ปี 1897

Panorama from the Tower of the Brooklyn Bridge, 1897.

Most movie fans know that the first filmmakers liked to shoot trains entering stations. This example by Sussex film pioneer George Albert Smith illustrates why. The train's rush towards the audience brings movement and visual drama. The flurry of human activity offers plenty for the audience to engage with - who are these people and where are they going? And the time pressure exerted by the fact that the train must soon depart adds narrative tension - will everyone get on and off in time?

Groups of men and women, parading in Interlaken, Switzerland, some of them carrying banners.

Remake of the 1895 comedy by the Lumière Brothers. A similar scene is filmed from a different angle, and a young man has replaced the prankster child. This film was made by Henri Lavesque under the name of Brother Basile-Joseph. All of his production was appropriated by Gaumont by the end of 1897 to be distributed as demonstrations for Georges Demenÿ's 60mm Chronophotographe.

A woman wearing dragonfly wings performs a romantic dreamlike dance.

An old man gets progressively livelier - and drunker - as he downs his bottle of beer. Finally, he cocks a snook - and doesn't bother to uncock it as he continues to drink.

A crowd of spectators listen to President William McKinley's speech during his inauguration ceremony outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

A robber forces a luckless stroller in the park to remove his hat, coat, waistcoat and trousers.

The Flicker Alley DVD "Georges Méliès: Encore New Discoveries (1896-1911)" misidentified a partial hand-colored print of the 1906 film "Alchimiste Parafaragaramus ou La cornue infernale" (The Mysterious Retort) as this film, "L'hallucination de l'alchimiste" (An Hallucinated Alchemist) from 1897, which continues to be considered a lost film.

Gugusse, a clown, is both astounded and bewildered upon seeing the mechanical movements of an automaton.

An officer calls his sailors to the deck. They assemble around the canon while the officer scans the horizon. They all turn in the direction of the camera to look in the distance. At the same time the ship is hit! This scene is a filmed reconstruction of the 1897 Greek-Turkish war.

Short clip of a football match, filmed on the Lumière cinematograph, 33 years before FIFA's 1st World Cup.

A group of Japanese, eating dinner, somewhere in Kyoto, Honshu.

Three military men, seen inside a fortification, are firing on an unseen enemy force. The call for reinforcements but ladders appear signalling the enemy is about to overrun this position.

A vaudeville routine: two denizens of the Bowery dance while under the influence. She's wearing a light dress with a full skirt. He wears a white sport coat and tie. Both have hats. On a small stage, she approaches him gingerly, leaning forward. He grabs her close, she leans into him, and he waltzes her around.