Classic Movies

A woman riding a train must contend with the unwelcome advances of a male passenger -- IMDB Directed by Edwin S. Porter Starring Bertha Regustus Gilbert M. Anderson Cinematography Edwin S. Porter Production companies Edison Mfg. Co. Kleine Optical Co. Distributed by Edison Mfg. Co. Kleine Optical Co. Release date November 6, 1903 Running time 1 minute Country United States Language Silent

Based on the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe: Eliza, a slave who has a young child, pleads with Tom, another slave, to escape with her. Tom does not leave, but Eliza flees with her child. After getting some help to escape the slave traders who are looking for her, she then must try to cross the icy Ohio River if she wants to be free. Meanwhile, Tom is sold from one master to another, and his fortunes vary widely -- IMDB Directed by Edwin S. Porter Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe Produced by Edison Manufacturing Company Cinematography Edwin S. Porter Release date August 3, 1903 Running time 19 minutes Country United States Languages Silent film English inter-titles

In a public place in Constantinople at the corner of a bazaar, the executioner is seated upon a stone and is resting from his daily labors while eating a crust of bread. Suddenly there come running into the place a lot of Turkish men and women preceding some Turkish policemen, who drag along four prisoners in chains. The policemen shut up the four prisoners in the pillory. Their four heads stick up through the huge plank, which is provided with four openings. One of the policemen urges the executioner to decapitate the prisoners. He accordingly seizes a mighty sabre and cuts off by a single stroke the four heads, which roll upon the ground. After having placed the heads in a cask, he resumes eating his meal. Immediately the four heads pop out of the cask one at a time to see what the executioner is doing, and in due order each one seeks its body. The four executed prisoners thus reunited throw themselves upon the headsman and in spite of his resistance one of them picks up the sabre lying upon the ground and cuts his body into two pieces. The four prisoners take flight. The two legs and lower part of the body run frantically, while the bust upon the ground calls to them with gestures of despair. Finally, when the legs, in their flight, come close to the bust, it seizes them and thus the pieces of the executioner are united. Then he calls the policemen, who, followed by the crowd, enter into the pursuit of the escaping men -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Starring Georges Méliès Production company Star Film Company Release date 1903 Country France Language Silent

A magician transforms a woman into a portrait of herself, then restores her to life -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Starring Georges Méliès Production company Star Film Company Release date 1903 Country France Language Silent

A girl gives a spoonful of medicine to a kitten -- IMDB Directed by George Albert Smith Produced by George Albert Smith Cinematography George Albert Smith Production company G.A. Smith Distributed by Warwick Trading Company Release date February 1903 Running time 34 secs Country United Kingdom Language Silent

Mansion; father's car seen from lover's car; vice versa; church, ring; father arrives too late -- IMDB Directed by Alf Collins Distributed by Gaumont Film Company Release date 12 December 1903 (United States) Running time 5 minutes Country United Kingdom Language Silent

A compilation of eight earlier films, also from 1896, that chronicle the adventure of Rip van Winkle. Rip encounters dwarf-like mountain-dwellers, gets drunk with them and awakes after twenty years, having significantly aged -- IMDB Directed by William K.L. Dickson Written by William K.L. Dickson Joseph Jefferson Dion Boucicault Washington Irving Based on Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving Starring Joseph Jefferson Cinematography G.W. Bitzer Production company American Mutoscope and Biograph Co. Release date May 1903 Country United States Language Silent

A thief attempts to steal treasure from the tomb of Delphi when a spirit appears. He brings two statues come to life, who in turn transform to thief's head into that of a donkey -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Produced by Georges Méliès Distributed by Star Film Company Release date 1903 Running time 30 meters/100 feet[1] Country France Language Silent

As scene as pleasing as incomprehensible. A juggler summons two chairs, which come to the stage jumping and twirling around. Across the back of these chairs the operator places a sheet of glass on which he lays a box about four inches high. He then takes a table cover, with his servant's help, rolls it up and from the centre emerges a lady, beautifully dressed. At the juggler's order she jumps in the box, in which she completely disappears. The operator, in taking the box, notices an incredulous smile among the audience; he then affirms that the lady is still inside, and to prove it he puts the box on his knees and the girl appears again in full figure. He makes her go in again, and opening the box he shows that the girl has vanished and that her dresses only remain at the bottom. Then he jumps into the box himself, and his servant afterward; the box rolls off the stage without any help -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Production company Star Film Company Release date 1903 Country France Language Silent

Against a moonlit Egyptian backdrop duly encompassing the Sphinx, a narrator explains how a prince hires a mystic to bring back his beloved late wife -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Starring Georges Méliès Production company Star Film Company Release date June 30, 1903 (US) Running time 50 meters (approx. 2 minutes) Country France Language Silent

