År 1899

Produced and directed by George Albert Smith, the film shows a couple sharing a brief kiss as their train passes through a tunnel. The Kiss in the Tunnel is said to mark the beginnings of narrative editing. It is in fact, two films in one, hence the 2 min length. Firstly, the G.A. Smith film here for the central cheeky scene in the carriage. The train view footage however is Cecil Hepworth's work, entitled 'View From An Engine Front - Shilla Mill Tunnel', edited into two halves in order to provide a visual narrative of the train entering the tunnel before the kiss and then leaving afterwards. More information about the filming of the phantom train ride can be found searching for the Hepworth film separately.

A devil wearing bat-like wings and brandishing a trident dances around a giant pot, conjuring forth flame from his trident to lit a fire beneath the pot. After the devil works the fire with bellows, an angelic woman emerges from the pot. The devil and the pot vanish as the woman performs a dance, waving about her diaphanous sleeves until she conjures forth another fire, then she rises amongst the smoke into the air.

A priest is officiating at a convent, when suddenly he is transformed into the devil, who frightens away the nuns and turns the place into pandemonium.

A fairy godmother magically turns Cinderella's rags to a beautiful dress, and a pumpkin into a coach. Cinderella goes to the ball, where she meets the Prince - but will she remember to leave before the magic runs out? Méliès based the art direction on engravings by Gustave Doré. First known example of a fairy-tale adapted to film, and the first film to use dissolves to go from one scene to another.

Based on Shakespeare's play, Act V, Scene vii: King John is in torment, and his supporters fear that his end is near. As he writhes in agony, he is attended by Prince Henry, the Earl of Pembroke, and Robert Bigot. Prince Henry tries repeatedly to comfort his delirious father, but to no avail - John's pain is too great.

A little girl sits at a table, holding a container of what appears to be some sort of food. Suddenly there's a flash of movement: a tortoiseshell cat, with long hair and a very furry tail, has leapt onto the table.

A bearded man hangs up a wreath and, like any good magician, waves his hands inside of it and under it to show us it's only a wreath…

A film from Méliès has him playing a magician who does a few tricks including making a woman disappear.

A man demonstrates a human-powered water wheel that irrigates a rice field.

An actuality and reportage film. This film captures Lord Frederick Roberts (British Army rank Field Marshal) departing England for South Africa on 23rd December 1899, where he commanded British forces for a year in the Second Boer War. The ship in this film is the RMS Dunottar Castle. Going with Roberts is his chief of staff, Lord Kitchener, whose future role as Secretary Of State for War during World War One awaits him. This film was produced and distributed by the Warwick Trading Company, a London based company at its peak at this time, involved in the majority of British films.The Warwick Trading Company specialised in travel, reportage and actuality films and had substantial catalogues. Charles Urban had taken over as managing director in 1897 and was in that role when this film was produced. According to the BFI programme entry, the company had a large amount of resources already in South Africa. This meant they could capture historic moments as part of its Boer War coverage.

A knight performs several magic tricks with a disembodied head materialized from a chalkboard drawing.

A magician performs tricks. First with a top hat, then with his audience.

Showing room at the military prison at Rennes in which Dreyfus the accused is confined. He is visited by his counsel, Maître Labori and Demange, with whom he is seen in animated conversation. A visit from his wife is announced, who enters. The meeting of the husband and wife is most pathetic and emotional.

The first movie ever censored for political reasons. The title refers to the then contemporaneous Dreyfus affair in which a Jewish military officer was falsely convicted of treason, and it was alleged that he was framed due to anti-semitism.

A century-old film depicting opium smokers in French Indochina (Vietnam).

A long line of nurses pushing carts with their babies enter from the far right, cross a garden in front of the large nursery home, and leave by the close left to the camera. A few toddlers also follow in the same orderly line, along their nurses.

“This is a new negative showing the entire trip from Brooklyn to New York, in which the immense towers stand out clear and distinct against the sky. Positively the best picture of the Brooklyn Bridge yet secured.” (Edison film catalog)

An embarkation reportage film from the Boer War, a popular film subject at this time. Soldiers with bicycles appear in this parade. The British Army began using bicycles from the 1880s, to expand from horse transport for men. Supplying bicycles to the the army was considered a positive business move for companies as they began to experience a public decline in sales once bicycles were no longer a novelty and inferior copies began to be marketed. Films such as this would have been seen as having a wider importance.

Gentlemen get into a misunderstanding over absinthe.