Chaka 1897

A woman arrives home after the ball. Her servant helps her undress and bathe.

Short clip of a football match, filmed on the Lumière cinematograph, 33 years before FIFA's 1st World Cup.

The Flicker Alley DVD "Georges Méliès: Encore New Discoveries (1896-1911)" misidentified a partial hand-colored print of the 1906 film "Alchimiste Parafaragaramus ou La cornue infernale" (The Mysterious Retort) as this film, "L'hallucination de l'alchimiste" (An Hallucinated Alchemist) from 1897, which continues to be considered a lost film.

From F.Z. Maguire catalogue: The background of this picture is the Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, Cal. This observatory, the gift of James Lick, of Pennsylvania, was constructed at a cost of $700,000, being equipped with one of the most powerful telescopes that has ever been produced, and is famous the world over. The view of the Observatory is very complete, showing the style of architecture, including the glass covered dome in which are placed the various astronomical instruments. Every Saturday night throughout the year is set apart for visitors to inspect the Observatory and look through the great glass. This view shows a coach load driving up and alighting.

A weary traveler stops at an inn along the way to get a good night's sleep, but his rest is interrupted by odd happenings when he gets to his room--beds vanishing and re-appearing, candles exploding, pants flying through the air and his shoes walking away by themselves.

A romantic couple are transformed into skeletons via X-Rays. The film combines two very recent innovations: Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895, and Georges Méliès' accidental realisation of the special-effects potential of the jump-cut in 1896.

Three military men, seen inside a fortification, are firing on an unseen enemy force. The call for reinforcements but ladders appear signalling the enemy is about to overrun this position.

Wintertime in Lyon. About a dozen people, men and women, are having a snowball fight in the middle of a tree-lined street. The cyclist coming along the road becomes the target of opportunity. He falls off his bicycle. He's not hurt, but he rides back the way he came, as the fight continues.

The earliest surviving Japanese film showing the martial art of kendo.

The busiest corner in Chicago. Cable cars and street traffic of all descriptions. Hundreds of shoppers. Fine perspective view looking north toward the Masonic Temple.

A man has an encounter with several spooky apparitions in a castle that is evidently owned by the Devil.

Lasting for roughly 50 seconds, it shows the goodbyes of many passersby - first Europeans, then Palestinian Arabs, then Palestinian Jews - as a train leaves Jerusalem.

A woman in a white gown performs a skirt dance, using her arms to produce circles and other patterns within the folds of her costume. Her legs and feet appear to be bare. (Library of Congress)

A group of workers, aided by a steam-roller, are leveling the ground during the construction of the Jonage canal, a diversion of the Rhône river, which was built in order to supply the hydroelectric plant of Cusset.

Two crooks throw a lady off a roof, and a hapless policeman tries to capture them.

Women wash clothes in a washhouse on the edge of a river.

An incident of the Franco-Prussian War. It shows the bombardment of a house at Bazeille. It is the animated reproduction of de Neuville's celebrated painting.

Angelic and demonic serpentine dance from dawn of cinema. Hand-colored frame by frame. Lumière no. 765 or 765.1 (colorized, different dancer?).

"This view was made at the Scheveningen Baths. It shows a number of bathers enjoying themselves in the surf. Several picturesque Holland boats are moored in the background."

A funeral parade in Cairo.