The Dawn of Film (1878-1929)
The motion pictures that molded the film industry.
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- DirectorEdwin S. PorterStarsGilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' AndersonA.C. AbadieGeorge BarnesA group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.
- DirectorSiegmund LubinStarsEmily LowryUnauthorized shot-for-shot remake by the Lubin Manufacturing Company of Edwin S. Porter's 1903 film of the same name. Two bandits break into a telegraph station to board and rob a train before being shot down in a standalone final.
- DirectorVincent WhitmanTwo members of the Never-Drop Aero Club claim that they can reach the moon by the aeroplane. They get an astronomer to get his telescope out and see how the conditions are on the moon. He comes on with a big telescope and looks through it, finds everything in fine condition from earth to moon, so the party start out. As they rise and turn upside down then right side up, they start on their journey to the moon. They pass over a busy city, knocking down buildings and chimneys. After passing over the city they come in contact with the planet Saturn. Bump it, encircle it, and then on their way to the moon they ride through the air and see an old man coming out of the planet Mars. The anchor on the aeroplane accidentally catches the old man by the neck and carries him off. The old man tries to get away, and he sees Halley's comet coming along and he grabs hold of the tail of the comet and goes away. One of the men in the aeroplane sees him and takes out a lasso. With a couple of swings he catches the old man around the neck and drags him behind. At last the moon is reached. The man in the moon opens his mouth and they all go in. The party drop from top of the moon all in a heap. They get up, look around and a large bird comes in and lays an egg larger than itself and flies off. The travelers put the egg on a fire, which is burning nearby. The egg cracks and a lot of little birds are hatched. Suddenly a strange animal comes on the scene and eats the little birds one by one. The animal fills up and bursts. Another enormous crazy-looking animal comes out of the cave and chases the men off the moon into the sea.
- DirectorErich von StroheimStarsGibson GowlandZasu PittsJean HersholtThe sudden fortune won from a lottery fans such destructive greed that it ruins the lives of the three people involved.
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsWerner KraussConrad VeidtFriedrich FeherHypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
- DirectorVan Dyke BrookeStarsLeah BairdWalter McGrailArthur Cozine
- DirectorBryan FoyStarsHelene CostelloCullen LandisMary CarrA gangster frames two bootleggers for the shooting of a police officer in New York during the prohibition.
- DirectorCharles BrabinStarsClarence NordstromMargaret SeddonFrank CurrierTwo distinct stories of New York life are told in this film. In the first, Daniel, a foundling, is given a home by Robert Reid, an East Side pawnbroker. He is a good boy but is led astray by evil companions until a dream shocks him into the realization of what his life may become; Daniel then resolves to "go straight." In the second episode, wealthy Wall Street financier Charles Redding plunges into despair and dereliction after he learns of his fiancée's elopement with another man. Sometime later, a bachelor party of 13 brings him in from the street to alter their number. When the guests urge Redding to tell his life story, it is revealed that the host is the son of Redding's former fiancée. She and Redding are then reunited.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishMae MarshHenry B. WalthallThe Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsGösta EkmanEmil JanningsCamilla HornThe demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul.
- StarsThomas A. EdisonSteven HigginsPaul IsraelA history of the Edison Company, the pioneering film production company begun by Thomas A. Edison. Included are more than 140 complete films produced by the company between 1891 and 1918, along with interviews with film historians and archivists, and commentary by Charles Musser, a noted film historian and authority on the films of the Edison Company.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanHarry d'Abbadie d'ArrastStarsClara BowCharles 'Buddy' RogersRichard ArlenTwo young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinEdna PurvianceJackie CooganThe Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put their relationship in jeopardy.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinMack SwainTom MurrayA prospector goes to the Klondike during the 1890s gold rush in hopes of making his fortune, and is smitten with a girl he sees in a dance hall.
- 19117mNot Rated7.1 (1.9K)ShortDirectorWinsor McCayJ. Stuart BlacktonStarsWinsor McCayJohn BunnyMaurice CostelloCartoon figures announce, via comic strip balloons, that they will move - and move they do, in a wildly exaggerated style.
- DirectorAlexandre PromioPanorama of the port and the ships docked against the quay.
- DirectorAlexandreAlexandre PromioTraffic of pedestrians and various vehicles on the boulevard.
- DirectorAlexandre PromioTraffic of pedestrians, a cyclist and a cart on the square.
- DirectorAlexandre PromioShort film depicting New York's Broadway and Union Square that gives an insight of everyday life and traffic at that time.
- DirectorLouis Aimé Augustin Le PrinceStarsAdolphe Le PrinceA very brief film of a man playing the accordion.
- DirectorLouis Aimé Augustin Le PrinceA shot of people walking on The Leeds Bridge.
- DirectorLouis Aimé Augustin Le PrinceStarsAnnie HartleyAdolphe Le PrinceJoseph WhitleyIn the garden, a man asks his friends to do something silly for him to record on film.
- DirectorLouis Aimé Augustin Le PrinceA frame sequence featuring a man walking around a corner.
- DirectorWalter R. BoothA British trick film in which a motorist ends up driving around the rings of Saturn.