Notable Films: 1900 - 1912

The titles tell us this film is based on an incident in the Boxer Rebellion. A man tries to defend a woman and a large house against Chinese attackers. They attack with swords, guns, and paddles. He's over-matched. What will become of the mission, its defenders, and its occupants?

An elderly gentleman in a silk hat sits on a stool in front of a store on the main street of town. He has a telescope that he focuses on the ankle of a young woman who is a short distance away. Her husband catches the gent looking. What will the two men now do?

A fat policeman finds a crippled beggar is a fraud, and chases him.

A cartoonist defies reality when he draws objects that become three-dimensional after he lifts them off his sketch pad.

As two couples enjoy their evening promenade in a nice but rickety open motor car, without notice, an explosion blows the vehicle to smithereens.

As if by magic, a weary traveller trying to undress, is foiled by his mutinous clothes as they teleport and multiply before his eyes, refusing to stay on the clothing rack.

A boy looks through glasses at various objects, seen magnified.

A man wishing to catch a train, and having left himself none too much time to do so, rises from his couch and proceeds to don his garments. These, however, change in a most fearful manner, trousers becoming a coat, a coat a waistcoat, etc., etc. After a manful struggle he comes to the conclusion that his clothes are one too many for him, and goes back to bed again, to think the matter over.

In one glorious point-of-view shot, a vehicle dashes full-speed into an ill-starred passer-by.

A divinely inspired peasant woman becomes an army captain for France and then is martyred after she is captured.

Nothing new, but an old thing done over again and done well. Some one has attempted to describe a kiss as "something made of nothing," but this is not one of that kind, but one of those old fashioned "home made" kind that sets the whole audience into merriment and motion, and has always proven a popular subject. It is very fine photographically and an exhibit is not complete without it.

A man dreams he is flirting with an attractive young lady, then he wakes up in bed next to his wife.

A black and white short in which a moving rear facing camera documents people running towards it on the street.

A band-leader assembles an orchestra by mystifying means.

Sherlock Holmes enters his drawing room to find it being burgled, but on confronting the villain is surprised when the latter disappears. Holmes initially attempts to ignore the event by lighting a cigar, but upon the thief's reappearance, Holmes tries to reclaim the sack of stolen goods, drawing a pistol from his dressing gown pocket and firing it at the intruder, who disappears. After Holmes recovers his property, the bag vanishes from his hand into that of the thief, who promptly disappears through a window. At this point the movie ends abruptly with Holmes looking "baffled".

A man, objecting to being filmed, comes closer and closer to the camera lens until his mouth is all we see. Then he opens wide and swallows camera and cinematographer. He steps back, chews, and grins.

A young woman becomes the eighth wife of the wealthy Bluebeard, whose first seven wives have died under mysterious circumstances.

A satire on the way that audiences unaccustomed to the cinema didn't know how to react to the moving images on a screen - in this film, an unsophisticated (and stereotypical) country yokel is alternately baffled and terrified, in the latter case by the apparent approach of a steam train

A well-dressed middle-aged man is enjoying a drink at a table with a pretty young woman. He flirts with her, and she seems not to mind his attentions. But is it all too good to be true?

In this trickery extravaganza, Excelsior, the wizard of illusion, pulls out a handkerchief from his pocket, and after that, everything is possible in his rare and spectacular show.

Firefighters ring for help, and here comes the ladder cart; they hitch a horse to it. A second horse-drawn truck joins the first, and they head down the street to a house fire. Inside a man sleeps, he awakes amidst flames and throws himself back on the bed. In comes a firefighter, hosing down the blaze. He carries out the victim, down a ladder to safety. Other firefighters enter the house to save belongings, and out comes one with a baby. The saved man rejoices, but it's not over yet. Another resident appears upstairs. He jumps.

The scene is a theatre stage with a painted panorama of French garden, with a central alley between lawns, with a couple of marble steps and balcony in front, and a line of trees in the background. Two young women step in front of this scenario, one in black, and the other in white knee-length skirts and sleeveless shirts. Both are curly blondes, keeping their hair in place by means of ribbons. They have 8-ounce boxing gloves (228 grams) well tied to their wrists. They box each other in fast, intuitive action, with not much protection. Most punches end on the opponent's leather clad fists, but several reach their bare arms, and they exchange at least 20 punches to head and chest, at close quarter and with considerable power, showing that both sisters had reasonable training in boxing, and were not afraid of taking punches themselves. The girl in black seems to dominate most of the 1m30s round, though near the end the girl in white does a courageous comeback # not enough to win, if points were awarded. The fight, or the film copy from which the tape was extracted, ends suddenly, after a solid head punch by the black skirted girl # but it's not enough to down her similarly strong opponent.