Alice Guy-Blaché

Who, apart from moviegoers, knows Alice Guy (1873-1968) today? However, she was the first woman behind the camera and the first female director and producer of fiction films in history.

A brief fantasy tale involving a strange fairy who can produce and deliver babies coming out of cabbages. This film is lost or never existed. Copies of it online are actually the 1900 remake.

This is a compilation of some of the films that Alice Guy filmed in Spain from mid-October to the end of November, 1905 (catalogue numbers 1371 to 1384) that were individually released in early 1906.

Behind-the-scenes footage showing Alice Guy directing an early sound film.

An early Kinora demonstration film.

The epic life story of Alice Guy-Blaché (1873–1968), a French screenwriter, director and producer, true pioneer of cinema, the first person who made a narrative fiction film; author of hundreds of movies, but banished from history books. Ignored and forgotten. At last remembered.

A biodoc about the first female filmmaker and her relative disappearance from the history of cinema after directing, producing, and writing more than 700 films.

The first talkie was directed by Alice Guy, the first color film was produced by Lois Weber, who directed more than 300 films over 10 years. Frances Marion wrote screenplays for the Hollywood Star Mary Pickford and won two Oscars, Dorothy Arzner was the most powerful film director in Hollywood. And what do all of them have in common? They are all women and they have all been forgotten. Incredibly, it also took until 2010 for the first woman, Kathryn Bigelow, to win the Oscar for Best Director. Even if underrepresented women have always played a big part in Hollywood and it is this part of the film history left untold that this documentary sets out to uncover.

"Mireille" was filmed at the end of May, 1906, by a small team including Alice Guy, Herbert Blaché, Louis Feuillade and Yvonne Mugnier-Serand at the estate of the Marquis Folco de Baroncelli-Javon in Camargue, during their visit to Nîmes to attend the Gran Corrida organized by the local press association. Ultimately, the film never saw the light of day due to technical problems. (Maurice Gianati et Laurent Mannoni (dir.), Alice Guy, Léon Gaumont et les débuts du film sonore, New Barnet, John Libbey Publishing, 2012, p. 45).

The good people of the Solax community realize that they have cause to make merry before the New Year because the Almighty has guided their breadwinning footsteps toward the Solax Studio's happy atmosphere, bank together like the big happy family they are, to give expression to their happiness in the form of a gift to the immediate cause of their good fortune and sunshine.

A brief fantasy tale involving a strange fairy who can produce and deliver babies coming out of cabbages. This film is lost or never existed. Copies of it online are actually the 1900 remake.

A 3 Part Collection of More Than 75 Early Films by Alice Guy, Louis Feuillade and Léonce Perret. The invention of cinema—and its growth into a sophisticated art form—are vividly brought to life in this massive collection of films from the early years of the influential Gaumont Film Company. Each disc is devoted to one of Gaumont’s artistic directors, who oversaw all film production at the studio, and profoundly influenced not only the identity of the studio but also the evolution of the cinema itself.

Silent, b&w, 35 mm.

Remake of the 1895 by the Lumière Brothers. A similar scene is filmed from a different angle, and a young man has replaced the prankster child.

A recent immigrant learns several hard lessons about how husbands in America are expected to behave.

An early sound-synchronized short of a rooster crowing.

Unverified phonoscene (chronograph #7 in Gaumont catalogue?) showing a performance of the cake walk.

Saharet performs the bolero for Alice Guy.

Polin performs a song.

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.

Dranem performs "Five O'Clock Tea" for Alice Guy.

Felix Mayol performs a song, in colour.

Félix Mayol performs The Trottins Polka (La Polka des Trottins, by A. Trebitsch and H. Christine) in this phonoscene by Alice Guy. This early form of music video was created using a chronophone recording of Mayol, who was then filmed "lip singing". Guy would film phonoscenes of all three major Belle Époque celebrities in France: Polin, Félix Mayol, and Dranem.

Felix Mayol performs Théodore Botrel's 'Lilas-blanc'.

The stations of Christ's life are segmented into a series of performative tableaux.

A bunch of people run an obstacle course all around town.

A pregnant woman steals things from others on account of her cravings.

A lady uses her maid to lick her stamps, when an overtly excited man notices the maid, forcibly kisses her, and they wind up stuck to each other.

A pretty maid is out walking and encounters a series of military men, starting with a private, who lose her to higher ranks.

A poor boy is mistreated by his stepmother when his father isn't present.

An alcoholic is inadvertently sewn into a mattress.

The parish priest looks to create a Nativity scene for his church, but his congregation is too poor to afford the statuary dealer's price for a statue of baby Jesus. The miracle, then, is that the faithful's prayers are answered by the appearance of angels and the Virgin Mary, who present them with a statue.

A gentleman visits a hair consultant for his baldness problems. The latter recommends a new lotion. The gentleman lets himself be convinced and a bellboy is immediately dispatched for the delivery which arrives at the concierge's lodge. The concierge, curious, and believing it to be good wine drinks a good part of it. He then tops up the bottle with water from the carafe. His wife goes to take his package to the gentleman. The concierge who does not feel well goes to bed quickly. When he wakes up he is perked up. But dismay, he is completely covered in hair. At first frightened, his wife and he come up with an idea. They get hired by an impresario in a music hall number, to a big success.

