Small Local Trains

Small Local Trains 1960

6.60

Émile Durand, an insecticide manufacturer, is appalled to learn that his son Gérard has fallen in love with Suzy, the daughter of a travelling theatre company. Realising his father will never favour the union, Gérard joins the company on their next tour. In an attempt to heal the rift, Durand’s wife goes after Gérard and ends up performing in their next play…

1960

Gavroche rêve de grandes chasses

Gavroche rêve de grandes chasses 1912

4.00

Funnicus is hunting, while at his home many of his friends await his return very impatiently. Suddenly he makes his appearance, his game-bag full, of newspapers. He tells his friends that he actually disdains small game, and to illustrate the story of his wondrous adventures, turns the house topsy-turvy. His wife, alarmed, advises him to go to bed and calm his excited brain. Nightmares disturb his sleep. He finds himself in Africa, traveling on camel, accompanied by many guides. He arrives at an Arab's camp and jests with the Arabian maidens who, for revenge, put out his fires in the forest the following night. The fires out, the wild beasts arrive, and he just has time to climb a tree where he is out of reach of two big lions, who wait for him at the foot of the tree. Our great Hunter courageously risks his life by descending from the tree. He tries to strangle the lion, but suddenly awakens and finds himself clutching at his wife's throat.

1912

Eugénie Grandet

Eugénie Grandet 1910

1

Eugenie Grandet has discovered where her father, a miserable old miser, keeps his treasure. Eugenie's cousin, Charles, is the bearer of a letter from his father to his uncle, Eugenie's father. The letter informs the miser that Charles' father, his only brother, is reduced to a state of utter ruin, and unless he can obtain immediate help, he contemplates suicide.

1910

Les exploits de Farfadet

Les exploits de Farfadet 1916

5.00

A man dreams he loses his hat at sea, drowns and gets swallowed by a huge fish.

1916

Gavroche et Casimir s'entraînent

Gavroche et Casimir s'entraînent 1913

5.00

Over-stimulated by boxing lessons, Gavroche brings a lion home to spar with, triggering an all-out assault on public order.

1913

The Last Pardon

The Last Pardon 1913

1

No plot available. The director Maurice Tourneur perceived this film to be indicative of the advances French cinema could have taken had it not been derailed by World War I.

1913

Mothers of France

Mothers of France 1916

4.70

A mother loses first her son and then her husband in the trenches of France during the First World War. She devotes herself to the French cause and to helping those wounded in the war.

1916

Chicot the Jester

Chicot the Jester 1913

1

The film based on the novel of the same name by Alexandre Duma, is concerned with fraternal royal strife at the court of Henri III. Tragically caught between the millstones of history are the gallant Count de Bussy and the woman he adores, la Dame de Monsoreau.

1913

Jack

Jack 1913

1

The story of "Jack" is well-known. It is a beautiful story of a natural child. His mother, Ida de Borancy, worships the dear little nameless and fatherless being whom she decides, as he is getting on in years, to place in a boarding school. The child's professor of literature is a certain Amaury D'Argenton, a failure of the faculty, and an uninspired poet. During one of her visits to the institution, Mme. de Borancy is attracted by D'Argenton, and falls in love with him. The "Ne'er-do-Well" soon gives up his starving position and makes his abode with her, exercising over her absolute control. He soon learns to hate little Jack and forces her to leave him permanently at school. The poor child, unaccustomed to the separation, runs away, only to find, when he arrives at his former home, that his mother has moved and is now living thirty miles away. He undertakes the journey on foot, and reaches his mother's house completely exhausted. Here he meets Dr. Rivals and his daughter, Cecil.

1913

Love and Science

Love and Science 1912

6.00

A work-obsessed inventor uses a video-telephone to spy on his girlfriend, who in turn uses film to teach him a lesson. (MoMA)

1912

Shepherdess of Ivry

Shepherdess of Ivry 1913

5.70

Hortense Fauvel, the wife of a village postmaster, takes Aimée, a young shepherdess, under her wing. Aimée soon becomes engaged to François, the Fauvel’s loyal servant. At a fête hosted by the Count of Granval, Aimée gives her fiancé a knife, telling him that he should kill her if ever she ceases to be faithful to him. That same day, the Count is planning to have an amorous liaison with Hortense, but Aimée intervenes. To save her mistress from a scandal, Aimée tells the postmaster that it is she, not Hortense, who has been seeing the Count. Disgraced, Aimée is dismissed by the postmaster. François contemplates his revenge and recalls what Aimée said to him.

1913

Balaoo the Demon Baboon

Balaoo the Demon Baboon 1913

6.00

An ape, turned near human by Dr. Coriolis and given the name 'Balaoo', is smitten by the beauty of Coriolis' niece, Madeleine. Being inquisitive, though, he runs off, getting into mischief, and falls in with a poacher who saves his life. Acting now as his slave Balaoo kills a man for the poacher, but balks on his orders to kidnap Madeleine, deciding instead to set a trap for the poacher.

1913

Protéa

Protéa 1913

4.80

Protéa is the last film directed by Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset, one of the early film pioneers in France. The hero of this film is a female spy, an acrobatic Mata-Hari, played by his favorite actress, Josette Andriot, who wore a characteristic costume of a close-fitting black jersey, two years before Musidora achieved cult status with her similar appearance as Irma Vep. This final masterpiece reflects Jasset's popular style: rhythmic action, fantastic realism, rich visuals, an anarchistic philosophy, a disdain for psychology, and an attention to lighting that earned him the nickname “the Rembrandt of the cinema". Although Jasset died shortly after completion, the film had considerable success and Andriot went on to make four more films in the series with other directors.

1913