The Taming of the Shrew 1908
Based on Shakespeare's play. Petruchio courts the bad-tempered Katharina, and tries to change her aggressive behavior.
Based on Shakespeare's play. Petruchio courts the bad-tempered Katharina, and tries to change her aggressive behavior.
A woodsman leaves a hut followed by a woman with their baby. Nearby some men chop down a tree. The baby is left outside the hut, but an eagle flies away with it.
A stop-motion film from Émile Cohl with tin soldiers, children's drawings and cannibals.
The opium fiend is seen in a den, puffing on this terrible narcotic. He then falls fast asleep and dreams that he is at home with his wife. He asks for something to drink and he is given wine, which he does not care for, and he is finally given some bottled beer and a glass, but he complains that the glass is too small and he gets a very large sized glass receptacle, into which his wife and maid servant pour the contents of the bottle. As he is about to drink the glass passes from his hand mysteriously, sailing through the room and out of the window to the moon…
And here is an early success as he puts the viewer in the mood of a little boy, playing with his toys, running them through the paces of his little circus.
During the recent Olympic games, held in the city of Loudon. Pathe was granted sole rights to take pictures for the cinematograph of the national games, and the success with which they met in obtaining a clear view of the principal events can easily be judged by those who are fortunate enough to see this film. The first picture shows the grand stand, crowded to its capacity with thousands of enthusiastic fans. In the royal box is the King and Queen, who appear to take a lively interest in the different events. It is an inspiring scene to see the parade of athletes at the opening of the games as each country represented marches by the reviewing stand flying their national colors and saluting their majesties.
An animated film by French auteur Émile Cohl, one of the earliest examples of hand-drawn film animation. Drawing inspiration from J. Stuart Blackton and the Incoherents of club Hydropathes, the film, with all its wild transformations, sees our protagonist materialize a movie theatre, meet an elephant and escape from jail; A morphing, stream-of-consciousness delight.
Woman Draped in Patterned Handkerchiefs is a 1908 British short silent documentary film, directed by George Albert Smith as a showcase his new Kinemacolor system, which features a woman displaying assorted tartan cloths, both draped on her body and waved semaphore-style. The patterned handkerchiefs are, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, “presumably the same cloths featured in Tartans of Scottish Clans (1906), this time shown from various angles.”
Vitagraph production of Shakespeare's Richard III.
At a political club, the members debate whose bust will replace that of Theodore Roosevelt. Unable to agree, each goes to a sculptor's studio and bribes him to sculpt a bust of the individual favorite. Instead, the sculptor spends their fees on a dinner with his model during which he becomes so inebriated that he is taken to jail. There he has a nightmare, wherein three busts are created and animated from clay (through stop-motion photography) in the likenesses of Democrat William Jennings Bryan and Republicans Charles W. Fairbanks and William Howard Taft. Finally an animated bust of Roosevelt appears.
Female magicians turn people into origami roosters and vice versa.
The first cinematic depiction of Jesse James
A gang of lawless freebooters who terrorized the country and made travel in the mountains a hazardous pastime hold up a stylish landau in which are seated an old gentleman, a duenna, and a pretty young Senora. The inevitable happens; all are relieved of their valuables, and while the gentleman and duenna are sent on their way, the girl is held a prisoner.
Mack Sennett appears as a man in the bar in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
The goddess Minerva is jealous of the young Arachne who is more clever it in weaving. Out of spite, Arachne Minerva rushed into hell, then transforms into a spider that will forever spinning its web.
A woman who is filled with romantic ideas is making no secret of her eagerness to find a husband. Her father decides to help her by pressuring and threatening an eligible bachelor, who reluctantly allows wedding plans to be made.
A group of collegiates decide to go for a splash. A lunatic, having escaped from a nearby asylum, heads for the surf, brandishing a knife. Innocent seaside fun becomes a struggle against a maniac on the water.
This one-reeler has been regarded as a classic example of a Griffith thriller. It engages with the Chinese White slave traffic from the perspective of a female detective, played by Marion Leonard, whose assignment is to expose and break the traffic ring. A fragment is widely available.
For a short comedy of rare merit this subject is unexcelled. A chalk line series of grotesque caricatures enacted in the land of puppets. A fickle maiden gets herself into numerous embarrassing complications with her host of admirers, but the artist with lightning rapidity overcomes all obstacles and brings the maiden out victorious.
The Proposal: The gentleman burglar walking with his lady love. They admire the grandeur and beauty of nature. He proposes and she accepts. She does not suspect his occupation. Turning Over a New Leaf: The thieves' den. The gang drinking and playing cards. The gentleman burglar arrives. Announces his coming wedding. Apprises them of his decision to quit his life of crime. He bids them good-bye and departs. Engaged to Another: Reception hall of the girl's home. A rival lover sues for her hand. She informs him of her engagement to another. He leaves her in sadness. Two Years Later: The gentleman burglar returns with his bride to her father's house.