It's a society in which gender roles are switched. Will men stand to be unequal?

Alice Guy films the sea.

The kids of a game-keeper get into a chase with rifles.

A dog runs away with a length of sausage. Chaos erupts as the butcher chasing the dog collides with bystanders who angrily follow.

Bob Burton is a misogynist who spends time with other men who share his views, but Bob's friends play a role when he shows that he's not completely disgusted by his friend Harry's sister.

An abused young woman finds safety and love in the arms of a famous novelist.

Silent film

A man must marry by noon or lose his inheritance. It's 11:50 a.m. and he can't find his fiancée.

A brief fantasy tale involving a strange fairy who can produce and deliver babies coming out of cabbages. This film is lost or never existed. Copies of it online are actually the 1900 remake.

It's early autumn and Dr. Headley eagerly demonstrates what seems to be a miraculous cure for tuberculosis. Not far from where he is working, the disease seems preparing to soon claim yet another life, a teenage girl named Winifred. Winifred's mother and little sister Trixie are devastated. When Trixie hears the family doctor say of Winifred that "when the last leaf falls, she will have passed away," she interprets the doctor's words literally. Thinking over what she has heard, she determines to do everything possible to save her sister.

A boy is fishing in a stream when some others see an opportunity for mischief.

A group of kids play in a stream.

Mme. Bob Walter performs the serpentine dance.

A blind man begging for change tries to outsmart a cop.

A hypnotist tricks his patients.

Cops chase a pair of burglars on the rooftops of the city.

An illusionist makes a woman disappear in thin air.

Some men get into hijinks at a sidewalk cafe.

Gentlemen get into a misunderstanding over absinthe.

A shot of a busy street in Paris is shown in reverse.

A machine churns out sausages on one side and spits out hats on the other.

A client has trouble listening to the photographer's instructions.

A dancer personifying Winter, dances in the snow.

A landlady is taunted by neighborhood kids.

George Mélies made a version of this a few years later, often titled Une Indigestion, but Guy-Blaché’s earlier film Chirurgie Fin de Siecle (1900) is more widely available. And it’s not one to watch the night before an operation. In this clinic, a sign pleads “On est prie de ne pas crier/Please do not cry”, and the doctors set about the patient with saws, cheerily hacking off limbs, and then slopping them into a bucket, all the while arguing ferociously with each other. They then reattach arms and legs from a bucket of “exchange pieces” (using glue) before re-animating their victim, I mean patient, with bellows. (from http://silentlondon.co.uk/2015/01/23/10-disgusting-moments-in-silent-cinema/)

Columbine resists Pierrette's courting in favour of Harlequin in this hand-coloured short by Alice Guy.

A turn-of-the-last-century hand-tinted short, which features two women, Miss Lally and Miss Julyett, dancing at a ball. By the legendary French filmmaker Alice Guy.

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.

"Danse excentrique" (Gaumont #587) is part of the "Miss Lina Esbrard. Danseuse cosmopolite et serpentine" series of 4 films, and should not be confused with "Danse serpentine" (Gaumont #588, the only extant film in the series), "Danse fantaisiste" (Gaumont #589) or "La Gigue" (Gaumont #590).

A wonderful midwife helps a rich couple pick out a baby from her cabbage patch.

A fighting couple gets interrupted by the landlady.

A woman shows off her trained dogs.

A hapless man tries to get undressed only to find himself magically layered in even more clothes.

A re-telling of the classic tale of Faust in all of two minutes by French filmmaker Alice Guy.

Starring 'Les Omers' as a bunch of bricklayers causing trouble for the local cops.

A living statue causes trouble for unsuspecting bystanders.

A magician transforms a tiny dinner table into a full meal for a homeless man.

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.

This is a compilation of some of the films that Alice Guy filmed in Spain from mid-October to the end of November, 1905 (catalogue numbers 1371 to 1384) that were individually released in early 1906.

Serpentine dance.

A spoof of Sherlock Holmes. Directed by Alice Guy-Blache for Solax Film Company.

A married couple, suspecting one another of infidelity, decide to "live separately together."

The Professor will not allow his daughter to marry a non-musician, but Billy, her would-be suitor, cannot play a single note. When he is about to give up, Billy’s roommate suggests bluffing his way into the Professor’s favor with the aid of a suitably musical disguise and a well-hidden phonograph player.

Butterfly dance.

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.

Actuality film of miners entering a mine.

Madame Ondine performs a serpentine dance surrounded by big cats.

"This funny individual will make you laugh until your sides ache. He is funny in all his actions, yet when he puts on his shoes you can imagine the noise he can make when he dances an ordinary clog. The shoes referred to are made of some elastic material which enables Little Tich to bow almost to the floor without bending his legs, the spring in the shoes carrying him down and up again. He places his hat on the floor and, leaning over on the toes of his wonderful shoes, dips his head into the hat and comes up without having to move from the spot or to bend his legs. He is a comical looking sight at best, being made up to suit the part, and he will make you laugh whether you want to or not."

