Paul's Animatograph Works

Filmed in 35mm and in black and white, this short silent film was produced by the English film pioneer R. W. Paul, and directed by Walter R. Booth and was filmed at Paul's Animatograph Works. It was released in November 1901. As was common in cinema's early days, the filmmakers chose to adapt an already well-known story, in this case A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, in the belief that the audience's familiarity with the story would result in the need for fewer intertitles. It was presented in 'Twelve Tableaux' or scenes.

A barber cuts heads off Negro and white customers, who then dismember him.

An old proprietor is startled and haunted by the strange happenings inside his curiosity shop.

Here we present a picture that simply convulses an audience with laughter. The scene opens in the bedroom of a hotel. A traveler appears, evidently a "little worse for wear." After stretching and yawning, he proceeds to disrobe. He throws off his coat and vest, but to his surprise and anguish, he suddenly finds himself clothed in a continental uniform. He throws this off in anger, but immediately a policeman's costume flies on him. This is in turn thrown aside in great rage and he finds himself clothed in a soldier's uniform. At last, thinking himself successful, he makes for the bed and finds a skeleton complacently resting on his pillow. The bed suddenly disappears, leaving him seated on the floor, and great quantities of bed clothes rain down from the ceiling. The picture ends leaving the audience simply convulsed in laughter. (Edison Catalog)

An up to date idea and a great picture. The professor sits in his laboratory with his newly invented baby incubator. A mother who is anxious for the growth of her child enters, places her baby in care of the professor, who promptly places it in the incubator. An alcohol lamp is lighted under the apparatus, but the professor evidently gets his machine too hot, for in a few seconds the top is opened and the baby taken out. To the great anger of its mother it has grown about two feet in height and has long hair and a full beard. (Edison Catalog)

A magical glowing white motorcar ignores policemen, drives up buildings, flies through outer space, and can transform into a horse and carriage.

Four men of different ranks play a game of tetherball on a ship's deck.

Mephistopholes causes an artist's model to disappear.

A short documentary about industrial whaling. The surviving footage runs for approximately 12 minutes.

Trick film. A stage magician transforms a woman into a butterfly and himself into a giant bat. This film is considered lost.

Clog dancing contest winner dances on dinner plate.

Men expose a fake medium's tricks and take revenge.

Top-hatted pedestrians and horse-drawn traffic pass over Blackfriars Bridge in London.

A tramp steals food from a picnicking professor and is blown up.

Short actuality showing Kaiser Wilhelm II visiting Portsmouth, including views associated with Nelson’s flagship H.M.S. Victory. Produced in Britain during the late-Victorian boom in topical films, it records the Kaiser’s naval-themed stop at the Royal Navy’s principal base.

There's a killer on the loose in Muswell Hill. Escaped from an asylum, he can be identified by the missing forefinger on his left hand.

A Football Match at Newcastle-on-Tyne refers to a one-minute film recorded in October 1896 by English film pioneer Robert William Paul. According to several film and sports historians, it was the first known recording of a football match.