Early Films Featuring Extremely Horrible Picture Quality
This film list features some early films that are preserved badly. They differ.
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18 titles
- DirectorLouis Aimé Augustin Le PrinceA frame sequence featuring a man walking around a corner.A historical frame sequence, blurry and hard to define. Certain frames are extremely damaged.
- DirectorLouis Aimé Augustin Le PrinceStarsAdolphe Le PrinceA very brief film of a man playing the accordion.One of the earliest films, this one is somewhat blurry but is still very watchable.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonWilliam HeiseStarsGiuseppe Sacco AlbaneseOne of W.K.L. Dickson's laboratory workers horses around for the camera.Presumably the first film in the USA this film is extremely blurry and the figure shown is impossible to define, looking like a ghost.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonWilliam HeiseStarsGiuseppe Sacco AlbaneseIn an experiment that follows up on the results of 'Monkeyshines, No. 1', an Edison company worker again moves around in front of the motion picture camera.Slightly better than Monkeyshines No 1.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsFred OttA man (Thomas Edison's assistant) takes a pinch of snuff and sneezes. This is one of the earliest Thomas Edison films and was the first motion picture to be copyrighted in the United States.The quality of this film is rather scratched.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsOctavie HuvierGaston MélièsGeorges MélièsIn what is considered to be the first remake in the history of cinema, the grand French director, Georges Méliès, directs his very first short film, influenced by the Lumière Brothers' original story in "Partie d'écarté (1896)".Melies First film is rather shaky but is still quite watchable.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsJehanne d'AlcyJules-Eugène LegrisGeorges MélièsWith the help of a magic cauldron, Mephistopheles conjures up a variety of supernatural characters.This early Melies film is damaged badly, with scratches and is also a tad blurry.
- In this 17-second short, a young woman is sitting on a swing and two other women alternate pushing her.This peepshow film is extremely scratched.
- Filmed from the Brooklyn tower of the bridge, this is a panorama starting at Manhattan's Battery and then panning northward along the East River shoreline.An early panning shot documentary. Print is a bit scratched.
- DirectorEdwin S. PorterThis early docudrama shows Auburn Prison and recreates the electrocution of Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President McKinley of the United States. Some versions offer additional footage at the beginning which shows McKinley on the day of his assassination followed by scenes from his funeral.A drama film with a rather blurred condition.
- A photographer takes pictures of a woman in a leotard, who is draped with a light sash. The film survives as a paper print.Scratched Peepshow film.
- DirectorWallace McCutcheonA girl looks through her grandpa's glasses at various objects, which are shown magnified.A grainy print is the survivor of this film.
- DirectorEdwin S. PorterStarsCarl GoliathTopsyThe execution of Topsy, a female elephant, in a publicity stunt advertising the opening of Luna Park on Coney Island. Topsy was originally owned by Forepaugh Circus where she killed a drunken spectator who burned the tip of her trunk with a cigar. She was sold to Sea Lion Park in 1902 which was then sold to new owners who turned it into Luna Park. After they decided they could no longer handle her, the owners of Luna Park announced they would hang Topsy, leading to an outcry by the ASPCA. The owners then decided they would electrocute the elephant, with a backup plan of feeding her cyanide-laced carrots and strangling her with a cable.This film has been badly scratched and is extremely grainy.
- In the next scene all that is left of the cabin is a smoldering ruin. A company of trappers come rapidly out of the forest and discover the bodies of the unfortunate man and woman. With bared heads, and in most impressive fashion they register an oath never to rest until they have wreaked vengeance on the Indian murderers and rescued the child.This drama film is very grainy and scratched, badly battered.
- DirectorJack FrawleyA gang of criminals plans and executes the robbery of a bank in Philadelphia. However, the police are alerted and a chase through the city's streets ensues.A crime film. The print is extremely blurry and grainy.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsManuelGeorges MélièsUndersea adventures in a submarine by a dreaming fisherman who encounters mystical underwater creatures at odds with him. A parody on Jules Verne's novel.The surviving print of this film is not only a fragment, it also appears to be rather blurry. The whites in the print are very white.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsThe scene opens with the jester being spurned by the king, who has evidently partaken of food which disagrees with him, and instead of being amused by the frolics of his jester he casts him away. All the wiles of the jester fail to raise a smile. The king petulantly throws himself into his chair of state. The jester, finding his jokes falling flat, performs acrobatic feats to no effect; juggling with balls, no result; the king won't be pleased. The jester then gathers chairs and builds them up and outward. Ah! The king is at last interested, wondering why they don't fall over, and gets down to see. The jester, taking a pair of bellows, blows the chairs and they fall in a heap at the king's feet. The jester next puts the chairs away and tickles the king, who kicks him for his frivolity; then, getting down from his chair to again kick the jester, kicks air, for the jester has vanished, quickly appearing again out of a large box and laughing at his master, who again seats himself with a frown. Finding all his efforts to please are not appreciated, the jester summons a lady to his aid. Now the king is all attention. Then taking three stools, the jester places them before the king, helps the lady to stand on the center one, pulls her dress, which falls to the ground, displaying her as a Grecian model. The king now forgets his indigestion and watches, the figure. The jester produces two staves, which he places under the outstretched hands of the model, then with a few passes hypnotizes his subject; he now takes the center stool from beneath the sleeping beauty, leaving her suspended on the two staves. After one or two more passes, he removes one of the staves, leaving the subject with only the support of the other, to the astonishment of the king, who is still more surprised when the beautiful model throws him a kiss. The jester now replaces the stool under the feet of the model, awakens her and helps her down. The king sits on the stool, takes the model in his arms and is about to kiss her, when to his intense disgust he finds himself embracing his jester, who, linking his arm in that of the king, leads him off.The quality of this film stays good until near the end where the print becomes so damaged the action is impossible to see.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsThe Bourrichon Family is in debt and must go on a journey to escape their creditors. But these creditors are persistent and pursue the family wherever they go, until the family must finally give up hope of escaping them and are forced to pay the money they owe.This film suffers from nitrate cellulose deterioration for the first four minutes.