Related Notes:
Movies worth watching:
NEW FAVORITES:
The Great Train Robbery
The General
Love Story
Some Like It Hot
Grandma's Boy
GOOD ONE-TIME WATCH:
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
High Noon
The Champion (1915)
12 Years a Slave (A fascinating but heartbreaking true story. "One-time watch" is not a judgment of its quality but rather an expression of how difficult it is to see a human being treated in this fashion.)
1909 THE NICOTINE PRINCESS (ALSO TITLED "THE SMOKE FAIRY")
You can read a synopsis here. So far, this was easily the strangest, "I just don't get it" viewing thus far. I felt the widest disconnect here between what my own sensibilities are and what turn of the century audiences apparently found entertaining.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Nicotine;_or,_The_Smoke_Fairy
Watch it here (if you dare):
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Princess_Nicotine.ogv
1899- KING JOHN
https://youtu.be/7lWn99STB1o
Oldest known filming of any Shakespeare work. Only about a quarter of the film still survives of the Her Majesty's Theatre London production. In the scenes, the king has been poisoned and is in the throes of fever. Interesting for historical reasons only.
1900-SHERLOCK HOLMES BAFFLED
https://youtu.be/1H9RfBQmN6w
The very first cinematic depiction of Sherlock Holmes. Honestly, this one was pretty bad.
The issue isn't that it's overacted or weak from a technical perspective. It's a waste of time even allowing for the limitations of film. The jump cut is heavily used to make the thief magically appear and disappear.
What's great about Sherlock as a character is that he takes scientific data and observations to solve what on the surface looks as though it has a supernatural culprit (case in point THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES). This film's attempt at levity falls entirely flat. The TV series with Benedict Cumberbatch is a much better way to see a humorous slant while maintaining the actual essence of Holmes IMO.
1901 FIRE!
https://youtu.be/w_Hnzuyyg84
This film is actually pretty dramatic. As you would expect, it showcases heroic firemen battling a raging blaze and saving several people from the engulfed domicile. It is credited, along with GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, as being one of the first movies to string scenes into a chronological framework to tell a story.
One unrealistic point: After the fireman hoists a man who seems to be battling smoke inhalation over his shoulder and down the ladder to safety, a second woman, presumably the man's spouse, is brought out the front door. The firefighter hands her off to the same hubby who was likely gasping for breath moments before.
1902-LE VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE
https://youtu.be/ZNAHcMMOHE8
This Georges Méliès film was an integral part of the plot of the movie HUGO.
1903- THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Train_Robbery_(1903_film)
Part of the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. Also obviously the inspiration for an homage on The Brady Bunch. The movie was influential for its use of cross cutting (showing action occurring simultaneously in more than one location) and for breaking the "fourth wall" (an actor at the end appears to "shoot" the audience). You can see it at:
https://youtu.be/y3jrB5ANUUY
1904- WESTINGHOUSE WORKS This is not a single film but rather a series of 29 films (21 apparently still survive) shot inside Westinghouse factories and shown at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. There aren't any captions for these shorts so it isn't always terribly clear what's happening although the IMDB listings give a BIT of detail.
"Panoramic View, Aisle B" makes good use of a crane shot as they slowly pan across the facility.
It appeared that the inspectors in "Assembling and Testing Turbines" were in SUITS in a dirty factory although this may have been for the camera's benefit.
"Welding the Big Ring" had the most visual drama as workers swarm around a molten ring smacking it into shape with the help of sledgehammers.
This was shot prior to the banning of child labor in the U.S. so I tried to see what types of jobs they were doing but I couldn't pick any obvious children out. You do get to see how hazardous working conditions were then. Lots of people working around white-hot metal with no protective equipment of any kind. (In "Tapping the furnace" you see workers casually step over the top of a long slide sending lava-hot metal into a vat perched below. One false move and ouch!) You also have to wonder how they did it considering the manic pace exhibited by the workers. A working day was typically between 10 and 16 hours then.
(https://www.theclassroom.com/1900s-poor-working-conditions-13656694.html)
1905- THE BLACK IMP
https://youtu.be/_KJw9Srz43Q
If you've seen the 2011 flick HUGO, you're familiar with the name Georges Meliés. This one features a lot of comedic use of the jump cut.
