Year 1908 - 15

Two criminals lure a doctor away from his home with a phony note about a child's illness. After the doctor rushes off, the criminals break into his house and menace his wife and child. By the time the doctor realizes what has happened, his family faces a desperate situation.

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.

Documents one of the most important wrestling matches of the early 20th century between the legendary Estonian strongman Georg Hackenschmidt and the American Joe Rogers. Originally filmed in February 1908 and produced by the well-known Charles Urban, this rare footage is a significant find that offers an authentic glimpse into the golden age of wrestling. The only known film footage of a wrestling match featuring the legendary Estonian wrestler Georg Hackenschmidt, who wins this two-round title match.

Documentary short showing recovery footage of a boat accident in Göta älv (Göta River)

An Old man is chased by some people. He hits them with his magic sack and they disappear. He is then arrested and escapes by climbing into his sack and reappearing outside the prison walls, he is soon caught again and makes amends by shaking his sack and bringing back those who disappeared.

In this picture we see a man who is vested with authority to enforce the law, but, unlike the usual sort of men occupying the same position, he is so kind-hearted that ofttimes he is governed by his sentiments, and is very indiscreet in meting out just punishment to offenders, He is patrolling in the country, where lawbreakers are not numerous, but once in a while it will happen that somebody is guilty of an act that is not just in keeping with propriety. His first duty is to arrest a pair of lovers whom he catches kissing, but when he comes upon the love-sick couple, and threatens to arrest them, his heart is softened by their tears, so he allows them to go their way with some good advice.

A drunkard has a vision of everything turning into bottles.

Early Balkan footage.

Silent film from Georges Méliés. It is presumed to be lost.

This is a beautifully colored picture, opening with a scene in the laboratory of an old wizard, who is bending over a vessel compounding some sort of magic fluid, out of which much to our astonishment and delight spring a group of beautiful girls followed by a lot of funny, grotesque-looking people. Next the old fellow opens an album that is lying on the table and the outlines of faces are drawn as if by a spirit hand. When each drawing is finished it comes to life and presents some beautiful portraits of pretty girls, who amuse us with their fascinating manners.

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".

Women turn into roses in this hand-coloured nitrate short from Gaumont.

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.

Early Balkan footage.

Overview of ideas about the police on the occasion of an attack on the bourgeois by Apaches gangsters.

In one of his dreams, Don Quixote is fighting monsters. Having vanquished them, he goes to put on his armor, only to be met with a succession of strange events: first the armor appears occupied by a creature with stretching limbs, then a lovely young woman appears and sprouts butterfly wings. As Quixote approaches her, the wings become giant tentacles and attack him. Just as Quixote is fighting back and reaching for his lance, he wakes up to find himself pummeling his servant Sancho Panza. This film is currently presumed lost.

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.

Actuality film documenting the state visit of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra to Stockholm on 26–27 April 1908. The footage shows the English royal couple’s arrival and reception in Stockholm, crowds lining the streets, and ceremonial events. Originally released as part of the compilation newsreel Stockholm i festskrud.

Comedy short (only fragments remain at LoC)