Works, By Date: Pre-1910 (133)

Total: 463 works

Pre-1901 (17)

Sandow

Circus showman Sandow, credited with coining the term “body-building”, yawns while checking on his butt and underarm BO.

Tables Turned on the Gardener/The Sprayer Sprayed (L'Arroseur arrosé)

Considered the earliest known instance of film comedy, and the first use of film to portray a fictional story. Also a seminal work in the field of Internet porn, as the first work in the older-male-spanks-twink genre.

A Terrible Night (Une nuit terrible)

Man's sleep disturbed by a giant bug. This gag is expanded in 'The Farmer's Troubles in a Hotel' (1902), then later refined in Max Linder's 1911 'Une nuit agitee' [Star Film 26]

The Cook’s Revenge

The lighter side of beheadings. [Star Film 243]

Going to Bed Under Difficulties (Le Déshabillage impossible)

Man finds it impossible to undress for bed, because new clothes magically keep appearing on him.

In The Bewitched Inn (L'auberge ensorcelée) the man's clothes rebelled by politely departing from the room, but here the clothes aggressively refuse to leave his body, as new ones repeatedly replace the clothes that have been removed.

As in his 1896 film, A Terrible Night (Une nuit terrible) and 1897 The Bewitched Inn (L'auberge ensorcelée), there is no rest for the weary here.

This was remade several times, for example W.R.Booth's 1901 Undressing Extraordinary and Alice Guy-Blaché's 1903 How Monsieur Takes His Bath (Comment monsieur prend son bain). Its influence can also be seen in Tex Avery's 1952 animation Magical Maestro.

[Star Film 312-313]

How He Missed His Train

Getting out of bed under difficulties...One man learns to embrace his Inner Slacker. [Star Film 322]

1901 (5)

Histoire d'un crime

Sometimes dead men do tell tales...In jail for murder, a man tells the story of his road to ruin from drinking - via a thought balloon on the prison wall, an effective early flashback technique. Then he is led off to a gruesome end. A noir tale without noir visuals.

Stop Thief!

Thief steals, boy and dogs chase. All end up in a barrel. Ends abruptly, as if ending was lost. One of the earliest known surviving chase films, it's a good film to show critics that claim that movies have degenerated into gratuitous violence: this shows violence was there from the beginning. Strips the dude's clothes off, and then goes down to the mud to wrestle with him - kinda kinky...

Fire!

Read the title - that's all you need to know.

Note the exclamation point (also in the title of the other Williamson film that was shown with this one: Stop Thief!). These titles are shouting and, though short, their feeling is strong.

This is one of the most influential of surviving early action films, and it is easy to see why: it begins in a blaze and the momentum never eases. Cutting from the blaze to the approaching fireman and then back again, the film solidly establishes the drama of rescue - a drama device whose popularity still shows no sign of decline.

Was remade for Edison as Edwin S. Porter's (less exciting) 1903 Life of an American Fireman, which led to Porter's 1903 blockbuster The Great Train Robbery.

The Countryman And The Cinematograph

Considered one of the earliest known examples of a film within a film, the surviving footage is incomplete, missing both beginning and ending. Was remade by Edwin S. Porter for Edison, as Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show.

Undressing Extraordinary

Man finds it impossible to undress for bed, because new clothes magically keep appearing on him. Remake of 'Going to Bed Under Difficulties (Le Déshabillage impossible)'.

A Trip to the Moon

Astronomers make a trip to the Moon. [Star Film 399-411]

The Farmer's Troubles in a Hotel

Farmer's sleep interrupted by pests.

Should be called “The Farmer's Terrible Night in the Devil's Hotel”, as this augments Méliès' 1896 A Terrible Night (Une nuit terrible) with tricks from Méliès' 1896 Le manoir du diable (The House of the Devil/The Devil's Castle/The Haunted Castle) to add another entry to the rube-in-the-city genre that was then popular.

From description at Sulphur Springs Collection of Pre-Nickelodeon Films: Restoration of this comic trick film salvaged 108 ft. of its original 150 ft. length. Some opening action described by the catalog in which the Farmer first enters the hotel lobby was missing.