Alice Guy's version of Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum. This film is partially lost.

A recent immigrant learns several hard lessons about how husbands in America are expected to behave.

A woman wearing dragonfly wings performs a romantic dreamlike dance.

The stations of Christ's life are segmented into a series of performative tableaux.

A lady uses her maid to lick her stamps, when an overtly excited man notices the maid, forcibly kisses her, and they wind up stuck to each other.

Heroine Stella is not a "tigress" at all, but instead a loving wife and mother. All this changes when the despotic and rapacious Governor of Euturia, whose sexual overtures have been spurned by Stella, orders that her husband be executed and her child kidnapped.

Scene of the last supper.

Peggy Wilson has recently become an orphan and a ward of the Waston family. She’s also inherited the late Robert Wilson’s vast fortune, which puts her very much in Mr. Waston’s favor. He would like his son, Frank, to marry Peggy, but Peggy “is not his style” and “her money is no inducement”.

Inspired by a Robert W. Service poem, the story concerns a Parisian demimonde named Lucille who becomes the model of an aspiring artist named Robert. Falling in love with Robert, Lucille endeavors to spare him disappointment by secretly buying his "unsaleable" paintings. Luck of luck, one of his portraits of Lucille, "My Madonna," wins first prize in an art contest.

Inspired by a Robert W. Service poem, the story concerns a Parisian demimonde named Lucille who becomes the model of an aspiring artist named Robert. Falling in love with Robert, Lucille endeavors to spare him disappointment by secretly buying his "unsaleable" paintings. Luck of luck, one of his portraits of Lucille, "My Madonna," wins first prize in an art contest.

Young Martha Redmond, a poor girl from a small town, leaves to find a singing career in New York City. She doesn't find success as a singer, but finds a job as a model for a prominent artist, and soon becomes his mistress. When her lover throws her over to marry the daughter of a wealthy man, she becomes a "fallen women", a plaything for wealthy playboys. She meets Barrett, a millionaire's son, and begins to wonder if she might have a future with him, but it seems like he'll turn out to be just like "all the others".

Persis Cabot, the daughter of a multi-millionaire meets young officer Harvey Forbes and falls in love but cannot marry him because of her father’s financial reverses. She enters a marriage of convenience, but her husband is a philander who makes her miserable. Despite his faithlessness he is possessive of Persis and driven by jealousy he attempts to kill her, but Harvey rescues her, and they are united at last.

Norma, a dancer, receives many presents from admirers. Among them she finds a peculiar looking box, out of which spring several poisonous snakes. Nelson, a detective, is called upon to solve the mystery.

A bullfighter dances with a woman.

Georges Hatot and Gaston Bretaeau with Henri Vallouy, a Gaumont employee, acting as cinematographer. Breteau himself seems to have taken the main role in most of the films and here plays the woman in drag who is terrorized by the X-ray camera at a customs checkpoint while trying to smuggle contraband through.

Short film by Alice Guy about a Western love triangle.

A remake for the US market of Alice Guy's Les Résultats du féminisme. The film is considered to be lost.

A wonderful midwife helps a rich couple pick out a baby from her cabbage patch.

When Algie Allmore asks to marry Clarice, the young woman's father gives him one year to prove that he's a man.

Alice Guy-Blaché's second film for Gaumont.

Alice Guy-Blaché's third film for Gaumont.

A rich man rewards a tramp for defending him from muggers with a large sum of money in the form of a single bank note. Nobody can cash the big bill the tramp is carrying and hilarity ensues.

A father shoots his son dead because, lured by the offer of a watch, he revealed to the police where his father had hidden smugglers who had come to ask for his hospitality.

"Wild Bill" Gray is a renegade and a wife-beater. He is about to start on some expedition of crime and his wife implores him to stay at home. She receives a beating for her trouble. Jim, a cowboy, rides past the shack, hears Mrs. Gray's screams and interferes, and takes Mrs. Gray over to his friend, the postmaster, so that she may have a good home. "Wild Bill" plans vengeance. Paxton, the postmaster, starts for the station with money and gold, and is accompanied a short way by Jim. Gray sneaks after them. After going with Paxton a short distance, Jim takes a turn in the road and Paxton rides on alone. Gray closes up on the postmaster, gets the drop on him, but Paxton is quick and there's a hand-to-hand struggle. Bill, however, worsts Paxton, and finally sends him over a precipice. But in falling, Paxton falls into a tree and thus is saved from sure death.

It's early autumn and Dr. Headley eagerly demonstrates what seems to be a miraculous cure for tuberculosis. Not far from where he is working, the disease seems preparing to soon claim yet another life, a teenage girl named Winifred. Winifred's mother and little sister Trixie are devastated. When Trixie hears the family doctor say of Winifred that "when the last leaf falls, she will have passed away," she interprets the doctor's words literally. Thinking over what she has heard, she determines to do everything possible to save her sister.

It's a society in which gender roles are switched. Will men stand to be unequal?

A pregnant woman steals things from others on account of her cravings.

