سال 1908 - 17

A lion hunt filmed in 1908 by the aristocrat Hyacinthe Octavie Frédérique Louise Irénée Rolande Pirmez. This is the oldest known film to be shot in Ethopia.

A young Spaniard treats his wife with utter indifference, and, leaving her heartbroken, goes to the woman whom he has placed before her in his affections. The wife, whose pride is injured by being cast off for a courtesan, follows her husband and sees him join his sweetheart at their rendezvous. The pair stroll down the river, where they enter a small boat, and, unconscious that they are being watched by the cast-off wife from the shore, they float along while the gallant lover strums on his guitar and sings songs of love to the queen of his heart. The jealous wife keeps a close watch on them until they land on a square, where they join in the revelry with other happy young lovers.

The director Mario Gallo made the first film with an argument from Argentina, although the opinions of scholars are not coincident as to their temporal order.

The film is quite sophisticated for it's time with a relatively large number of scene changes as we follow Max's misadventures. It also features a close-up shot to show his reactions to the effects of the cigar he is smoking.

In the 1849 American West, seductive outlaw Jack Morgan falls in love with Mollie, an innkeeper's daughter, already coveted by stagecoach driver Dick. After robbing Dick's stagecoach, Jack is chased by a posse of horsemen. Wounded, he finds refuge with Mollie, who hides and nurses him back to health. Hunted to a burning barn, Jack attempts to escape but is shot dead by Dick. Mollie finds him dying in her arms. Between romance, betrayal, and pursuit, the film intensely blends drama and adventure.

Lost film.

1908 French short silent film by Georges Méliès, which is currently presumed lost. Though the plot of the film is unknown, it may have been built around a parody of the famous illusionist Buatier de Kolta, whose name is parodied in the film's title.

A mischievous duke comes across a drunkard in a town square, and decides to pull a practical joke. He has the drunkard carried to the ducal palace and dressed as a nobleman, where he is made to receive courtiers. A banquet is prepared for the fake nobleman, who is too far gone to understand the situation, and unusual things seem to begin occurring. When the drunkard attempts to get more to drink, the bottle magically grows to giant size and disappears, so the duke's servants bring in a large funnel and fill the drunkard up, with his stomach swelling up like a balloon to fit. The duke's doctors work to deflate him back to normal. The drunkard tries to get some sleep, but the paintings on the walls come to life, showing him all sorts of scenes of people drinking merrily.

1908 French silent comedy film directed by Georges Méliès, which is currently presumed lost.

For the benefit of those who are not fortunate enough to travel and enjoy the beauties and customs of different countries, a film of this kind is an innovation, for it takes us on a boat down the beautiful Imperial Canal of China. If we were there in reality it could not be much more enjoyable than this picture, which favors us with a wonderful view of the famous wall of China as it stands to-day in a stage of decay, a monument to a famous fanatical nation.

Directed by Giuseppe de Liguoro.

Short reportage

It is the only known surviving film footage from the 1908 Rodman Wanamaker-sponsored expedition to record American Indian life in the west, filmed and produced both for an educational screening at Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia and to document what Wanamaker and photographer Joseph K. Dixon considered a “vanishing race.” Dixon and his son Roland shot motion picture film as well as thousands of photographs (most of the photographs are archived at Indiana University). This film captures life on Crow Agency, Crow Fair and a recreation of the Battle of Little Big Horn featuring four of Custer’s Crow scouts.

A dancer enchants a leacherous king but rebuffs his advances, resulting in his vengeful anger.

Alexander Girardi sings the cabbage song

An early silent film, made before intertites became common (which is why very early silent films are narrated, at best). This was filmed in 1907 but released in 1908. It was made at the request of Teddy Roosevelt, who saw coyotes being caught in Oklahoma *by hand*, and folks back east didn't believe him. While this movie is called "The Wolf Hunt", it was actually coyotes being caught, not wolves.