Unusual Cooking

A chef comes into the kitchen and throws a lot of rags on the floor: he then casts a spell over them, and immediately they take the form of human beings, and dance a wild saraband around the place. After performing many unique tricks they disappear into space, and are replaced by a group of knives and forks, pans, kettles and spoons. (Moving Picture World)

Modern Sculptors

The first scene presents before the astonished eyes of the spectators a solid piece of marble, which the minute it is placed on a table seems to take life, and one can follow a snake-like line branding on the polished face of the stone the name of the house of Pathé Frères. As soon as this stone has been engraved, as by magic, a handsome young lady appears with a huge lump of clay covered with a cloth. As soon as the cloth is removed from the soft mass it starts whirling and turning as if stricken mad, and one is asking one's self what all the contentions are going to lead to, when the vague shape of an animal not yet discernible seems to appear, and before one has time to make one's mind as to the category of brutes to which it belongs one sees the form of a remarkably well made orang-utan modelled out of the clay, who calmly smokes his pipe. Then the statue is removed by the same winning young lady and another covered block of the same substance is carried forward.

The Mole and His Friends

Paper Cock-a-Doodles

Female magicians turn people into origami roosters and vice versa.

Bluebeard

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

The Living Playing Cards

The Merry Frolics of Satan

Two travellers are tormented by Satan from inn to inn and eventually experience a buggy ride through the heavens courtesy of the Devil before he takes one of them down to Hell and roasts him on a spit.

Sherlock Holmes Baffled

Sherlock Holmes enters his drawing room to find it being burgled, but on confronting the villain is surprised when the latter disappears.

Mysterious Cafe, or Mr. and Mrs. Spoopendyke Have Troubles with a Waiter

As the above title indicates, the scene does not take place in an ordinary restaurant, but one in which all natural rules of order and gravitation are reversed. The couple above mentioned have a most trying experience while endeavoring to partake of a square meal. They find themselves flying about the room from chairs to table, and vice versa, until they are both completely bewildered, ending in a general mix-up, which is sure to provoke much merriment.

The Mystical Flame

A juggler enters upon the scene, picks up a skull, throws it into the air, catches it in his hands, where it is transformed into a handkerchief. The handkerchief, after being twirled about a wand, is changed to a napkin, and afterward to a tablecloth. Out of the table cloth comes a servant.

Slippery Jim

Pickpock is behind bars. But more elusive than Arsène Lupin, no chain resists him and he plays with policemen like a cat with mice. After having masterfully taken them for a ride, having brought them down to an effigy, he rolls them up and throws them out the window. But the policemen come back to life and the chase goes on. Pickpock, caught a second time, locked up behind heavy bars, finds a new way of escaping and imprisoning in turn the policemen.

Hooligan Assists the Magician

This is a new adventure in which our friend, Mr. Hooligan, appears in an entirely new capacity. On a stage a professor of magic is performing some wonderful experiments, and when he requests some assistance Happy Hooligan immediately volunteers his services and climbs upon the platform.

The Magician

A modern reimagining of the trick film, combining the love of spectacle, the artist's process and the dark state of today's politics.

The X-Ray Fiend

A romantic couple are transformed into skeletons via X-Rays. The film combines two very recent innovations: Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895, and Georges Méliès' accidental realisation of the special-effects potential of the jump-cut in 1896.

Flying the Foam and Some Fancy Diving

Innovative early 'trick' film showing the popular 'flying the foam' stunt performed on - or rather off - Brighton's West Pier.

The Untamable Whiskers

The background of this picture represents a scene along the beautiful river Seine in Paris. A gentleman enters, and taking a blackboard from the side of the picture, he draws on it a sketch of a novelist. Then, standing in the centre, he causes the living features of his sketch to appear in the place of his own, which is utterly devoid of whiskers. The change is made so mysteriously that the eye cannot notice it until one sees quite another person in the place of the first. Again another sketch is shown on the board, this one being that of a miser; then an English cockney; a comic character; a French policeman, and last of all, the grinning visage of Mephistopheles. It is almost impossible to give this film a more definite description; suffice it to say that it is something entirely new in motion pictures and is sure to please. (Méliès Catalog)

The Infernal Cakewalk

Pluto, having seen the earth, comes back home amazed at the success of that well-known dance, the "cake-walk." He has brought back with him two noted well-known dancers, who start their favorite dance amidst the flames.

Addition and Subtraction

A magician performs tricks involving three women, who are sometimes merged together into one corpulent female.

Uncle Josh's Nightmare

Poor Uncle Josh is trying to get to sleep, but being constantly bedevilled by a fellow in red long underwear with horns. A short early trick editing film using a stationary camera much more valuable for its historical, rather than entertainment value.

Faust and Mephistopheles

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

Extirpator of Idolatries

The police detective Waldo, of immersed and circumspect disposition and temper, investigates several crimes associated with indigenous rituals that occur in some regions of the Peruvian Andes. There we find a boy and a girl who are about to enter puberty and begin to interact with certain mythical beings, a supernatural belief very common in many Andean villages. A sinister character, pretending to be on a mission of faith, but imbued with religious dogmatism and intolerance, interrupts this peaceful scene as he casts an ominous shadow over these ancient Peruvian beliefs. Although Waldo's boss considers him inferior and distrusts his methods (a form of discrimination), the policeman continues his efforts to capture the "Extirpator of Idolatries.¨ At the same time, Waldo will resolve his own inner conflict which has troubled him all his life.