Sam the white-washer pines for the affluent Lindy, but she has dumped him in favor of another. Sam finds a large sum of money, and goes to New York to enjoy a shopping spree, buying new clothes, jewelry and a car with a driver. Back home, Lindy flips for Sam and his newfound wealth, and dumps the rival. Sam throws an engagement party where he indulges in a friendly game of cards with his former rival and another man, who unbeknownst to Sam, is a card shark.

Sam the white-washer pines for the affluent Lindy, but she has dumped him in favor of another. Sam finds a large sum of money, and goes to New York to enjoy a shopping spree, buying new clothes, jewelry and a car with a driver. Back home, Lindy flips for Sam and his newfound wealth, and dumps the rival. Sam throws an engagement party where he indulges in a friendly game of cards with his former rival and another man, who unbeknownst to Sam, is a card shark.

A youth, the only survivor of a shipwreck, is rescued by two old fishermen. One of the fishermen, who has a little girl the boy's age, decides to adopt him. Ten years later a New York lawyer comes to the fishing town and wants to adopt the child who is heir to a fortune, but the boy is old enough to decide for himself and chooses to stay. His money is entrusted to a banker, who faced with bankruptcy embezzles the cash while making the lad think it was lost in a bad investment. The banker also falls for the fisherman’s daughter, and they elope. He is a cad, and she soon returns home. The banker’s plans for a robbery go awry and he flees to the seaside pursued by his gang. After several struggles all is resolved happily.

When Algie Allmore asks to marry Clarice, the young woman's father gives him one year to prove that he's a man.

During the Mexican Revolution, a female spy for the Mexican guerrilla fighters falls in love with an American lieutenant. When he is captured and threatened with execution, she turns to the Americans for help by climbing a telegraph pole, tapping the wire, and sending out a distress call.

A young couple is trying to get together while the girl's father is trying to break them up.

Charlotte Baker is drugged and taken to a brothel by Paul, her fiance, who in reality is a pimp. To find her, Charlotte's family contacts the celebrated detective Bob Macauley.

Charlotte Baker is drugged and taken to a brothel by Paul, her fiance, who in reality is a pimp. To find her, Charlotte's family contacts the celebrated detective Bob Macauley.

The Vampire is a surviving 1915 silent film drama directed by Alice Guy and starring Olga Petrova. It is one of Petrova's and Guy's few surviving silent films.

The Vampire is a surviving 1915 silent film drama directed by Alice Guy and starring Olga Petrova. It is one of Petrova's and Guy's few surviving silent films.

A woman plans to dress her fiancé as a heroic tramp in order to impress her father, but a real tramp intervenes in his place.

Soldiers ambush a house.

In this story the hero is haunted by a beautiful young woman who tries to stab him to death with a knife. This fantasy recurs on each of his birthdays, becoming more and more real as the years go on. He leaves home to secure a place as groom, but arrives at his destination too late. Forced to retrace his steps, he seeks shelter in a little inn, forgetting that the hour of his birth is approaching. In the middle of the night he awakens, terrified with fright… Based on Wilkie Collins' novel “The Dream Woman”.

In this story the hero is haunted by a beautiful young woman who tries to stab him to death with a knife. This fantasy recurs on each of his birthdays, becoming more and more real as the years go on. He leaves home to secure a place as groom, but arrives at his destination too late. Forced to retrace his steps, he seeks shelter in a little inn, forgetting that the hour of his birth is approaching. In the middle of the night he awakens, terrified with fright… Based on Wilkie Collins' novel “The Dream Woman”.

The head of the family, in search of money, dons the clothes left by the village priest. He commits a terrible deed, and later, the priest learns of it; That it was committed in his frock. The priest looks to the Lord for guidance.

The head of the family, in search of money, dons the clothes left by the village priest. He commits a terrible deed, and later, the priest learns of it; That it was committed in his frock. The priest looks to the Lord for guidance.

It was the first film version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Daisy Jones had been married just a year when her husband failed to kiss her one morning, and she decided that he did not love her any more.

A silent film, likely about someone leaving a bath

The Professor will not allow his daughter to marry a non-musician, but Billy, her would-be suitor, cannot play a single note. When he is about to give up, Billy’s roommate suggests bluffing his way into the Professor’s favor with the aid of a suitably musical disguise and a well-hidden phonograph player.

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 young girl is trying to live an honest life in a crooked city. Caught up with a crook that might be the son of a millionaire and other crooked people, she must attempt to reform things, or at least one person.

"La Gigue" (Gaumont #590) is part of the "Miss Lina Esbrard. Danseuse cosmopolite et serpentine" series of 4 films, and should not be confused with "Danse excentrique" (Gaumont #587), "Danse serpentine" (Gaumont #588, the only extant film in the series), or "Danse fantaisiste" (Gaumont #589).

"Danse fantaisiste" (Gaumont #589) is part of the "Miss Lina Esbrard. Danseuse cosmopolite et serpentine" series of 4 films, and should not be confused with "Danse excentrique" (Gaumont #587), "Danse serpentine" (Gaumont #588, the only extant film in the series), or "La Gigue" (Gaumont #590).

