Société Générale des Cinématographes Éclipse

An Émile Cohl animation short.

French adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum”.

The sugarcane industry in Argentina: the factory, the train, the workers' houses, the Indigenous workers.

The homeless Polycarpe steals a rifle from some careless society sportsmen and goes on a mindless shooting spree. (MoMA)

The film begins with a shot of Wilbur Wright starting the engine; an unidentified assistant (quite likely his brother, Orville) is seen at the front of the aircraft. From there, shots of the aircraft in flight with Wright at the controls along with an unidentified passenger cut to shots of onlookers on the ground, presumably military and press liaisons. The aircraft is shown in side-to-side flybys as well as low-altitude passes directly toward and away from the camera. The aerial shots begin at the 1:34 mark immediately after a shot of the aircraft coming to a landing directly approaching the camera. (Wikipedia)

To the rhythm of a frenzied choreography, acrobatic matches come to life on a black background. Leaving their matchbox, they line the film in circular, concentric movements. In an almost aquatic momentum, the squadron of little bits of wood mould the contours of a character, a run-of-the-mill smoker, before transforming into a funny harness. The film ends when the matches, again transformed, take on the appearance of a distinguished man who, after several attempts, finally finds a way of lighting his cigarette.

Ernest Servaes and his wife leave their apartment, hoping to have a peaceful picnic in the green suburbs. However, they miss the train. Then the carriage they take turns upside down. Then footballers tromp over their picnic cloth.

A dog causes a man to get chased.

Polycarpe is in the cavalry in this one. He gets a date with the hefty young woman who seems to work in the dungeon of the barracks. However, while another soldier makes time with his girl, Polycarpe can't seem to get off base for one reason or another.

When Pierre Dormain and his wife die in a train disaster, the custody of their children Simon and Dédée is transferred to their uncle Jean de Mareuil. The uncle is persuaded to let his servant’s mother take charge of their care. The money she receives for the care is spent entirely on alcohol and the children have to work hard for their meal. Eventually the children run away from home and roam the streets of Paris. When one of the children is seriously injured after an accident, the uncle finally realizes he has made a grave mistake.

"A charming story of a young society girl and the pathetic love of a youth..." Considered a lost film.

Charles Servaes as Polycarpe becomes an inspector of sort; he goes around measure the length of women's skirts in Paris to make sure they don't reveal tooo much leg for the moral Apaches of Montmartre.

Charles Servaes finds a coin on the ground and takes possession. When he tries to use it to pay for his cab ride, the cabbie says it's counterfeit. Sorry! I've nothing else, being a comic slapstick bum, indicates Servaes, and goes on his way to not pay a succession of people.

Polycarpe -- that's Charles Servaes -- encounters a painter in a museum. He strikes a funny pose and the painter decides he wants to paint that picture. However a succession of obstacles get in their way.

Polycarpe wants to sleep, but the woman of the house beats him awake. When he falls back asleep, his shoes tie themselves, as does his cravat. Indeed, everything works for him when he sleeps.

Artheme takes his elderly uncle for a walk in his wheelchair, but abandons the invalid in the woods overnight when he spots a pretty girl. (MoMA)

The cyclist is dispatched upon an important errand, and his humorous and alarming adventures by the way form the subject of this series. Misadventure follows misadventure with great frequency, but the cyclist comes up smiling every time, mounts his machine, and again resumes his journey. Accidents which would maim or kill an ordinary mortal serve only to spur him on to fresh exertions in a mad search for physical inconveniences and dangers, which always present themselves. (Picture World)