Ánima Buenos Aires

Portrait of the Argentinean capital of Buenos Aires by different filmmakers and cartoonists, in four chapters, displaying a rich combination of techniques. Each episode shows its own aspect of the soul of this magical metropolis, in this era of ruthless globalisation. With humour and emotion, and featuring the tango.

Charlie Chaplin Meets Harry Lauder

Filmed at the Chaplin Studios, Los Angeles on January 22, 1917 -- this footage was intended as a promotional film to help raise funds for the "British War Loan Bond Appeal Drive" (in addition, Lauder established the Harry Lauder Million Pound Fund for wounded soldiers and sailors in September 1917). The film was never completed or released at the time.

Señor Jazz, the Film by Carlos Inzillo

Documentary about the life and work of Carlos Inzillo, a cultural reference for jazz in Argentina, creator and coordinator of a series of jazz concerts that have been held every Tuesday in the City of Buenos Aires since 1984.

А дома лучше

Moscow 1996, Vote or Lose!

Moscow, January 1996. Boris Yeltsin gets ready to run for a second mandate of the presidency of the young Russian Federation. Polls are in the single digits. A painful economic transition, war in Chechnya, and the rise of criminal groups have left the majority of Russians dissatisfied with Yeltsin… and willing to vote for the communist leader Gennady Zyuganov. Yet six months later, Yeltsin won the election with nearly 54% of the vote. How did that happen?

Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple

After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers. While Otsu waits, Akemi also seeks him, expressing her desires directly. Meanwhile, Takezo is observed by Sasaki Kojiro, a brilliant young fighter, confident he can dethrone Takezo. After leaving Kyoto in triumph, Takezo declares his love for Otsu, but in a way that dishonors her and shames him. Once again, he leaves alone.

Pathinonnil Vyazham

Appu (Mukesh) works as a bearer in a five star hotel at Palakkad. He happens to meet Chandran Pillai once, who is a millionaire based in Ooty. Appu rescues Chandran Pillai from an accident.When Chandran Pillai returns to Ooty, the people who were after him turn towards Appu instead. So Appu rushes to Ooty and begs Chandran Pillai to give him a job. Chandran Pillai refuses, but when Appu tries to blackmail him with a secret, he gives in, and appoints him as his driver. Meenakshi (Manya), Chandran Pillai's daughter hates Appu and repeatedly dismisses him from the job, but Chandran Pillai takes him back, much to her frustration.

Malvinas: El Legado

The Crush Space

A short film about three siblings with secrets who come back home to stay, Everyone meets up at their mum's house for a family lunch and none of them want her to find out about what their hiding.

Det Vita Snittet

Strong Boy

"Strong Boy" is offered a promotion for saving a child from being crushed by a trunk, but to the frustration of his girlfriend Mary, he is not ambitious enough to take a white-collar position. But when he thwarts an attempted train robbery and saves the Queen of Lisonia's jewels, he is viewed as a hero and Mary finally agrees to marry him.

Hvis lille pige er du?

The young, hard-working, and extremely attractive Eva Brun works as secretary to Director Jansen. But when her boss becomes a little too fond of Eva's "work," she quits. Tired of men and tired of lecherous male bosses, she devises a cunning plan. She wants to get married and divorced as quickly as possible so she can live off alimony. And Eva chooses shipowner's son Hans P. Larsen as her victim. But Hans has his own agenda. And soon the two begin a cunning game, the outcome of which only Cupid's arrows know.

39 Stripes

Former chain gang convict Ed Martin converts to Christianity in prison in 1944 and forms the HopeAglow Prison Ministries.

St Patrick's Day at the BBC

A collection of classic performances from the BBC archives to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, featuring some of the Emerald Isle’s finest and best-loved musical acts: U2, Sinead O’Connor, Van Morrison, The Pogues, The Corrs, The Cranberries, as well as boyband behemoths Boyzone and Westlife - and more.

Wawa

Featuring speakers of Chinuk Wawa, an Indigenous language from the Pacific Northwest, WAWA begins slowly, patterning various forms of documentary and ethnography. Quickly, the patterns tangle and become confused and commingled, while translating and transmuting ideas of cultural identity, language, and history.

The Umbrella

A school teacher meets a boy in the pouring rain.

Atlas Against the Cyclops

Strongman Maciste must battle the one-eyed Cyclops monster that is ravaging the land of Sadok, while at the same time fending off the advances of the evil Queen Capys, who wants to do a little ravaging of her own.

Porky's Cafe

Porky uses his cafe's kitchen's mechanical gadgets to fix a meal for a diner, while cook Conrad Cat deals with an ant in the pancake mix.

Barjo

The narrator, "Barjo" (nutcase, crap artist), is an obsessive simpleton, given to filling his notebook with verbatim dialog, observed trivia, and oddball speculation on human behavior and the end of the world. When his house burns, he moves in with his twin sister, Fanfan -- an impulsive, quixotic egoist -- and her husband, Charles, the Aluminum King. Charles becomes the focus of the film, as his wife and brother-in-law bewilder him.