"Danse serpentine" (Gaumont #588) is part of the "Miss Lina Esbrard. Danseuse cosmopolite et serpentine" series of 4 films, and should not be confused with "Danse excentrique" (Gaumont #587), "Danse fantaisiste" (Gaumont #589) or "La Gigue" (Gaumont #590).

When Kitty's family adopts a homeless dog they couldn't guess how much it would be of help in her fathers detective work.

A runaway barrel wreaks havoc all over the city.

Recording of the dance Mesdemoiselles Lally and Juliette from the Olympia.

Paul Wellard is leaving home for the city. He goes to say good-bye to his mother and finds her at the organ singing her favorite hymn. For a while he prospers very well in the city, but finally gets in bad company, gambles, steals and loses his position. Unable to secure another position he becomes desperate and seeing the opportunity, he enters a house and is filling his pockets with valuable jewelry when he hears someone coming.

Program of 13 short films by Alice Guy made between 1898 and 1907. She is the first fiction filmmaker in the history of cinema. It was she who suggested to Léon Gaumont that he abandon simple animated views to shoot small scripted stories. Authorization is given to her to direct, and this is an exceptional fact in a profession reserved for men. Until 1907, she will reign over Gaumont’s production as director, artistic director, screenwriter, experimenting with faking and special effects.

A father who is determined his daughter should marry a count leading the boyfriend to dress up as the count to thwart his plans.

A married couple, suspecting one another of infidelity, decide to "live separately together."

Peggy Wilson has recently become an orphan and a ward of the Waston family. She’s also inherited the late Robert Wilson’s vast fortune, which puts her very much in Mr. Waston’s favor. He would like his son, Frank, to marry Peggy, but Peggy “is not his style” and “her money is no inducement”.

Mixed Pets is an early Alice Guy Blaché comedy about misunderstandings that arise when a new husband refuses to buy his new wife a dog and the couples’ domestic help conceal the fact they are married with a baby. Puppies and babies become mixed up in cabinets as everyone tries to hide their adored ‘pets.’ The film is enormously funny and shows a poignant understanding of people’s joys and foibles as well as a perceptive grasp of relationships, a Guy Blaché trademark.

Alice Guy film.

Alice Guy film.

Old Joel Smith is charged with murder in the first degree. At the trial he pleads in opposition to his own lawyers. He explains that he is now too old to be of any assistance to his widowed daughter and his grand-children who are dependent on him for support. He says he prefers death to a life of poverty and wretchedness. In telling the judge and jury his pathetic story (which is shown on the screen) old Joel betrays a love for his grandchildren and his fellow laborers that is poignant with pathos.

Proud old Major Neal disowns his only child, a beautiful girl, because he considers her marriage a misalliance. Years pass. The old major becomes a recluse feared by all. One morning, a hamper is found beneath the Major's covered driveway.The hamper contains a baby girl.

The boy Is a bachelor of thirty who by diligence and perseverance is on the road to success. The boy's success gains him introduction into fashionable and aristocratic circles. He meets the girl and falls In love with her. She Is selfish, proud, snobbish, and has a great contempt for her social inferiors. The girl treats the mother like a servant, and rebukes her severely when she accidentally spills some sugar on her dress. The old mother bursts into tears. The boy resents his fiancee's treatment of his mother. She is furious that he should take sides against her, and In a rage demands that he choose between them. He hesitates a moment between the old love and the new, and then folds his old mother in his arms.

The boy Is a bachelor of thirty who by diligence and perseverance is on the road to success. The boy's success gains him introduction into fashionable and aristocratic circles. He meets the girl and falls In love with her. She Is selfish, proud, snobbish, and has a great contempt for her social inferiors. The girl treats the mother like a servant, and rebukes her severely when she accidentally spills some sugar on her dress. The old mother bursts into tears. The boy resents his fiancee's treatment of his mother. She is furious that he should take sides against her, and In a rage demands that he choose between them. He hesitates a moment between the old love and the new, and then folds his old mother in his arms.

Mrs. Hurley is a wealthy old lady who is rather proud of her antecedents. Her son, a young, clean-cut, college-bred man, like other gilded youths, makes the acquaintance of an actress and the inevitable follows. He marries her, much against the commands of his mother. He neglects her for the companionship of a rather smart and fast set in society. The pace they set is rather strong, and after weeks of gambling and dissipation, he finds himself separated from his wife and position. His wife, now burdened with a child, is forced to seek employment.

Mrs. Hurley is a wealthy old lady who is rather proud of her antecedents. Her son, a young, clean-cut, college-bred man, like other gilded youths, makes the acquaintance of an actress and the inevitable follows. He marries her, much against the commands of his mother. He neglects her for the companionship of a rather smart and fast set in society. The pace they set is rather strong, and after weeks of gambling and dissipation, he finds himself separated from his wife and position. His wife, now burdened with a child, is forced to seek employment.

A young man of high social position sacrifices his home and family for a girl of the stage. Cast off by his family, the young man finds that he is not qualified to earn his living. In the meanwhile his wife grows ill, a child is born, and several years after, the man finds himself in narrow straits. He prepares to go out and burglarize a place. His child enters when he leaves his revolver on the table. The child plays with it as with a toy and then innocently removes the bullets. The father comes back and takes the revolver and goes out. Accidentally, the son breaks into his own father's office. The father happens to be working late that night. The son breaks in, tries to shoot his own father. By the intervention of God, the son is saved from a patricide.

