Top 36 Movies of the 1890s
by whittleboy615 | created - 26 Mar 2015 | updated - 26 Mar 2015 | PublicBlu-ray.com Forum's Top 36 Movies of the 1890s as of 1/28/2014
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1. The House of the Devil (1896)
Not Rated | 3 min | Short, Horror
With the help of a magic cauldron, Mephistopheles conjures up a variety of supernatural characters.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Jehanne d'Alcy, Jules-Eugène Legris, Georges Méliès
Votes: 3,978
2. The Waterer Watered (1895)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Comedy
An impudent child plays a prank on a gardener innocently watering his plants.
Director: Louis Lumière | Stars: François Clerc, Benoît Duval
Votes: 5,841
3. Santa Claus (1898)
1 min | Short, Family, Fantasy
Brother and sister are sent to bed on Christmas Eve, and while they are asleep, Santa Claus comes down the chimney and fills their waiting stockings with toys.
Director: George Albert Smith | Stars: Laura Bayley, Dorothy Smith, Harold Smith
Votes: 1,065
4. Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1895)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
Annabelle (Whitford) Moore performs one of her popular dance routines. She uses her dance steps and her long, flowing skirts to create a variety of visual patterns.
Directors: William K.L. Dickson, William Heise | Star: Annabelle Moore
Votes: 2,403
5. The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (1895)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, History
This short film, one of the first to use camera tricks, depicts the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Director: Alfred Clark | Stars: Robert Thomae, Mrs. Robert L. Thomas
Votes: 2,554
6. Cinderella (1899)
Not Rated | 6 min | Short, Drama, Family
A fairy godmother magically turns Cinderella's rags to a beautiful dress, and a pumpkin into a coach. Cinderella goes to the ball, where she meets the Prince - but will she remember to leave before the magic runs out?
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Mlle Barral, Bleuette Bernon, Carmelli, Jehanne d'Alcy
Votes: 1,807
7. The Hallucinated Alchemist (1897)
2 min | Short, Fantasy, Horror
Misidentified as The Mysterious Retort (1906), sadly, this film is currently presumed lost; however, according to Wikipedia, an anthropomorphous star with five female heads and a giant face has people coming out of its mouth.
Director: Georges Méliès | Star: Georges Méliès
Votes: 288
8. King John (1899)
5 min | Short, Drama
King John does whatever it takes to keep himself on the throne of England, making enemies of the pope, France, and his nephew along the way.
Directors: Walter Pfeffer Dando, William K.L. Dickson, Herbert Beerbohm Tree | Stars: Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Dora Tulloch, Charles Sefton, J. Fisher White
Votes: 522
9. The Astronomer's Dream; or, the Man in the Moon (1898)
Not Rated | 3 min | Short, Comedy, Fantasy
An astronomer falls asleep and has a strange dream involving a fairy queen and the Moon.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Jehanne d'Alcy, Georges Méliès
Votes: 4,725
10. Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Music
The earliest extant sound film. William K.L. Dickson stands in the background next to a huge sound pickup horn connected to a Thomas Edison phonograph recorder. As he plays a violin, two ... See full summary »
Director: William K.L. Dickson | Star: William K.L. Dickson
Votes: 2,562
11. The Temptation of St. Anthony (1898)
1 min | Short, Drama, Fantasy
The pious St. Anthony is tormented by visions of seductive women.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Jehanne d'Alcy, Georges Méliès
Votes: 995
12. The Conjuring of a Woman at the House of Robert Houdin (1896)
1 min | Short, Horror
As an elegant maestro of mirage and delusion drapes his beautiful female assistant with a gauzy textile, much to our amazement, the lady vanishes into thin air.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Jehanne d'Alcy, Georges Méliès
Votes: 2,053
13. The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight (1897)
100 min | Documentary, News, Sport
Documentary film depicting the 1897 boxing match between James J. Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons in Carson City, Nevada on St. Patrick's Day. Originally running for more than 100 minutes, it is the world's first feature film.
Director: Enoch J. Rector | Stars: James J. Corbett, Bob Fitzsimmons, Billy Madden, George Siler
Votes: 512
14. Fatima's Coochee-Coochee Dance (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short
This is the lady whose graceful interpretations of the poetry of motion has made this dance so popular of recent years. - From 'The Phonoscope' (1899)
Director: James H. White | Star: Fatima
Votes: 388
15. The Messers. Lumière at Cards (1896)
1 min | Documentary, Short
Two men play cards, as a third watches and a waiter brings drinks. The third man pours drinks as the waiter laughs.
Director: Louis Lumière | Stars: Antoine Féraud, Antoine Lumière, Félicien Trewey, Alphonse Winckler
Votes: 1,607
17. The Kiss (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Romance
In a medium close-up shot of the first kiss ever recorded on screen, two fervent lovers cuddle and talk passionately at hair's breadth, just before the love-smitten gentleman decides to give his chosen one an innocent peck.
