The Astronomer's Dream 1898
An astronomer has a terrifying dream.
An astronomer has a terrifying dream.
One of the greatest of black art pictures. The conjurer appears before the audience, with his head in its proper place. He then removes his head, and throwing it in the air, it appears on the table opposite another head, and both detached heads sing in unison. The conjurer then removes it a third time. You then see all three of his heads, which are exact duplicates, upon the table at one time, while the conjurer again stands before the audience with his head perfectly intact, singing in unison with the three heads upon the table. He closes the picture by bowing himself from the stage.
Divers go to work on a wrecked ship (the battleship Maine that was blown up in Havana harbour during the Spanish-American War), surrounded by curiously disproportionate fish.
Santa arrives at a house on Christmas Eve to deliver his presents for the children.
St. Anthony is tempted by visions of women, including one that is transformed from the image of Jesus Christ Himself!
Scene of the last supper.
With the cameraman atop a moving train car the viewer is given a one minute glimpse of a French urban area.
A magician performs a series of magic tricks involving a boy and a box.
“A file of Spanish soldiers line up the Cubans against a blank wall and fire a volley. The flash of rifles and drifting smoke make a very striking picture.” (Edison film catalog)
A review of engineers at the Longchamp parade, filmed by the Lumière brothers.
Film produced by William K. Dickson’s British Mutoscope and Biograph Company.
The scene opens in an artist's studio where the unfinished statue of William Tell stands upon a pedestal. A clown appears and sticks a clay arm and clay head on the statue, thus completing it. He places a large brick on top of the head to make it stick. When he turns his back the statue turns into a living representation of William Tell. (Edison Catalog)
Film produced by William K. Dickson’s British Mutoscope and Biograph Company.
In this movie, dancer Ella Lola performs a Turkish variation of a "Danse Du Ventre", the oriental belly dance. In her dance she shakes, twists and turns around in a very energetic dance. The elements of Turkish folklore can be felt despite the lack of sound as the differences from this and other belly dances are very notorious when her traditional Turkish dress swings in a marvellous way as she dances. Unlike other films about exotic dances, Lola's movies (the other was "Ella Lola, a la Trilby") were of a less erotic nature and more focused on the realistic representation of the dance. A professional dancer since a very young age, Lola's dancing is very graceful and showcases an enormous control over her body.
A skeleton dances joyously, often collapsing into a heap of bones and quickly putting itself back together.
In this scene is shown a magician behind an ordinary table, upon which he suddenly and mysteriously causes to appear a large box, into which he leaps. The sides of the box fall to the ground, but instead of containing the magician a lively clown steps forth who further mystifies the audience by causing the box to disappear, and in its place is seen a fully laid table with a smoking dinner, to which the clown applies himself. The table, however, suddenly disappears much to the astonishment of the clown, who is confronted by the magician in the garb of Mephistopheles. This he suddenly changes to that of a sculptor, and in the background is seen a pedestal with the bust of a young lady, which comes to life as the sculptor applies the mallet and chisel.
A film directed by the pioneer of cinema in Azerbaijan, Alexandre Michon, it was filmed on August 4, 1898 in Balakhany, Baku and presented at the International Paris Exhibition. The film was shot using a 35mm film on a Lumière cinematograph. Silent movie. (Wikipedia)
The end of the Longchamp parade and departure of the President, filmed by the Lumière brothers.
Papa is reading his newspaper and his little girl tickles his neck with a long straw. Thinking it is a fly papa "shoos" away the supposed fly with his hand…