Top 10 Earliest Surviving Feature Length Films 1903-1911

The story of Jesus Christ from the proclamation of his Nativity to his crucifixion. Impressive scenes and dynamism of the actors prelude to the Italian colossal movies of the silent period.

Earliest surviving feature film depicting legend of the 47 ronin (see Mizoguchi, Inagaki, Ichikawa, and others)

Young white girls who were kidnapped and held captive and in imminent danger of being sexually molested. And the moor slaveholder will incorporate the poor girls in his harem.

1911 silent film and Italy's first full-length feature film, loosely adapted from "Inferno", the first canticle of Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy". It chronicles Dante's travel through the Circles of Hell, guided by the poet Virgil.

A man who is used to depending on his mother to solve his financial debts becomes involved with the daughter of a lender.

A wealthy young man, Edgar, sees a shop-girl, Ellen, and is immediately attracted to her. He buys her flowers. They meet next Sunday and, presumably, often thereafter. Three months later Ellen is pregnant. The couple decide to marry, and Edgar tells his mother. His father convinces him not to marry.

Two men of high rank are both wooing the beautiful and famous equestrian acrobat Stella. While Stella ignores the jeweler Hirsch, she accepts Count von Waldberg's offer to follow her home, where she falls in his arms. At her party some days later Hirsch turns up uninvited. He says he wants to give Stella a piece of jewelry, but she repulses his advances. When Waldberg sees this he knocks Hirsch down. Hirsch challenges him to a duel by cards. Waldberg loses all his money, and in the end also has to sign a promissory note on 85.000, which should be paid within 24 hours. To help Waldberg solve his debt Stella goes to Hirsch to receive the brooch he has promised her. While he turns away, she steals a precious necklace from him, but he happens to see the theft in a mirror. He tails her to a park, where he sees Stella giving the necklace to Waldberg. Hirsch tells Stella to come to him at midnight, if she wants him to be silent about the theft. When Waldberg finds out that Stella is going to Hirsch in the night, he becomes jealous and goes there as well. By mistake he happens to shoot Stella, who reveals her sacrifice for him before she dies.

THE DEFECT is considerably longer than Feuillade's shorter works and significantly shorter that his better-known achievements, but quite enjoyable nonetheless. The director's efforts at realism extend to retaining moments that other filmmakers of the era would otherwise discard. Scenes begin and end without cutting on activity; the frame, occasionally, is unconventionally absent of actors. Therein, in a sense, THE DEFECT is one of the earliest "inaction" movies in the history of cinema!

A Mormon missionary seduces and kidnaps an attractive young woman, forcing her to accompany him to Utah to become one of his wives.

First film ever that was shot by two cameras. Set in 1854-1855, in Sevastopol and Yalta during the Crimean War. Admirals Kornilov (Mozzhukhin) and Nakhimov (Gromov) organize the defense during the siege of Sevastopol. Both admirals are killed during the battle, and the city of Sevastopol is taken by the alliance of British, French, Sardinian, and Turkish troops. The legendary feat of Sailor Koshka (Semenov) was staged at original location. The 100 minute-long film was premiered in 1911 at the Livadia, Yalta, palace for the Tsar Nicholas II.

This is the oldest found dramatic film from Serbia made in 1911. "Karadjordje" is a biography of a famed leader of a rebellion against the Turkish empire in 1804. We can see his whole life since childhood until his death in 1817 and all historic events he took part in.