Nouveau Cirque performs the cake-walk.

The Mannings are a professional couple--she is a doctor, he is a lawyer--who are so absorbed in their careers that they have little time for their young daughter Louise, who is left to be raised by their servants. They are shaken out of their single-minded pursuit of their careers when Louise--feeling neglected, unloved and unhappy--runs away with a young newsboy.

After the success of his painting "The Empress," artist DeBaudry (William Morse) takes his model, Nedra (Doris Kenyon), to a roadhouse and, unbeknownst to her, registers them as Mr. and Mrs. The roadhouse proprietor, who is also a part-time blackmailer, takes a photo of them together.

After the success of his painting "The Empress," artist DeBaudry (William Morse) takes his model, Nedra (Doris Kenyon), to a roadhouse and, unbeknownst to her, registers them as Mr. and Mrs. The roadhouse proprietor, who is also a part-time blackmailer, takes a photo of them together.

A brief fantasy tale involving a strange fairy who can produce and deliver babies coming out of cabbages. This film is lost or never existed. Copies of it online are actually the 1900 remake.

Short film by Alice Guy about a Western love triangle.

Based on the opéra comique of the same name, the film follows the exploits of Italian brigand Fra Diavolo.

Based on the opéra comique of the same name, the film follows the exploits of Italian brigand Fra Diavolo.

A recent immigrant learns several hard lessons about how husbands in America are expected to behave.

Dick, a young boy hears wondrous tales of London, where the streets are paced with gold. At night he dreams of the capital. The next day he leaves his country home to see his fortune in London. He fails to find work at first and is almost starving when a wealthy sea-merchant takes him in as a cook's help. The cook takes an instant dislike to him and tortures him mercilessly. His garret is full of rats and he often goes without food. One day, a man on the street takes him for a beer and gives him a coin, which he uses to buy a cat.

Dick, a young boy hears wondrous tales of London, where the streets are paced with gold. At night he dreams of the capital. The next day he leaves his country home to see his fortune in London. He fails to find work at first and is almost starving when a wealthy sea-merchant takes him in as a cook's help. The cook takes an instant dislike to him and tortures him mercilessly. His garret is full of rats and he often goes without food. One day, a man on the street takes him for a beer and gives him a coin, which he uses to buy a cat.

Ragna "Rags" Jansen has found local success and acclaim in her small town as an actress, but dreams of stardom on Broadway.

The Mannings are a professional couple--she is a doctor, he is a lawyer--who are so absorbed in their careers that they have little time for their young daughter Louise, who is left to be raised by their servants. They are shaken out of their single-minded pursuit of their careers when Louise--feeling neglected, unloved and unhappy--runs away with a young newsboy.

Melodrama with the trappings of a military firm

The story involves a man who goes to a gambling den regardless of the protestations of his wife. He is extremely lucky and his luck attracts attention. Strangers become friendly with him and he being a "good feller," "sets up" the crowd. After the night's playing, he is advised by the owner of the den that it would be hazardous for him to attempt going home alone with so much cash on his person. Chance decides to remain over night. He is shown to a room. During the night, he not only finds that he has been trapped, but an attempt is made on his life. (Moving Picture World)

A man must marry by noon or lose his inheritance. It's 11:50 a.m. and he can't find his fiancée.

Alice Guy experiment with visuals and sound by Félix Mayol.

A white girl, living with her father at the barracks near an Indian reservation, is very kind to a half-breed Indian. He falls in love with her but she does not encourage him. However, she one day is about to accept a trinket from him, when one of the soldiers, who is also in love with her, intimates something that does not sound nice to a good girl's ears.

A suffragette gets her husband drunk, leading to an escalating parade of mishaps as more people get drunk on their "lime juice."

A man mistakes a woman's blown kisses as being directed at him. When he comes over to call on her, she attempts to shoo him away, but must hide him when her husband comes home unexpectedly.

A parson arrives in the midst of a bunch of wild cowboys. Expecting a male parson, the boys set out in full force to receive him, but on the road when they suddenly run into the one-horse shay of a female parson, they keel over in surprise. Right after her arrival the boys begin to lay plans to get in right, while the parson loses no time in starting a campaign for the defeat of Satan. She begins by posting a sign near the town horse trough to the effect that "Cleanliness is next to Godliness." Of course the boys see the sign and immediately there is a sudden disposition among them to make use of soap, water and brush. One cowboy in particular is very much in love with the parson. He shows his affection only too plainly, and so the boys decide to play a trick on him. Their practical joke unintentionally is not only the means of frustrating a plot against the parson, but it brings the parson and her lover together.

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.

A Jewish man is treated poorly by a member of the upper-class. When tragedy strikes, the Jewish man has an opportunity for revenge, but he turns the other cheek.

At a large factory, the workers decide to strike. Although the leader of the workers believes his boss is treating them unfairly, the strike movement spirals out of control.

