An 1908 - 19

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.

Farmer Pumpkin's pig won the blue ribbon at an exhibition and visits the photographer's to have his prize pig photographed. The farmer, the photographer give chase to Rastus, who has stolen the pig with the intention of eating it.

Mr. Nearbright is busily engaged writing; consults his watch. His wife, accompanied by her "Ma" enters, attired for a journey, carrying small satchels. The husband rises, apparently delighted, and bids them good-bye. When the ladies have gone, Mr. Nearbright rushes to the telephone, gives a message which is gratifying, to all appearances. The door opens, and a friend, Mr. Flirt, enters, followed by other members of a "stag" club.

A workers meeting with folks showing the popular attires of the time.

1908 French short silent Christmas film by Georges Méliès, which is now presumed lost. The film, combining American ideas about Santa Claus with Méliès's fantasy style and a modern touch, followed the adventures of a young girl, Polly, one Christmas night, as she escapes kidnappers, travels to Santa's palace, and—by changing places with a large doll—goes with Santa on a giftgiving journey by airplane.

A posse forms to track down a band of cattle rustlers after a rancher offers $500 reward for their capture.

Little Johnny is presented with an air gun that shoots darts. He decided to play pranks with it.

A woman gets a dog from the pound. But her husband, jealous that the dog is getting so much attention, pays a man on the street to steal the dog. The women put a reward which attracts the attention of the thief.

Based on the play by A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin.

Cited as "the first silent vampire film", it is actually a pirate film and has nothing to do with vampires.

A couple of performers perform the big love number from the Oscar Strauss operetta.

Here's a travelogue that takes its audience to Palermo and shows them the big sights, and the hidden ones. It ends with a slow but impressive panorama shot of the skyline.

Sigmund Liban sings forty second from the prologue to PAGLIACCI in this early sound film.

In this comedy we see a fellow giving orders to the cook to put plenty of garlic in his food, and she complies with his wishes by giving everything an extra dose of the unpleasant ingredient. The first victim of the fumes is a dog that is seated beside the table, and when the fellow blows his breath on the animal he falls over unconscious from the effects. Next he prostrates a street cleaner and a painter perched on a ladder, as well as a woman in charge of a newsstand. They all succumb and fall over unconscious on the ground. He enters the subway and meets a man coming up the stairs, and when the latter gets a whiff of the garlic he too, goes down in a heap. Entering the car in the underground road he proceeds to waft the strong odor over the passengers, with the effect that each in turn goes down and out on the floor of the coach. When he reaches the next station he alights, leaving the car looking more like a hospital than anything.

Only the visual elements are known to survive from this 1908 recording of a duet from Franz von Suppe's early one-act operetta. As is usual with these recordings, the principal performers take center stage, face the camera directly, and let fly. There are other cast members in the background, providing a drunken chorus.

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.