Historical nobleman Taira no Koremori fights a demon who has disguised itself as Princess Sarashina -- IMDB Directed by Shibata Tsunekichi Starring Onoe Kikugorō V, Ichikawa Danjūrō IX Release date Filmed in 1899, released in 1903 Running time 3 min. 50 sec. (at 16 fps) Country Japan

The scene takes place in front of a barrack, where a young soldier is on duty --most laughable and comical -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Starring Georges Méliès Production company Star Film Company Release date 1903 Country France Language Silent

The leader of a marching band demonstrates an unusual way of writing music -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Starring Georges Méliès Production company Star Film Company Release date Summer 1903[1] Running time 50 meters[2] Country France Language Silent

Smith casts his wife as a sluttish housewife who is mutilated by lighting her oven with paraffin -- IMDB Directed by George Albert Smith Produced by George Albert Smith Starring Laura Bayley Cinematography George Albert Smith Production company G.A. Smith Distributed by Warwick Trading Company Release date February 1903 Running time 4 mins 8 secs Country United Kingdom Language Silent

In this brief "trick film" two clowns assemble an enormous magic lantern which first projects moving images, then emits dancing girls -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Starring Zizi Papillon Production company Star Film Company Release date 1903 Country France Language Silent

A man and a woman talk beside a street near a corner where a cop stands. Just as a horse-drawn cart rounds the corner, the man backs off the sidewalk saying good-by to his companion. The horse and cart flatten him and continue on, out of the camera's stationary range. The cop runs after the cab, the woman dashes to the body. The cop brings back the driver; is the victim dead -- IMDB Directed by Walter R. Booth Produced by Robert W. Paul Production company Paul's Animatograph Works Release date November 1903 Running time 42 secs Country United Kingdom Language Silent

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 -- IMDB Directed by Lucien Nonguet (co-director), Ferdinand Zecca (co-director) Starring Madame Moreau (Virgin Mary) Monsieur Moreau (Joseph) Distributed by Pathé Frères Release dates May 1903 (France) June 1903 (U.S.) Running time 44 minutes Country France Language Silent (French intertitles)

In this spectacular free adaptation of the popular theatre play "La Biche au Bois", the valiant Prince Bel-Azor pursues a baleful old witch to her impregnable castle, to save the beautiful young Princess Azurine -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Written by Georges Méliès Produced by Georges Méliès Starring Bleuette Bernon Georges Méliès Release date September 1903 Running time 320 meters[1] (16-17 minutes) Country France Language Silent

A fireman rushes into a carriage to rescue a woman from a house fire. He breaks the windowpanes and carries the woman to safety; after dangerous and uncertain moments he also saves the woman's son -- IMDB Directed by Edwin S. Porter Starring Arthur White Vivian Vaughan Distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company Release date January 1903 Country United States Language Silent film

A traveler is shown to a room in an inn. After a brief dispute with the hostess and a porter, he is left to himself. But strange things begin to happen in his room, and before long he has created a disturbance that has everyone running to his room to find out what is going on -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Starring Georges Méliès Production company Star Film Company Release date June 27, 1903 (US) Running time 100 meters Country France Language Silent

Two demons throw helpless captives into a boiling cauldron, and then try to summon forth their spirits -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Starring Georges Méliès Distributed by Star Film Company Release date 1903 Running time 36 meters/116 feet[1] (1-2 minutes) Country France Language Silent

A group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels -- IMDB Directed by Edwin S. Porter Based on The Great Train Robbery by Scott Marble Starring Justus D. Barnes G. M. Anderson Walter Cameron Cinematography Edwin S. Porter J. Blair Smith Distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company Release date December 1903 Running time 740 ft (230 m) 12 minutes (at 18 frame/s) Country United States Languages Silent English intertitles

Deep into a vast cavern of the pitch-black inferno, a couple of professional dancers demonstrate the cakewalk that is currently so much in vogue, and now, everyone in the once-gloomy underworld is doing the crazy dance. Who is the best -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Starring Georges Méliès Production company Star Film Company Release date 1903 Country France Language Silent

Denied a handout, a witch exacts vengeance by cursing the village well -- IMDB Directed by Georges Méliès Production company Star Film Company Running time 4 minutes Country France Language Silent

The biggest English comedy hit of the year. The scene is laid on an English estate at the edge of a pond. A couple of laborers discover, protruding from the water a pair of female legs. They hasten to the rescue, secure a bench and a long plank so as to get out over the water to the point where the legs are sticking up. Just as they complete their preparations a policeman runs up and insists on going out to the rescue of the female in distress. He gallantly crawls out on the plank and seizes the shapely ankles. As he lifts up the legs it is apparent that the whole thing is an awful hoax for at the foot of the sham legs is a big sign bearing the word "RATS." To make the joke still stronger, the sign is no sooner out of the water than the plank gives way and the policeman is treated to a ducking in the water -- IMDB