Société des Etablissements Gaumont (FR)

A silent French film depicting the story of the nativity.

Bébé and his sister try their first cigarettes, and it goes wrong.

Framed in a wreath of roses we see a lithe Creek dancer, who sways and postures before an epicurean party of ancients, followed by a laurel wreath and encircling a scene showing school children of 1830 receiving their marks of diligence at a distribution of rewards: then the wreath of bay tendered by the Human Senators to Caesar on the culmination of his career; now a beggar receives a loaf called a "crown" from a charitable passerby: Christ is shown crowned with thorns by the rabble; following the divine drama we see the old comedian's wreath presented him at a performance. The next view shows the Emperor Charlemagne crowning his son Lewis. The film closes with the wreath of orange blossoms encircling a bridal party.

The scene of the drama is a block of modern flats. Many of the residents are away at a dance, and the janitor and his staff decide upon a jollification of their own. They invite their friends to a fine high tea. Everybody is having a fine time, and their spirits are running high. We are now taken to the outside of the hall door, and watch with amusement the frantic pounding and bell ringing of the residents returning from their evening engagements and seeking admission to their apartments. The gay gathering inside are too busy with their own pleasure to heed the angry crowd outdoors. A policeman is called, but all to no purpose, and the tenants are all taken to the station for quarters for the night. Returning to the janitor's quarters we see that the jollifications have been concluded and the guests are all departing. The superior officer at the station concludes to make another effort to gain admittance in the building and, with the tenants at his heels, he approaches the flats.

This charming short film was shot in the Camargue, probably in the same place where Jean Durand filmed his cowboy movies. The plot is very simple. A guardian falls in love with a Parisian. Desperate, he commits suicide when she returns to the capital. But, as always with Perret, we appreciate the framing, the skilful use of the exteriors and the documentary side of life of the time. We see the young Arlesianas in traditional dress go out to collect almonds and return with their baskets to the city. The actor in the role of the guardian overreacts, imitating bombastic despair. But the finale, in which he rides a horse through the waves to find the rest of death, preserves its charm intact. Perret knows how to set the rhythm of a sequence and give it the necessary atmosphere.

Nymphs and cupids dance in celebration of the arrival of Spring.

Calino returns home to find his apartment ransacked by burglars and decides to get a watchdog. With his staff's help, he builds a huge kennel labeled dangerous and sets out large buckets for soup and spring water. He buys a massive dog that barely fits in a large crate. Once home, the staff wears makeshift armor for protection, only to reveal a ridiculous, tiny dog at the end of the huge leash.

The life of French poet André Chénier, precursor of the Romantic movement, who was guillotined during the Revolution aged only 31.

One evening, at a social gathering, a woman removes her valuable rings and place them on a table before she starts to play the piano. Another woman steals the rings but, feared of being caught once the pianist has discovered the theft, slips the rings into a maid's pocket. The stolen rings found in possession of the maid take her to prison for a crime she didn't commit.

The great men of letters and military conquest pose on subsequent pages of a very special history book.

A British clown invents a device which shows all people in grotesque sizes.

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.

Having faked an automobile accident, an adventuress is taken into the home of a "ganadero" (a landowner of the Camargue), whom she seduces. Her intention is to steal, with the aid of an accomplice, a cheque which represents the proceeds of a sale of cattle. Her plan is foiled however, thanks to the dedication of the ganadero’s young secretary. Entirely shot on location in the Camargue, this is one of the earliest of Feuillade’s surviving films clearly to demonstrate his predilection for systematically mixing documentary and fiction — though the idea seems already to have been evident in the films he shot in Britanny during the summer of 1909, for example La Légende des phares. Unfortunately none of these films has survived complete.

To secure victory against the Ammonites, the Israeli judge Jephthah vowed to sacrifice the first person who greeted him upon his return. After crushing the enemy, he was devastated when his only daughter emerged first. Resigned to her fate, she requested two months to weep in the mountains before heroically submitting to her father’s tragic oath.

A splendid blend of live-action photography and Cohl's famous animation, Nothing... displays the realms man has conquered: Air, sea, the domains of music and machinery. The one thing man cannot conquer, Cohl posits, is gossip.

A rich man, living in a splendid palace, in the city of Jerusalem, with his daughter and many servants, surrounded by every possible luxury, but blind, is healed of his affliction by Christ. Having regained his sight he does not make this known to his household, but quietly observes them for a time and sees how his servants rob him and even his daughter imposes upon him. Discouraged at his findings he goes out upon the highway where he again meets Christ, but this time He is carrying His cross and being led to Calvary. The sight of the suffering Savior teaches him to forgive his offenders.

The winner of a footrace celebrates with his family. To illustrate his achievement, he takes a few strides in the dining room. Caught up in the excitement, the whole family follows.

A series of seven short films of varying length demonstrating each of the seven deadly sins.