Les Victimes De L'alcoolisme

A moralizing tale of intemperance. First of numerous adaptations of the novel 'L'Assommoir' (1877), by Émile Zola

Despite its story - of the type hilariously parodied in W.C. Fields' The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933) - the film is still impressive, featuring:

  • An early use of expository intertitles
  • An extended opening shot that establishes the “Interieur du ménage ouvrier, heureux et prospère”: the worker's happy and prosperous home (although his slovenly personal hygiene seems a fatal flaw as bad as booze: coming in off the mean streets of the early industrial era, and immediately sitting down to dinner without washing hands - ugh! But the film is not titled “Victims of Slovenly Personal Hygiene”, so that has to be overlooked).
  • A street scene and tavern scene that somewhat capture the feel of the actual locations, even though they were obviously shot on sets. Unfortunately, as with too many films of this era, the sets dwarf the actors, who never occupy more than half the screen height.

And all capped with an over the top performance of a delirium tremens attack (undoubtedly worsened by his slovenly personal hygiene) - for a full 1.2 minutes (that feels like hours).

1903 (15)

Life of an American Fireman

Prelude to 'The Great Train Robbery. Modeled after (but not as exciting as) Williamson's 1901 'Fire!', but the pre-classical instant replay of the rescue (providing both inside and outside views) can seem delightfully offbeat, even avant-garde, for modern viewers accustomed to the classical cross-cutting approach.

Mary Jane's Mishap

Got Fire! here, but no heroic rescues: the eugenicists were glad to see Mary Jane go...

Atypical of the era, includes four medium shots when other films included none or just one. The shots reveal the character of Mary Jane in that scene:

  1. a yawning (and probably inattentive) sleepyhead
  2. a careless simpleton, smudging her face while polishing shoes
  3. a playful airhead, goofing with her mistake
  4. the most dangerous type of fool: winks to the camera showing she is pleased with her 'clever' idea of lighting the stove with paraffin
Even more atypically, all of the shots remain within the narrative. Thus, we know all this about Mary Jane that morning without the aid of narration or symbols, but solely through the skillful use of both pantomime and camerawork.

A Daring Daylight Burglary

One of the models for 'The Great Train Robbery'and 'The Bold Bank Robbery'. Also provides an early taste of the police procedural, in the form of a detailed rendering of emergency medical assistance for the injured policemen (a digression that, regrettably, breaks the pace of the chase).

The Inn Where No Man Rests (L'auberge du bon repos)

Drunk gags + 'Bewitched Inn' + 'Going to Bed Under Difficulties' + chase, all rolled into one. [Star Film 465-469]

Desperate Poaching Affray

'Alas, my hat...'. Desperate, gun-toting, upper-class posse chases desperate, gun-toting, hat-fetishist poachers.

Pioneering, popular, and influential, this is a fast-paced no-frills thriller. Fight scenes are not the stylized choreography of today, but rough-and-tumble brawls more suitable to men who are “desperate”.

The one distraction comes from one poacher's hat, that naturally takes flight in its own direction. Instead of leaving it behind, as his partner wisely did, the poacher repeatedly pauses from his flight to recover his beloved hat - leaving audiences with a clear message: crime in hats doesn't pay.

The Melomaniac (Le Mélomane)

A music lesson, using telegraph wires - and the teacher's head. Must be a French thing... [Star Film 479-480]

Revenge!

This revenge is not so sweet - quite nasty, in fact - showing that producers learned early that exploiting human fascination with viewing violence can be profitable.

1904 seems to have been the year that the fledgling film industry made an important but unheralded discovery: audiences also like to root for outlaws - even when they know those outlaws are doomed to fail.

Just look at Revenge, and compare it with another crime film by the same director, released just ten months earlier: The Pickpocket. Although the titles might lead one to believe The Pickpocket is a character study while Revenge is not, actually neither reveals anything about the protagonist.

But although both begin with commission of the crime that sets off the action, nothing in the portayal of the pickpocket garners audience sympathy for the outlaw or his crime. On the other hand, the protagonist of Revenge is shown committing his crime as a victim of betrayal, his life ripped apart by those in power and authority. Finally, the film industry had tapped into an archetype that cinema audiences never seem to tire of identifying with: the protagonist who feels wronged by the powers that be, so sets out for to make things right by slaughtering everything in sight.

The Hero of Liao-Yang

Boring film sparks an interesting mystery: where are the gooks?

La danse des apaches

According to the Oxford dictionary of dance, the Apaché did not appear in France until about 1908. But here it is, in full bloom, in 1904. Is Oxford lying to us? Check out this Stanford post “The hidden story of the Apache dance” for an explanation. TLDR: Mistinguett's autobiography claims that she created the dance before 1908, as early as 1903.

