The Great Train Robbery

The Great Train Robbery 1903

7.02

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 Life and Passion of Jesus Christ

The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ 1903

6.30

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

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland 1903

6.00

This is the first movie version of the famous story. Alice dozes in a garden, awakened by a dithering white rabbit in waistcoat with pocket watch. She follows him down a hole and finds herself in a hall of many doors.

1903

The Mystical Flame

The Mystical Flame 1903

4.79

A juggler enters upon the scene, picks up a skull, throws it into the air, catches it in his hands, where it is transformed into a handkerchief. The handkerchief, after being twirled about a wand, is changed to a napkin, and afterward to a tablecloth. Out of the table cloth comes a servant.

1903

The Kingdom of the Fairies

The Kingdom of the Fairies 1903

6.82

At the royal court, a prince is presenting the princess whom he is pledged to marry when a witch suddenly appears. Though driven off, the witch soon returns, summons some of her servants, and carries off the princess. A rescue party is quickly organized, but the unfortunate captive has been taken to a strange, forbidding realm, from where it will be impossible to rescue her without some special help.

1903

Jupiter's Thunderballs

Jupiter's Thunderballs 1903

5.20

With godly entrapments, Zeus appears on the horizon, engages Hermes as an audience, and tries to throw some thunderbolts. They fizzle. Hephaestus tries to make some repairs but succeeds only in heating the bolts and burning Zeus's hands. Zeus conjures nine muses, but do their incantations help? He dismisses them as well as a visiting Pan, and his fits of pique become counter-productive. Can he get his powers back?

1903

The Sick Kitten

The Sick Kitten 1903

5.60

A simple scene of two rather flamboyantly-dressed Edwardian children attempting to feed a spoonful of medicine to a sick kitten. The film is important for being one of the earliest films to cut to a close-up, then back again to the same medium shot as before.

1903

The Melomaniac

The Melomaniac 1903

6.65

The leader of a marching band demonstrates an unusual way of writing music.

1903

The Infernal Cauldron

The Infernal Cauldron 1903

6.30

A green-skinned demon places a woman and two courtiers into a flaming cauldron.

1903

Life of an American Fireman

Life of an American Fireman 1903

6.00

Porter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of firemen responding to a house fire. They leave the station with their horse drawn pumper, arrive on the scene, and effect the safe rescue of a woman from the burning house. But wait, she tells them of her child yet asleep in the burning bedroom...

1903

A Scrap in Black and White

A Scrap in Black and White 1903

4.67

Shows a young black boy and a white boy in a lively set-to. They finally collapse in the centre of the ring after they have fought themselves to a stand-still. The referee proceeds to count them both out, and the seconds empty buckets of water on the fighters.

1903

The Monster

The Monster 1903

6.00

An Egyptian prince has lost his beloved wife and he has sought a dervish who dwells at the base of the sphinx.

1903

William Tell

William Tell 1903

5.10

Historical legend composed of five Scenes. 1. William Tell's heroism. 2. The Plot. 3. The Apple. 4. Death of Gessler. 5. The Swiss cheer their Liberator. This popular and interesting legend takes place amidst the country life of the mountain populations. The beautiful and picturesque sites which exist in Switzerland have given us an opportunity of utilising the resources our theatre affords, and our scene-painters have been able to have a free run on their imaginations, and have completed the work by a series of magnificent scenes in the most artistic character.

1903

The Mysterious Box

The Mysterious Box 1903

5.47

As scene as pleasing as incomprehensible. A juggler summons two chairs, which come to the stage jumping and twirling around. Across the back of these chairs the operator places a sheet of glass on which he lays a box about four inches high. He then takes a table cover, with his servant's help, rolls it up and from the centre emerges a lady, beautifully dressed. At the juggler's order she jumps in the box, in which she completely disappears.

1903

Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid

Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid 1903

4.60

A boy is led into the frame by two nursemaids who give him a big ball to play with. For the remainder of the film heads appear and disappear, stage props blow up and turn into other objects or people, and finally Bob Kick disappears.

1903

Electrocuting an Elephant

Electrocuting an Elephant 1903

2.70

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

1903

Ten Ladies in an Umbrella

Ten Ladies in an Umbrella 1903

5.90

The scene is similar to that seen at Coney Island, where a number of shows are constantly going on.

1903