale is hunted in the southern hemisphere by the crew of a sailing ship: it is harpooned twice, using a cannon, and taken back to the shore. In the second part, the whale is butchered at a whaling station. A lady with a parasol looks on, while in the background are the sailing ships used to hunt whales. These are excerpts from a 1909 film called "La Pêche à Baleine dans les mers du Sud" made by Jean Nédelec and cut down in the 1920's for the Pathé Baby home movie projector.

1909

Simone

Simone 1918

1

Simone has been brought up by her widowed father and Hermance, the old governess. She loves her father and worships her dead mother. But nobody has ever told her about the strange circumstances in which her mother lost her life. In fact, fifteen years earlier, following a hunting party, Mme de Sergeac had been found in her bedroom, killed by gunshot. Beside her, her husband, wounded and unconscious. Now Simone is fifteen. She is in love with Michel Mignier, but she still does not know the truth. It is Hermance, the governess, who will the reveal the whole thing ...

1918

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

Drama in the Air

Drama in the Air 1904

5.80

This Gaston Velle movie from 1904 was a fairly venturesome piece of film-making for the era. First, its credits include Jules Verne: his second after the Méliès TRIP TO THE MOON a couple of years earlier. Second, it uses a dozen cuts, irised lenses -- the balloonists' views through their telescope -- panning shots, combined images and tints. The tints were standard for the era, but everything else had to be achieved with great difficulty. In an era when most movies still lasted a minute with a stationary camera and a single set-up, this was pretty much state of the art.

1904

J'accuse

J'accuse 1919

7.50

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

The Mystery of Lonely Gulch

The Mystery of Lonely Gulch 1910

4.00

In the bar-room of Lonely Gulch an actor is entertaining the cowboys by showing them various impersonations, when the mail arrives, and he receives a letter from his sweetheart to the effect that she has got hold of an easy mark, a ranchman from Lonely Gulch. The bartender also receives a letter from the ranchman asking him to tell the boys that he is returning the following day with a bride who is an actress. The next morning the ranchman and his bride arrive on the coach and are given a great welcome. On the solicitation of his bride he offers the actor employment on his ranch and he accompanies them there. A week later the ranchman, with the cowboys of whom the actor is one, start off for town, but the actor, pretending his horse has gone lame returns to the ranch, and getting back there, makes love to his sweetheart. The ranchman, who is suspicious, also turns and quietly follows and reenters the ranch.

1910

L'Assommoir

L'Assommoir 1908

5.60

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

Excursion to the Moon

Excursion to the Moon 1908

5.40

Segundo de Chomón's remake of Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon.

1908

The Right to Life

The Right to Life 1917

1

A young girl marries a financier knowing he has only a short time to live, so she can inherit his money.Her lover, who has made a fortune away in America, returns and wants to hasten the financier's death.

1917

Mademoiselle de La Seiglière

Mademoiselle de La Seiglière 1921

1

The Marquis de la Seiglière returns to France once the Revolution is over. His possessions, which had been sold as material properties, had been purchased by Stamply, a farmer. The latter restores them to the Marquis, who decides to allocate old Stamply with the use of a corner of his manor. Hélène de la Seiglière, the Marquis's daughter, takes care of the old man. But this one, devastated by death of his son, buried under the ice of the Berezina, dies. Some time later, three persons come to live in the manor: M. de Paubert, his son Raoul, and Destournelles, a crafty, ruthlessly ambitious lawyer. De Paubert hopes to marry his son to Hélène de la Seiglière and might well achieve his aim but for the unexpected return of Bernard Stamply, who has escaped death miraculously. He gets to know Helène and the two young people fall in love with each other.

1921

Les Misérables - Part 1: Jean Valjean

Les Misérables - Part 1: Jean Valjean 1913

1.00

The story begins with Jean Valjean as a humble worker endeavoring to provide for his invalid mother. They live in a squalid home, made more wretched by his inability to provide sufficient food. He goes out in search of work, but is unsuccessful. Finally, in desperation, he steals a loaf of bread regardless of consequences. He hastens home with it, pursued by a crowd, and gives it to his mother. Valjean is arrested for the theft and sentenced to five years at hard labor.

1913