Early cinema : primitives and pioneers

Description

The BFI’s fascinating collection of 60 short films all made before 1911 comes to DVD with the aim of giving wider access to some of the extraordinary film material held in the BFI National Archive, much of which has been restored. Although most films made at this time were actualities and newsreels, this collection contains mostly fiction films, ranging from the dramatic to the comic and the fantastical.

Sortie d’usine (1895), Repas de bébé (1895), Démolition d’un mur (1896), Le jardinier et le petit espiègle (L’Arroseur arrosé) (1895), Arrivée des Congressistes à Neuville-sur-Sâone (1895), Arrivée d’un train en gare à La Ciotat (1895), Parite d’ecarté (1895), Barque sortant du port (1895), Leaving Jerusalem by railway (1896), Bataille de boules de neige (1896), Pompiers à Lyon (1896), Niagara (1897) and Spanish Bullfigth (1900) / written and directed by Auguste and Louis Lumière — Voyage à travers l’impossible (1904) / written and directed by Georges Méliès — Rough sea at Dover (1895) / written and directed by Birt Acres — Come along, do! (1898), The derby (1896), The countryman and the cinematograph (1901), A chess dispute (1903), Extraordinary cab accident (1903), Buy your own cherries (1904) and The motorist (1906) / written and directed by Robert W. Paul — The miller and the sweep (1898), The kiss in the tunnel (1899), Let me dream again (1900), Grandma’s reading glass (1900), As seen through a telescope (1900), Sick kitten (1903), and Mary Jane’s Mishap (1903) /written and directed by George Albert Smith — Daring daylight burglary (1903) written and directed by Frank Mottershaw — Desperate poaching affair (1903) /written and directed by Walter Haggar — The kiss in the tunnel (1899), Ladies’ skirts nailed to a fence (1900), The bitter bit (1900) and Rough sea (1900) / written and directed by James Bamforth — Attack on a China mission (1900), The big swallow (1901), Stop thief! (1901), Fire! (1901) and An intersting story (1905) / written and directed by James A. Williamson — How it feels to be run over (1900), Explosion of a motor car (1900), Rescued by Rover (1905), The other side of the hedge (1905) and The fatal sneeze (1907) / written and directed by Cecil Hepworth — A visit to Peek Frean and Co.’s biscuit works (1906) / written and directed by G.H. Cricks and J.H. Martin — A day in the life of a coal miner (1910) / director unknown, produced by Kineto production company — Par le trou de la serrure (Peeping Tom) (1901), Histoire d’un crime (1901), Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs (1905), Rêve et réalité (1901), Aladin ou la lampe merveilleuse (1906), Le cheval emballé (1907) and The physician of the castle (1908) / directed by Ferdinand Zecca — La révolution en Russie (Les envenenements d’Odessa / Le cuirasse Potemkine / Revolution in Odessa) (1905) / directed by Lucien Nouquet — Magic Bricks (1908) / directed by Gaston Velle — Dewar’s – It’s scotch (1898), The gay shoe clerk (1903), The great train robbery (1903) and The dream of a rarebit friend (1906) / directed by Edwin S. Porter