Fantasmagorie

Fantasmagorie 1908

6.55

An animated film by French auteur Émile Cohl, one of the earliest examples of hand-drawn film animation. Drawing inspiration from J. Stuart Blackton and the Incoherents of club Hydropathes, the film, with all its wild transformations, sees our protagonist materialize a movie theatre, meet an elephant and escape from jail; A morphing, stream-of-consciousness delight.

1908

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty 1908

4.40

Based on the story of "Sleeping Beauty" by Charles Perrault. Titles read: The Christening of the Princess; The Good Fairies Fatal Prediction; The Royal Edict; The Princess is Sixteen Years Old; Searching for the Princess; The Prediction Comes True; Thou Shalt Sleep for a Hundred Years; A Hundred Years later the Prince Charming Goes Hunting; Prince Charming Dismisses His Escort; The Castle of Sleep; The Guard's Hall; You Have Been a Long Time Coming, prince; The Wedding of the Sleeping Beauty to Prince Charming.

1908

The Electric Hotel

The Electric Hotel 1908

6.08

An enthusiastic young couple is astounded with modern technology's giant leaps in the fascinating field of electricity.

1908

The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew 1908

4.92

Based on Shakespeare's play. Petruchio courts the bad-tempered Katharina, and tries to change her aggressive behavior.

1908

Rescued from an Eagle's Nest

Rescued from an Eagle's Nest 1908

5.49

A woodsman leaves a hut followed by a woman with their baby. Nearby some men chop down a tree. The baby is left outside the hut, but an eagle flies away with it.

1908

A Visit to the Seaside

A Visit to the Seaside 1908

6.50

The first successful motion picture in natural color, filmed with Kinemacolor. It is an 8 minute short film directed by George Albert Smith of Brighton, showing people doing everyday activities. It is ranked of high historical importance. Kinemacolor later influenced and replaced by Technicolor, which was used from 1916 to 1952.

1908

Excursion to the Moon

Excursion to the Moon 1908

5.40

Segundo de Chomón's remake of Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon.

1908

The King's Messenger

The King's Messenger 1908

1.00

Mack Sennett appears as a soldier in this film produced by the Biograph Company.

1908

Stenka Razin

Stenka Razin 1908

4.40

Stenka Razin is the leader of a group of outlaws who live a life of revelry and carousing along the Volga River and in the nearby forests. When Razin becomes distracted by a captured foreign princess and starts to dote on her, his men are displeased, feeling that he is neglecting them and their usual activities. Soon they come up with a plot, in the hopes of turning Razin against the princess.

1908

The Devil

The Devil 1908

1.50

Mack Sennett appears as a waiter in this film produced by the Biograph Company.

1908

L'Assommoir

L'Assommoir 1908

5.50

Everyman Coupeau's attempts to stop drinking are routinely thwarted by the wicked and vengeful Virginie. Based on Zola's novel, Capellani's film is about the free fall of a group of working-class French folk into degradation and tragedy due to carelessness, jealousy, and alcohol abuse. At the time of its release, L'Assommoir was hugely successful.

1908

The Dream of an Opium Fiend

The Dream of an Opium Fiend 1908

5.39

The opium fiend is seen in a den, puffing on this terrible narcotic. He then falls fast asleep and dreams that he is at home with his wife. He asks for something to drink and he is given wine, which he does not care for, and he is finally given some bottled beer and a glass, but he complains that the glass is too small and he gets a very large sized glass receptacle, into which his wife and maid servant pour the contents of the bottle. As he is about to drink the glass passes from his hand mysteriously, sailing through the room and out of the window to the moon…

1908

Le costume blanc

Le costume blanc 1908

4.50

The mishaps of a man who steps into the street wearing his brand-new white suit, and who instantly encounters every conceivable insult to his suit's integrity: a coalman bumps into him, a waiter spills food on him, a painter walks into him.

1908

In the Barber Shop

In the Barber Shop 1908

4.50

One fine day at a barbershop that has stupid staff and very rude customers.

1908

Grandmother's Tale and Child's Dream

Grandmother's Tale and Child's Dream 1908

5.60

The film begins with a grandmother reading a story to a small child before tucking them into bed. No sooner has the mite fallen asleep than they begin dreaming of an angel standing over their bed and whisking them off to a land of giant toys. The kid wanders around for a bit before being led away by a lady who takes them to a forest where other young ladies dressed as butterflies dance around a bit.

1908

The Runaway Horse

The Runaway Horse 1908

5.80

A laundry man parks his horse-drawn cart to make a delivery. While he is inside, his horse sees a bag of oats and starts to eat them. By the time the man comes back outside, the horse has eaten a whole bag of oats, and has so much energy that he begins to race out of control.

1908

The Sculptor's Nightmare

The Sculptor's Nightmare 1908

4.30

At a political club, the members debate whose bust will replace that of Theodore Roosevelt. Unable to agree, each goes to a sculptor's studio and bribes him to sculpt a bust of the individual favorite. Instead, the sculptor spends their fees on a dinner with his model during which he becomes so inebriated that he is taken to jail. There he has a nightmare, wherein three busts are created and animated from clay (through stop-motion photography) in the likenesses of Democrat William Jennings Bryan and Republicans Charles W. Fairbanks and William Howard Taft. Finally an animated bust of Roosevelt appears.

1908