The White Caps

The two men renown as pioneers of early US cinema, Edwin S. Porter and D.W. Griffith, shared another claim to fame/infamy: each created a work inspired by Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 The Clansman. Griffith's 1915 film The Birth of a Nation was adapted from the stage version of the novel. Edwin S. Porter was inspired by the novel to create this film. According to Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company, Edison advertisements held a pro-vigilante view, proclaiming: A lawless and criminal element almost invariably accompanied the advance guard of civilization and to keep this element in check the law abiding citizens were compelled to secretly organize themselves for their own protection...We have portrayed in Motion Pictures, in a most vivid and realistic manner, the method employed by the “White Caps” to rid the community of undesirable citizens.

While the White Caps role here as Morality Police may seem relatively benign compared to the lynch justice in The Birth of a Nation, the book also points out: This film narrative exactly parallels an earlier account of “White Cap” activity in a turn-of-the-century newspaper. In the newspaper account, the tar clogged up the man's pores and he eventually died.

The Watermelon Patch

As usual with Edison, the length far exceeds the interest. But don't chuck this one: skip the long boring chase and fast-forward to the uncredited cake-walking babies strutting their stuff and rocking the house.

The Train Wreckers

After servicing her final two corporate customers, the engineer and the switchman, Rail Tramp Trixie finishes the shift on her day job and heads to the woods to unwind with her own kind. But seems The Boys had gotten tired of waiting and started without her, because she spotted them all in a circle - doing what The Boys do in a circle. So she just stood back and watched: she liked to watch. When The Boys were done with their fun, they surprised Trixie with her favorite fun - a little B&D...doggy style. Reenergized, she headed down to the tracks for her freelance gig, hawking her wares by waving her flag from down below, a signal that was well-known all along the train line. When a trainload of randy squares heading to a convention eyed her flag, they brought the train screeching to a halt - and Trixie scored big-time. “All aboard!”

All around those parts, wives all agreed: of all the loose ladies, nobody could wreck a train trip like Rail Tramp Trixie.

The True Jiu-Jitsu (Le Vrai Jiu-Jitsu)

The Phonoscène was an antecedent of music video and is regarded as a forerunner of sound film. It combined a sound recording with a film shot with actors lip-synching to the sound recording. The recording and film were synchronized by a mechanism ('Chronophone') patented by Léon Gaumont in 1902.

The Unfortunate Policeman

1 cop + 1 flirt + 1 kiss = 1 incremental chase.

The Cruel Mother (La marâtre/The Stepmother)

Relax - it's not an attack on motherhood. It's just another shot at the traditional whipping post: the stepmother. No new ground covered here, as everyone who's been subjected to fairy tales learned that stepmothers are evil (usually long before learning what the word 'stepmother' means). But be warned that the child beating scenes are not for the squeamish.

The Game-Keeper's Son (Le Fils du garde chasse)

The game-keeper's son witnesses his father's death while chasing a poacher, then picks up the pursuit himself. Interestingly, it's not clear whether the father is murdered, or dies accidentally after failing to stop in time - and then the same ambiguity occurs again at the end.

The Truth Behind the Ape-Man (La vérité sur l'homme-singe)

Notable for an early use of inter-cutting for comic effect (in a running gag), and the manic performance of the uncredited lead as ape-man (shades of Harpo). Also impressed by how efffective the wordless storytelling was. Or maybe not: almost all the online reviews I read were either baffled or off the mark. But if you're feeling the need for clues, there's a detailed breakdown at: https://centuryfilmproject.org/2016/06/13/the-truth-behind-the-ape-man-1906/

1908 (12)

The Torn Trousers/In A Difficult Position (Mon Pantalon Est Décousu)

Max uses finesse to try to hide a rip in his trousers during a dance. This is quintessential Max: the dapper and loveable upper-class twit whose efforts to impress ladies crash and burn while he tries to keep face, in the modern man's dilemma of maintaining the delusion of stability as his world falls apart.

His First Cigar (Premier Cigare d'un Collegien)

This is not Max, the dapper and loveable upper-class twit, but appears to be the same schoolboy in 'In Love With The Bearded Woman' (same uniform and still living with parents), who takes a crack at cigar-smoking. Closeup shots showcase Linder's remarkable expressive abilities, as he demonstrates how to choke with finesse.