Director: William Heise | Stars: May Irwin, John C. Rice
Votes: 3,672
18. The Photographical Congress Arrives in Lyon (1895)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
The photographers who need to participate in the congress of Lyon get off a boat in Neuville-sur-Saône, dividing to the right and left.
Director: Louis Lumière | Stars: Auguste Lumière, P.J.C. Janssen
Votes: 1,963
19. Leaving the Factory (1895)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
Workers leaving the Lumière factory for lunch in Lyon, France in 1895; a place of great photographic innovation and one of the birth places of cinema.
Director: Louis Lumière
Votes: 7,548
20. Les pyramides (vue générale) (1897)
1 min | Documentary, Short
Camel train shown passing by a Sphinx.
Director: Alexandre Promio
Votes: 227
21. The Vanishing Lady (1897)
1 min | Short
A magician makes a woman sitting on a covered chair disappear and appear again.
Director: Georges Méliès | Star: Georges Méliès
Votes: 336
22. Blacksmith Scene (1893)
Unrated | 1 min | Short, Comedy
Three men hammer on an anvil and pass a bottle of beer around.
Director: William K.L. Dickson | Stars: Charles Kayser, John Ott
Votes: 2,769
23. Princess Ali (1895)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short
Princess Ali, of Barnum and Bailey's circus, performs an Egyptian dance in the Edison Company's studio. As she dances, some musicians perform in the background to provide accompaniment.
Director: William Heise | Star: Princess Ali
Votes: 516
24. Post No Bills (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Comedy
A soldier stands guard at a sentry box and leaves it unprotected for a moment, a moment that two men take advantage of to put up posters where it is prohibited.
Director: Georges Méliès
Votes: 503
25. A Kiss in the Tunnel (I) (1899)
1 min | Short, Comedy, Romance
A humorous subject intended to be run as a part of a railroad scene during the period in which the train is passing through a tunnel.
Director: George Albert Smith | Stars: Laura Bayley, George Albert Smith
Votes: 1,696
26. The Arrival of a Train (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
A train arrives at La Ciotat station.
Directors: Auguste Lumière, Louis Lumière | Stars: Madeleine Koehler, Marcel Koehler, Mrs. Auguste Lumiere, Jeanne-Joséphine Lumière
Votes: 12,866
27. A Wringing Good Joke (1899)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Comedy
"Grandpa sits nodding in his armchair in the kitchen, where a sout, jolly washerwoman is washing clothes. While the woman leaves the tub to talk to a book agent, a small boy enters, and ... See full summary »
Director: James H. White
Votes: 202
28. Demolition of a Wall (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
Auguste Lumière directs four workers in the demolition of an old wall at the Lumière factory. One worker is pressing the wall inwards with a jackscrew, while another is pushing it with a ... See full summary »
Director: Louis Lumière | Star: Auguste Lumière
Votes: 2,769
29. The Sign of the Cross (1899)
Not Rated | 3 min | Short, Fantasy, Horror
Satan appears in a convent and takes the guise of a priest. Before long he is causing all manner of perturbation and despair.
Director: Georges Méliès | Star: Georges Méliès
Votes: 1,349
30. Chez le magnétiseur (1897)
1 min | Comedy, Short
The Magnetizer uses his powers to change the costumes of the three other players.
Director: Alice Guy
Votes: 342
31. Monkeyshines, No. 1 (1890)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
One of W.K.L. Dickson's laboratory workers horses around for the camera.
Directors: William K.L. Dickson, William Heise | Star: Giuseppe Sacco Albanese
Votes: 1,646
32. Surprise d'une maison au petit jour (1898)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, War
As the title of this Alice Guy war-themed short describes, there is a surprise attack on (or near) a house. The time of day is impossible to verify. Daybreak, evidently. With no particular ... See full summary »
Director: Alice Guy
Votes: 238
33. Murder Will Out (1899)
Short, Crime, Fantasy
A lady is seated at her desk writing when a burglar enters and strangles her. He stabs her and after wrapping her in a sheet throws her in a trunk and then proceeds to steal her jewelry. He... See full summary »
Director: Georges Méliès
Votes: 29
34. La bonne absinthe (1899)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short
A customer places an order at a cafe. While reading his newspaper he doesn't pay attention to the bottles brought by the waiter.
Director: Alice Guy
Votes: 302
35. L'affaire Dreyfus (1899)
13 min | Short, Biography, Drama
Dramatized re-enactments of the events of the Dreyfus-affair from 1894 to 1899.
Director: Georges Méliès | Star: Georges Méliès
Votes: 706
36. London's Trafalgar Square (1890)
1 min | Documentary, Short
A shot of Trafalgar Square.
Directors: William Carr Crofts, Wordsworth Donisthorpe
Votes: 916
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