1900s

A woman being fitted for shoes exposes her ankle to the shoe clerk, who is intrigued. He kisses her, but her chaperone hits him with her umbrella.

A man attempts to engender a transformation of a giant worm into a butterfly.

Short, seven-minute film on the life of Poe (Herbert Yost) sees the author suffering as the woman he loves his slowly dying. Poe goes out to try and sale his stories but ends up getting rejected. You'll notice that the writers name is misspelled in the title and according to the notes on the DVD, historians believed this was the fault of Biograph who rushed this out to capture crowds on the celebration of Poe's centenary birthday. As for the film, it's pretty good as long as you know what not to expect. Those expecting a full bio will be disappointed but Griffith handles the seven-minutes pretty well and delivers a quick and by the numbers picture. Yost does a very good job as Poe and what's shocking is how much they look alike.

Mme Ducordon se rend au Casino Des Tourelles pour assister à la dernière danse à la mode sur scène : la "Bous-Bous-Mie".

As the camera looks down an open road, a horse and carriage approaches, and passes by to one side of the field of view. Soon afterwards, an automobile comes up the road, straight towards the camera. As it gets nearer, the occupants start to wave frantically, but can a collision be avoided?

A man rents an apartment and furnishes it in remarkable fashion.

Doctors blow to pieces a patient in a hydrotherapy machine and re-assemble him.

An anonymous donor drops a gold coin in the shoe of a homeless girl as she sleeps. A gambler with a 'sure thing' borrows the coin and wins a fortune, but he can't find her again to repay her.

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)

In a strange grotto deep in the bowels of the earth a coffin uprights itself, dances, then opens, and out steps a demonic magician with skeletal face, horns, and cape. He wraps two women (who appear to be in a trance) in fabric, levitates them, and causes them to burst into flames and disappear. As he gathers their ashes in a pitcher a Good Spirit [a young woman who resembles Peter Pan] appears, shakes her head No, and reveals the "souls" of the two women in a secret compartment deeper within the cave. The Good Spirit vanishes in a puff of smoke. The magician then produces 3 glass bottles on pillars, takes them downstage close to the camera, and reveals 3 tiny women in them; one woman beats a tambourine while the other two sway. The magician pours ashes (?) into the bottles, but the Good Spirit reappears and makes these trapped figures disappear in a flash, angering the magician, who chases her away. He makes an easel appear. There is an odd sort of screen on it bearing the Pathe rooster logo. The magician then invents channel-surfing, causing three different "shows" to appear on the screen in rapid succession. The Good Spirit reappears and causes this strange television set to vanish, but the magician creates two more in turn, each more elaborate than the last, with various images of persons and dogs flashing across their screens. Finally, the Good Spirit reveals to the evil magician an area within the cave where there are four pillars and a tableau of distinguished-looking ladies (goddesses?). She takes the magician downstage, forces him to the ground, pours a pitcher of something on him (ashes? Holy water?) and turns him into a lifeless skeleton, which she reveals to the camera. Three tall flames appear in the foreground, and the film is over.

1907 film by Georges Méliès

The legend of Ali Baba and the forty thieves: Ali Baba discovers a hidden cave where a band of thieves have stored their enormous treasure. Cassim also learns about the cave, but he is caught by the thieves and put to death. Knowing that their secret has been found out, the thieves devise a trick in an attempt to kill Ali Baba and anyone else who might know about their hiding place.

A magician does tricks with the aid of his assistant, the Human Pump.

A man takes off his clothes in preparation for bed, only for new clothes to spontaneously generate, leading to comical consternation.

This is the story of a pot of glue and the over interfering boy. Finding a pot of glue, the lad immediately proceeds to apply it to everything in sight. Accordingly, the stairway, lawn seat and a bicycle seat and handles are liberally daubed, so that those coming in contact experience much inconvenience in liberating themselves. "He who laughs last laughs best," can also be applied in this instance, as, in giving vent to his amusement, the lad falls back on to the pot and is unable to liberate himself.

An Indian village is forced to leave its land by white settlers, and must make a long and weary journey to find a new home. The settlers make one young Indian woman stay behind. This woman is thus separated from her sweetheart, whose elderly father needs his help on the journey ahead

A smoker falls asleep, and two mischievious fairies play with his pipe. He discovers this, and imprisons them in a cigar box. He removes a flower from the box, which contains a fairy smoking a cigarette. Next, he leaves briefly while his smoking paraphenalia clears itself from the table and the flower reassembles itself into a cigar. He lights the cigar, then breaks a bottle containing the fairy, who interacts with him in various ways reeling from his cigar smoke, building a bonfire that he extinguishes, etc.

A pair of young ladies cause trouble at the cinema with their lavish hats.

A man needs to get to Monte Carlo from Paris, but finds out that a train will take 17 hours to get there. He decides to go with a man with a special car, who claims that he can get there in just two hours. Complications ensue.

1908 short film by Émile Cohl