Troubles Of A Grasswidower (Vive La Vie de Garçon)

Max has a wife who tires of his annoying behavior and returns to her mother. At first, Max is quite pleased to have the house all to himself. But he quickly discovers that even the most basic domestic chores can be fraught with difficulty. Introduces the Crazy Max dance

Custody Of The Child (Possession de l'enfant)

Mom and Dad head to Splitsville, for unspecified reasons, but we see that while Mom begs for a second chance, Pops says no dice - which suggests deep mistrust may be an obstacle to reconcilement. We also note that, after the split, neither has a live-in lover. A relatively mature portrait (that doesn't place blame) of the pain of divorce on a child who makes it clear he wants both parents, on a mother who is cut off from the child and put out of the home with no financial support nor support from her family, and on a father who has money and authority, yet is helpless in his struggle to ease his child's suffering.

She Would Be An Actress

Intense drama unfolds when wife must choose between the two greatest joys in her life: dancing on stage, and whacking her hubby upside the head. What will she choose: the glamour of stage life, or the fulfillment of pummeling Papa?

Before his Alexander's Ragtime Band shot him to fame, a 20-year-old Irving Berlin penned a modest success in 1909, that included lyrics on the same theme: Sadie Cohen left her happy home//To become an actress lady
On the stage she soon became the rage//As the only real Salomy baby
When she came to town, her sweetheart Mose//Brought for her around a pretty rose
But he got an awful fright//When his Sadie came to sight//He stood up and yelled with all his might: [Refrain:] Don't do that dance, I tell you Sadie//That's not a bus'ness for a lady!
'Most ev'rybody knows//That I'm your loving Mose//Oy, Oy, Oy, Oy//Where is your clothes?...
Oy! such a sad disgrace//No one looks in your face
Sadie Salome, go home

Also, note the original “slap stick” the comic uses, just before she goes on stage.

Drunkard's Child

Smelly old geezer flashes fat cash to lure a young boy. Then, when boy's mom croaks, he seizes the opportunity to bumrush dad from his own house and snatch the boy. Finally, dad gets snuffed out when geezer's crony pumps lead into dad's back, and authorities bestow blessings on the snatch&snuff - with no one once bothering to ask the kid what he would like. Stats: in this under-7 minutes short, the serial flasher flashes his wallet 3 times. Good clean family fun film.

An Unexpected Guest

From Lubin ad:

A young doctor had a love affair with one of the hospital nurses. Through machinations of his father the young doctor is made to believe that the nurse has given him up...

From The Moving Picture World (August 28, 1909) review:

A Lubin which seems to be somewhat uncalled for...The photography is good and to a certain extent the picture may interest those who are thoughtless, but there is a certain degree of delicacy which should be observed about such matters that is plainly violated here. The picture serves no useful purpose. It is not instructive and cannot be called entertaining. The reason for its existence is not plain and the silent drama would be improved if the picture was never shown again.

So here it is, shown again, over 100 years later, still of interest to the thoughtless.

Goof: Though we see the unexpected guest two years after its conception was hinted at, making it at least 15 months old, it appears to be still an infant!

In Love With The Bearded Woman (Amoureux de la Femme à Barbe)

This is not Max, the dapper and loveable upper-class twit, but appears to be the same schoolboy in His First Cigar (same uniform and still living with parents), who now has lovesick eyes for big bush.

The Doctor's Bride/An Evil Thought Thwarted

Geezer Alert! Next time you old farts are out cruising for young hotties, carry along this flick to show her why a boring bourgeois baldy's better than a hot young hunk. Guaranteed to thwart her evil thoughts - and let you put yours in action. Or at least give you both a good laugh.

Too Much Beauty (Cretinetti che bello!/Troppo Bello)

When Cretinetti is invited to a wedding, he heads out in his most dapper looks - thus making him irresistable to every woman who sees him (including the bride!). A setup for yet another remake of 1904's 'Personal' - with a twist ending that reflects Deed's roots with Georges Méliès.

The Surprises of a Flirtation (Les surprises de l'amour)

A father and two sons pursue the same dame. Even though this release date is not in Linder's early period, this is not Max, the dapper and loveable upper-class twit.

The Little Vixen (Petite Rosse)

Max must learn to juggle three balls to win a mischievous maid. Includes one of the craziest of the Crazy Max dances. The title of this print "Max Jongleur par Amour (Juggling for Love)" is probably a re-release title, for there is no film with that title in the Pathe catalog. The description of the plot, down to the wording of the intertitles, identifies it as "Petite rosse". The film was originally also released in Pathecolor.