L'Assommoir

L'Assommoir 1908

5.60

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

Le Violon

Le Violon 1908

1

While Monsieur and his friends are making music, a fire breaks out in the apartment. The little girl is saved, but the emotion causes the mother to lose her reason. She is cured only by hearing once again the air that was played during that fatal night. The Gaumont catalogue styled the film, "Très pathétique".

1908

Balked at the Altar

Balked at the Altar 1908

3.30

A woman who is filled with romantic ideas is making no secret of her eagerness to find a husband. Her father decides to help her by pressuring and threatening an eligible bachelor, who reluctantly allows wedding plans to be made.

1908

The Electric Hotel

The Electric Hotel 1908

6.10

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

1908

The Tempest

The Tempest 1908

5.70

Prospero and his daughter Miranda must take refuge on an enchanted island. There Prospero, who himself has magical powers, releases the spirit Ariel from a spell, and also meets the savage Caliban. Then Prospero uses his powers to create a tempest that shipwrecks some of the persons who caused his exile.

1908

The Call of the Wild

The Call of the Wild 1908

3.10

George Redfeather, the hero of this subject, returns from Carlisle, where he not only graduated with high honors, but was also the star of the college football team. At a reception given in his honor by Lieut. Penrose, an Indian agent, the civilized brave meets Gladys, the lieutenant's daughter, and falls desperately in love with her.

1908

Her First Adventure

Her First Adventure 1908

4.58

A father arrives home, greets his wife and daughter, and then goes inside with his wife. Though they are only inside for a brief time, their daughter wanders off, attracted by the music from a pair of gypsies performing in the street. When the gypsies move on, they take the young girl with her. As soon as the parents realize that their daughter is gone, they begin a frantic search, assisted by the family's loyal dog.

1908

Whimsical People

Whimsical People 1908

5.50

A moon-woman shakes a Pierot costume and manifests a Pierot clown. She does this four more until there are five Pierots crowded on the ledge of the moon. They fall to the earth and dance like tops turning one by one into Columbine maidens.

1908

The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew 1908

4.90

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

1908

Betrayed by a Handprint

Betrayed by a Handprint 1908

2.90

Mrs. Wharton, a dashing widow, gives a party at her beautiful villa in honor of the presentation to her of a handsome diamond necklace by her fiancé. During the evening bridge participated in by a number of the guests, among whom is Myrtle Vane. Miss Vane is playing in wretched luck, and is advised several times by Mrs. Wharton to desist, but she still plays on in the vain hopes of the tide of fortune turning, until at last, in the extreme of desperation, she stakes her all and loses. Shame and disgrace stare her in the face. What can she do to recoup her depleted fortune? As one of the guests there is Professor Francois Paracelsus, the eminent palmister, who of course, was called upon to read the palms of those present. Sheets of paper were prepared and each imprinted their hand on a sheet to be read by the erudite soothsayer at his leisure, and so were left on the drawing room table.

1908

The Chinese Shadows

The Chinese Shadows 1908

5.00

At the beginning of this film two women come onstage dressed in Oriental fashion. They present a shadow play theatre.

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

Hulda's Lovers

Hulda's Lovers 1908

1.50

Hulda is a maiden fair to look upon. Her artless rustic simplicity, rivaling Hebe's gorgeous radiance, phlogisticates the susceptible hearts of the village swains. But alas, Hulda was a fickle maid, and seemed to have as many phases as the moon, with a smile for all and a frown for none. Her capriciousness was the cause of much unrest, both for herself and her lovers, for when her parents had departed for a visit, leaving her in charge of the kitchen, she received most effusively Jocular Jake, the village cut-up, only to hide him above stairs at the entrance of Previous-Hearted Pat, the hostler, who in turn is hidden in the Dutch oven at the approach of Handy Hank, the chore boy.

1908

After Many Years

After Many Years 1908

2.50

A castaway returns home after years lost at sea, to the wife and child he left behind. Has she waited faithfully or has she moved on?

1908

'Ostler Joe

'Ostler Joe 1908

1

Stable hostler Joe loves his wife Annie, but she leaves him and their child for a wealthy gentleman, only to die destitute in London, where Joe's enduring love brings her solace in her final moments.

1908