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© 2026 The Couch Critic
Browse 41 movies from Société L. Gaumont et compagnie
A machine churns out sausages on one side and spits out hats on the other. The director of this film is not credited in any contemporary catalogues or trade publications, or attributed to anyone by scholars or primary sources.
Jan 1900
An illusionist makes a woman disappear in thin air. There is no credited director for this film, although three different persons get attributed, Gaston Breteau, Alice Guy or Georges Hatot.
Jan 1898
A brief fantasy tale involving a strange fairy who can produce and deliver babies coming out of cabbages. This film is lost. Copies of it online are actually the 1900 remake.
Mar 1896
Soldiers ambush a house. This is Gaumont's version, not to be confused with the less accessible Lumière of the same title from the same year. There is no director credited for this film, but the GP archives attributes it either to Gaston Breteau or to Georges Hatot (but not to Alice Guy). Since Gaston Breteau worked earlier for Lumiére and remade some of his films for Gaumont, he seems the most probable option.
It was the first film version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Dec 1905
Cops chase a pair of burglars on the rooftops of the city. Gaston Breteau filmed the original film in early 1898 for Lumiére, and also the remake in late 1898 for Gaumont.
"Les Fredaines de Pierrette" is the collective name of four short films of 20 meters each ("Arrivée de Pierrette et de Pierrot", "Arrivée d'Arlequin", "Suite de la danse", and "Départ d'Arlequin et de Pierrette"), attributed to Alice Guy (although not confirmed in any primary source), in which Columbine resists Pierrette's courting in favor of Harlequin. From July 1901, the series were made available hand-colored.
Gentlemen get into a misunderstanding over absinthe. There is no known credited director for this film, although the attribution usually goes for Alice Guy.
Jan 1899
A blind man begging for change tries to outsmart a cop. There is no known director for this film, although the attribution goes either to Georges Hatot or Gaston Breteau.
A pregnant woman steals things from others on account of her cravings.
Aug 1906
A hypnotist tricks his patients. There is no credited director for this film, although three different persons get attributed, Gaston Breteau, Alice Guy or Georges Hatot.
The fairy at a cabbage patch hovers over the babies. This is a remake of Guy's 1896 film on the same subject, this time shot in 35 mm.
A re-telling of the classic tale of Faust in all of two minutes by French filmmaker Alice Guy.
Jun 1903
A man dancing at a party finds one of his socks has fallen down. Retreating where no one can see him, he removes the offending item. the consequences are not long in coming in this very short -- two minutes -- comedy from Alice Guy.
Alice Guy directed a now lost phonoscene (film that relied on a chronophone sound recording that the actors in the film lip-synced with) version of Faust in 22 scenes(or short films) totaling 1245 meter of film. What remains are mostly postcards containing images of some of the scenes. The earliest proof of this film dates from 1905, as it was shown in a Phono Chronomegaphone Theatre in Belgium(stating it had 5 acts and 8 tableaux). The captions of the postcards refer to lines taken from the opera libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré for the 1859 Opera by Charles Gounod(which again was loosely based on Goethe's play) which the film was based on.
Jan 1905
A magician transforms a tiny dinner table into a full meal for a homeless man.
Oct 1905
A dancer personifying Winter, dances in the snow. "L'Hiver: Danse de la neige" is the fourth and last film of the series DANSE DES SAISONS. "Le Printemps: Danse des roses", "L'Eté: Danse de la moisson" and "L'Automne: Danse des vendanges" are lost or unlocated.
A boy is fishing in a stream when some others see an opportunity for mischief.
Jan 1897
Cute one-trick doggie show. The backdrop is beautifully detailed, yet the illusion of depth is humorously broken by the balloon bouncing off the set.
Aug 1905
Armand Dranem performs The True Jiu-Jitsu ("Le Vrai Jiu-Jitsu", by P. Briollet & G. Fabri / C. D'Orviet) in this phonoscene by Alice Guy. This early form of music video was created using a chronophone recording of Dranem, who was then filmed "lip singing". Guy would film phonoscenes of all three major Belle Époque celebrities in France: Polin, Félix Mayol, and Dranem.