Three wartime friends, two wealthy, and one poor, reunite at an upscale dinner party. Things take a turn when the poor man is accused of stealing something.

Selection of hand-painted films made from serpentine dance performances between 1895 and 1907, with original music by Carol Robinson. Produced for ARTE / Lobster Films.

Two mediocre detectives try and catch a notorious pickpocket. Meanwhile, an innocent man is mistaken for the pickpocket and is forced to put on a disguise to evade capture.

Two policemen are required to dress as women to catch pickpockets.

"Mireille" was filmed at the end of May, 1906, by a small team including Alice Guy, Herbert Blaché, Louis Feuillade and Yvonne Mugnier-Serand at the estate of the Marquis Folco de Baroncelli-Javon in Camargue, during their visit to Nîmes to attend the Gran Corrida organized by the local press association. Ultimately, the film never saw the light of day due to technical problems. (Maurice Gianati et Laurent Mannoni (dir.), Alice Guy, Léon Gaumont et les débuts du film sonore, New Barnet, John Libbey Publishing, 2012, p. 45).

A noted philanthropist is captured by a rowdy gang, but one of the children involved resists the gang's insistence that he turn to a life of crime.

The film was taken the 27th of May, 1906 during the Gran Corrida organized by the Press Association of Nîmes. Although lost, it should not be confused with "Course de taureaux à Nîmes" (1910).

A young couple is trying to get together while the girl's father is trying to break them up.

Vinnie, Colonel Beggs' daughter, complains to her father that Lieutenant Sterling is paying her unwelcome attentions. The Colonel assures his daughter that she has no cause for fear. He immediately forgets the incident, as important military developments occupy his time. But soon Vinnie has a more serious complaint, and the Colonel is forced to act.

"Les Acrobats" is the second short film (out of 5) in the series "Les Malabares", which were filmed during the exhibition of the Malabari, an Indian tribe from the Malabar region, in the Jardin d'Acclimatation from August 15 to October 5, 1902. In this film, the Malabars perform various acrobatic exercises. Some dance on a rope stretched at the end of two bamboos stuck in the ground, carry on their head in perfect balance a pile of earthenware vessels. Others climb like monkeys with a surprising agility, perform the dance of GUYARATIS birds, scratch their heads, peck the ground.

Early short film by Emile Cohl

The Spring Fairy gives a beautiful gift to a welcoming couple.

A Parisian doctor, infatuated with the wife of his benefactor, drugs and kidnaps her, and tries to convince the husband that she is dead. This film is lost.

A Parisian doctor, infatuated with the wife of his benefactor, drugs and kidnaps her, and tries to convince the husband that she is dead. This film is lost.

A Parisian doctor, infatuated with the wife of his benefactor, drugs and kidnaps her, and tries to convince the husband that she is dead. This film is lost.

Financier Mark Harrold is responsible for the financial ruin and subsequent suicide of Stanton. Following his death, Stanton's daughter Margaret, seeking revenge, goes to work for Harrold's beloved daughter Helen. The latter plans to marry the dashing Lord Strathmore and thus attain her social ambitions, but Margaret, to avenge her father's death, wins Strathmore away from her by deception. After their marriage, Margaret leaves Strathmore, claiming that she never loved him. With the birth of their child, Margaret becomes ill and blind, but Strathmore finds her and gives her money under an assumed identity. Following an operation that restores her sight, Margaret recognizes her husband as her benefactor and realizes that she loves him.

Detective Dublin Dan pursues a gang of counterfeiters including the leader, John Forsythe, who just escaped from prison.

Norma, a dancer, receives many presents from admirers. Among them she finds a peculiar looking box, out of which spring several poisonous snakes. Nelson, a detective, is called upon to solve the mystery.

Norma, a dancer, receives many presents from admirers. Among them she finds a peculiar looking box, out of which spring several poisonous snakes. Nelson, a detective, is called upon to solve the mystery.

An heiress is saved from the predations of a gang of gentleman crooks by a female detective and her father.

An heiress is saved from the predations of a gang of gentleman crooks by a female detective and her father.

Short film by Alice Guy about a Western love triangle.

Farm girl Dorothy, clashes with her traditional father over her ambition to become a writer and eventually leaves to pursue her dreams after meeting an artist.

Two apprentice violin makers are in love with the same girl, who happens to be the daughter of their mentor. A violin competition is scheduled, with the winner being the one who will marry the girl.

Noble born Mignon is stolen by a band of gypsies as a child. Her mother dies from grief and her father, unhinged by the double blow, gives up his ancestral home for the roaming life of a minstrel wandering from place to place in search of his child. Ill-treated by the gypsies in time she is rescued by traveling student Guglielno, with whom she falls in love. But he is enamored by the seductive actress Filina. Events come to a climax at a castle where all the participants meet, and drastic actions lead to near fatal consequences until all is resolved happily.

The husband of Mrs, Cranston is in tight quarters. He is caught both "short" in funds and in stock. In order that he may be able to cover up his margins, he decides to rob his wife's jewels. He plans to do so, but his wife anticipates him and steals the jewels herself, she having reason to believe that he would attempt the crime in a moment of weakness. The husband, when he finds that his wife's jewels are missing, raises a "hue and cry," and the police take up the case. After considerable investigation, the crime is traced to Mrs. Cranston.

