Chaka 1906

The stations of Christ's life are segmented into a series of performative tableaux.

It's a society in which gender roles are switched. Will men stand to be unequal?

Gaston Velle's 'Les Fleurs Animées' was screened by the Australian-based Corrick Family Entertainers as part of their variety act. In their advertising the Corricks described the detailed, hand-coloured production as 'The finest "Color" Film of the Twentieth Century'. Simple camera tricks create a magic fairy story in this tale of angry flowers exacting revenge on a man who has wantonly destroyed their garden.

A live-action film adaptation of the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. This silent short film follows the established theme: the “Rarebit Fiend” gorges himself on rarebit and thus suffers spectacular hallucinatory dreams.

A lady uses her maid to lick her stamps, when an overtly excited man notices the maid, forcibly kisses her, and they wind up stuck to each other.

A pregnant woman steals things from others on account of her cravings.

A wall full of advertising posters comes to life.

This pseudo-newsreel uses special effects to illustrate the fire caused by the San Francisco earthquake. A miniature model of downtown San Francisco is set ablaze and filmed.

Just as Galeen and Wegener's Der Golem (1915) can be seen as a testament to early German film artistry, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) symbolizes both the birth of the Australian film industry and the emergence of an Australian cinema identity. Even more significantly, it heralds the emergence of the feature film format. However, only fragments of the original production of more than one hour are known to exist, preserved at the National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra; Efforts at reconstruction have made the film available to modern audiences.

A writer of tawdry fiction falls asleep at his desk and dreams of a romantic rivalry-- One likely as familiar to film fans then as it is now-- But things take a turn for the bizarre when our hero is shot in the head. An ambitious and hilarious parody of melodramatic tropes from pioneer Blackton.

This is a compilation of some of the films that Alice Guy filmed in Spain from mid-October to the end of November, 1905 (catalogue numbers 1371 to 1384) that were eventually released in early 1906.

An alcoholic is inadvertently sewn into a mattress.

A scientist concocts a potion that can turn people invisible for short periods of time. Two crooks steal the potion and go on a crime spree.

Dranem performs "Five O'Clock Tea" for Alice Guy.

Four prisoners, in convicts' stripes, march backwards down stairs and, under the watchful eyes of guards, hop backwards into their cells. Later, one overpowers a guard and springs his three pals. But, will they be able to pull off an escape? Other guards come to the aid of their fallen comrade before all four felons can flee. Guards and convicts spring forward and backward out of cells, up and down stairs, and into and out of freedom.

A wizard sleeps at a table in his well-appointed sitting room. From a drawer in the table, a snake appears.

Two travellers are tormented by Satan from inn to inn and eventually experience a buggy ride through the heavens courtesy of the Devil before he takes one of them down to Hell and roasts him on a spit.

A penniless troubadour consults witch Carabosse about his future, but offends her by paying with a bag of sand. He evades the witch's revenge, and saves the beautiful princess.

A man is trying to shave, but grotesque faces keep appearing in his mirror.

The parish priest looks to create a Nativity scene for his church, but his congregation is too poor to afford the statuary dealer's price for a statue of baby Jesus. The miracle, then, is that the faithful's prayers are answered by the appearance of angels and the Virgin Mary, who present them with a statue.