1888 ROUNDHAY GARDEN SCENE
1st known celluloid movie shot by Englishman Louis le Prince
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR2r__ZgO5g
Obviously this is one of those "important only because it's historic" deals. There is very little about this that makes it inherently interesting. It doesn't reveal anything about the late 1880s really. Too short to have a plot..it's just the filmmaker's son and several relatives walking in a circle. No doubt it was mindboggling in its day. Now it's just fun to realize we are watching echoes of history more than 125 years ago.
1889 MONKEYSHINES, NO. 1, 2 AND 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tfs6WfbHyI
The first movie to be shot in the U.S.
Depending on which source you believe, this is either 1889 *or* 1890. I am using it as 1889 because the only other film I see listed for the year (Leisurely Pedestrians, Open Topped Buses and Hansom Cabs with Trotting Horses)has no known surviving prints or stills. Film is really much too blurry to make out what is actually occurring so I am taking comments from IMDB as my source:"The hardly recognizable person here is one of (William K.L.) Dickson's lab workers, G. Sacco Albanese, who was never seen in motion pictures again after Monkeyshines."
1890 LONDON'S TRAFALGAR SQUARE http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Trafalgar_Square_1890_-_ten_remaining_frames_by_Wordsworth_Donisthorpe.gif/220px-Trafalgar_Square_1890_-_ten_remaining_frames_by_Wordsworth_Donisthorpe.gif
Only ten frames of the film are still known to survive and are in this animated .GIF linked above. Again, not terribly exciting but you see what turn of the century London thoroughfares were like.
1891 MEN BOXING
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/papr:@field%28NUMBER+@band%28edmp+4015a%29%29
Film made by associates of Thomas Edison is the first "sports film".
1892 LE CLOWN ET SES CHIENS “THE CLOWN AND HIS DOGS”
https://youtu.be/T5HZG6voVWg
The first known animated film.
1893 BLACKSMITH SCENE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaFqr7nGsJM
Film was shot by Thomas Edison. This is the first publicly exhibited film. Drinking a brewski while using really big hammers...probably a GREAT idea. *eyeroll*
1894 ANNIE OAKLEY http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@filreq%28@field%28NUMBER+@band%28edmp+4030%29%29+@field%28COLLID+edison%29%29
Yep, she was a good shot...
1895 THE EXECUTION OF MARY STUART http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIOLsH93U1Q
Pretty shocking considering the vintage. It's a re-enactment of the beheading where we see the head detach and the executioner show the trophy to the gathered crowd. Ewwww....
1896 THE KISS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q690-IexNB4
Features the first ever celluloid kiss. No tongue. *sigh*
1897 THE X-RAYS or THE X-RAY FIEND
https://youtu.be/3gMCkFRMJQQ
Possibly the first use of the jump cut. At the time of the film, X-rays were still "cutting edge" having been invented just two years prior.
1898 SANTA CLAUS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmSJ5SAXHws
The first Christmas-themed movie and also the first instance of parallel action. Charming short.
The ones I have already watched still count. I am viewing this goal as "getting an overview of the progression of filmmaking" so it's not necessary for me to look for new ones.
Also, before 1900 there aren't many surviving examples to select from.
1897 OLD MAN DRINKING A GLASS OF BEER- Exactly what the title makes clear.
1901 MCKINLEY INAUGURATION (Taking the Oath)- Neat that the footage exists but it's pretty far back, not a very good look at McKinley
1902 A TRIP TO THE MOON (VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE)- An extremely entertaining film. This one was well worth the time. It's obviously whimsical so I'm not sure if the average person in 1902 believed when we made the lunar trip space suits would not be needed..or that we would find it already inhabited when we got there.
1900 JEANNE D'ARC- Again, not that interesting in and of itself but considering the vintage the colour is still strikingly brilliant in places. 1st full-color film (hand-colored) of any decent length (10 minutes)
1899 DEVIL IN A CONVENT- One of the first, if not THE first, uses of the "jump cut" technique. It's used to make things "appear" when the actor playing the devil waves his hands as though performing a magic incantation. The devil also (inexpicably) rides a giant frog?!?!? Quite bizarre.
