Joer 1908 - 10

A rich merchant, Antonio is depressed for no good reason, until his good friend Bassanio comes to tell him how he's in love with Portia. Portia's father has died and left a very strange will: only the man that picks the correct casket out of three (silver, gold, and lead) can marry her. Bassanio, unfortunately, is strapped for cash with which to go wooing, and Antonio wants to help, so Antonio borrows the money from Shylock, the money-lender. But Shylock has been nursing a grudge against Antonio's insults, and makes unusual terms to the loan. And when Antonio's business fails, those terms threaten his life, and it's up to Bassanio and Portia to save him.

Among the many famous 16th-century samurai who made the leap from myth and ukiyo-e to early cinema screen was sword-master Miyamoto Musashi, previously depicted in prints by Kiniyoshi Yoshitoshi and others slaying an array of grotesque creatures including giant bats, giant lizards, and the mythical tengu. This imagery informed his first screen depiction in Miyamoto Musashi Taiji No Ba, which showed him combatting the mythic white ape of the mountains.

Two hunters set out on safari with their African guide. They observe zebras, an ostrich, and a hippopotamus, capture a monkey, and camp for the night. After a lion kills their goat and horse, they shoot it by the water’s edge and later kill a second. The animals are skinned, and the hunters relax with cigarettes beside their trophies. (Note: Produced by Nordisk Film in 1907, Løvejagten gained notoriety because founder Ole Olsen purchased lions from Copenhagen Zoo, released them on an island, and filmed their killing. Supplemented with zoo footage to simulate Africa, the film caused public outrage yet drew huge audiences, establishing Nordisk’s reputation worldwide.)

Mack Sennett appears as one of character Mike McLaren's assistants in this film produced by the Biograph Company.

A young man is seen entering his room and from the many expressions on his worn face one could not doubt that he is just returning from one grand night with the boys, and is in no condition to be annoyed or disturbed. After administering to his wants in the form of headache tablets, he goes to lie down for a while and sleep the effects of the previous night off. In a room directly over him are a number of people conducting a rehearsal.

Had the poor melancholy Dane, Hamlet, lived in this, the twentieth century, he would never have given voice to the remark, "Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew!" No indeed! He would have procured some of the mysterious fluid compounded by an erudite scientist by which things animate and inanimate were rendered non est, for ten minutes at least, by simply spraying them with it. In an atomizer, he sends a quantity, accompanied by a letter, to his brother. In the hope of his putting it on the market. The brother regards it as a joke, and, while toying with the atomizer, accidentally sprays himself. Presto! he is gone, to the amazement of the messenger boy who has carried the package thither. The boy reads the letter, and at once sees the amount of fun he can get out of it, so he nips it.

A charming example of the Pathe stencil system of colour films, also using superimposition.

A countryman buys a stubborn donkey and has trouble.

Who killed this man to rob him of his money in this notorious neighborhood of Paris? The usual local scoundrel such as the one that has almost been lynched by the mob and arrested by the police? Not at all. In fact the poor man is innocent, even though appearances are deceiving. The real culprit is a respectably-looking man who, to divert suspicion, has put some blood of his victim on his fingers and some of the stolen money in his pockets while he was asleep.

The hero, who fancies himself a ladies' man, cannot resist winking at every comely lass who passes his way. Unfortunately, he winks once too often, and soon the would-be Romeo is running for his life, pursued by an angry boyfriend. Disaster does indeed plague our hero for the rest of the picture.

Fairy-tale adaptation.

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.

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.

A man steals a sheep and is chased by the shepherds and the police.

A hunter lost in the Northern woods is rescued by a trapper and his wife. He makes advances to the wife, is rejected, and tries to kill the trapper.

This is an incomplete fragment of a longer film, so doesn’t make much sense, but it’s very beautiful and colourful with plenty of fireworks, flames and fountains as well as the customary fairies, magic and dancing.

A poor family, suffering from a lack of food, plan to sell their dog to gain some extra income. Before they act on their plan, the dog discovers some buried jewels. These turn out to be stolen, and the family are given a £100 reward.

Two students at college were friends until a girl appeared and by the workings of fate was beloved by both. The girl has given her heart to one of the classmates, unknown to the other. The youth confesses his love, and is plunged into despair when told that her heart is another's. Coldly the classmates part, when the next day they start on their divergent paths of life. Years later, they meet again and while the trio enjoy a pleasant chat, a message calls the husband away, leaving his wife to entertain. The chum takes advantage of his absence to renew his protestations of love, which are spurned by the wife, who attempts to avoid him. He follows, whereupon the wife sends him reeling down the stairs, just as the husband reenters. The woman's denunciation of the friend brings about a terrific combat.

A newly-hired housekeeper turns out to be too clumsy and stupid to do her job.

Early Balkan footage.