The melodrama where there's a mad inventor with a pretty daughter and where the rich hero buys the worthless invention, telling the girl and her father that it has proved good.

A man mistakes a woman's blown kisses as being directed at him. When he comes over to call on her, she attempts to shoo him away, but must hide him when her husband comes home unexpectedly.

Little May, the rose of the ranch, is kidnapped.

A government agent who buys horses runs into trouble in Mexico.

Held at MoMA

Bank official Hanlin Davis is ruined in the stock market. Desperate, he fails to rob the bank but kills someone in the attempt. His wife Thora goes to D.A. Hastings to plead for a light sentence which the corrupt Hastings agrees to only if Thora gives herself to him. Upon his release the worthless Davis learning of her sacrifice divorces and turns her into the street. An outcast she becomes "the scarlet woman.” When wealthy crusader Robert Blake institutes an investigation exposing D.A. Hastings he is disbarred and decides to revenge himself upon Thora, considering her the cause of his downfall. Blackmailing unscrupulous society woman, Paula Gordon, he forces her to introduce Thora to Blake as a naïve woman while deceiving Thora that he knows about her past. After they marry Hastings denounces Thora, she flees, returning to her old life, but Blake, seeing her worth seeks her and they reunite.

Bank official Hanlin Davis is ruined in the stock market. Desperate, he fails to rob the bank but kills someone in the attempt. His wife Thora goes to D.A. Hastings to plead for a light sentence which the corrupt Hastings agrees to only if Thora gives herself to him. Upon his release the worthless Davis learning of her sacrifice divorces and turns her into the street. An outcast she becomes "the scarlet woman.” When wealthy crusader Robert Blake institutes an investigation exposing D.A. Hastings he is disbarred and decides to revenge himself upon Thora, considering her the cause of his downfall. Blackmailing unscrupulous society woman, Paula Gordon, he forces her to introduce Thora to Blake as a naïve woman while deceiving Thora that he knows about her past. After they marry Hastings denounces Thora, she flees, returning to her old life, but Blake, seeing her worth seeks her and they reunite.

Impressionism and expression of a view, Mavy uses fragments of the ocean landscapes of Alice Guy's studies through fluctuations of bright nuances and an imitation of these tormented waves in the eyes of a modern camera

A woman performs the tango.

Behind-the-scenes footage showing Alice Guy directing an early sound film.

Several dogs copiously "water" a rose on a lawn. A young lover arrives, delicately picks the flower and offers it to his beloved.

The good people of the Solax community realize that they have cause to make merry before the New Year because the Almighty has guided their breadwinning footsteps toward the Solax Studio's happy atmosphere, bank together like the big happy family they are, to give expression to their happiness in the form of a gift to the immediate cause of their good fortune and sunshine.

A boy spreads glue all over town.

Fantastic Flowers is a compilation of short silent films produced between 1906 and 1920, displaying amazing colours that were applied to each frame using the Pathécolor process, or other similar stencilling techniques. Bonsoir – La Fée aux fleurs (1906) / [Bloemenvelden Haarlem] (1909) / Les Chrysanthèmes (1907) / Le Chrysanthème, roi de l’automne (1914) / [Les Tulipes] (1907) / Les Fleurs dans les jardins (1914) / L’Après-midi d’une japonaise (1920) / The Beauty Thief ([1920]) / La Fée printemps (1906) / [Het schoonste uit de natuur] (1912?) / La Culture du dahlia (1911) / [Hollandse Tulpen en Klompen] (1920?) / Fabrication des fleurs artificielles (1911) / [Bonsoir tableau] (1906)

A grenadier had come to see his lover, a servant in the homes of wealthy bourgeois people. Hearing a noise, he is afraid of the masters and allows himself to be locked in a cupboard so as not to be seen. This is a hiding place that will spark many adventures.

An extremely clumsy man tries to clean a woman's house with disastrous results.

An impecunious chap is unable to pay his rent, whereupon he is ejected, but all his furniture is retained and he is allowed to remove only his rolling bed. Pulling this a few blocks, he is exhausted and lies down on the bed to rest. He is soon the center of attraction, and the crowd continues to gather, when the police order him away, and as he refuses to move he is started off by the officers, who guide him for a time, but are forcibly deterred by indignant citizens from further interference. The impecunious man and his bed, which gains momentum as it runs down the inclines, cause much excitement en route, and finally arrive at the business center, where it comes to a stop alongside the walk. Our friend has purloined a fur coat and an auto horn on his tour, and now presents a modern chauffeur. (Gaumont catalogue)

A piano entices anyone who comes near.

A short film about a dirigible.

An old woman in Frederick, Maryland during the U.S. Civil War displays her American flag in defiance of the armies of Confederate general Thomas J. Jackson. Based on the folk tale that grew from the poem by John Greenleaf Whittier.

During the Paris Commune, a boy runs across trouble at the barricade. The film is now attributed to Alice Guy-Blaché by the Gaumont company, although there is some debate about whether it was directed by Étienne Arnaud.