The Vanishing Lady(1896)

Pandora's Box(de)

Lulu is a young woman so beautiful and alluring that few can resist her siren charms. The men drawn into her web include respectable newspaper publisher Dr. Ludwig Schön, his musical producer son Alwa, circus performer Rodrigo Quast, and seedy old Schigolch. When Lulu's charms inevitably lead to tragedy, the downward spiral encompasses them all.

The Devil in a Convent(fr)

A priest is officiating at a convent, when suddenly he is transformed into the devil, who frightens away the nuns and turns the place into pandemonium.

The Astronomer's Dream(fr)

An astronomer has a terrifying dream.

A Nightmare(fr)

A man has a fantastical nightmare involving, among other things, a grinning malevolent moon.

The Kingdom of the Fairies(fr)

At the royal court, a prince is presenting the princess whom he is pledged to marry when a witch suddenly appears. Though driven off, the witch soon returns, summons some of her servants, and carries off the princess. A rescue party is quickly organized, but the unfortunate captive has been taken to a strange, forbidding realm, from where it will be impossible to rescue her without some special help.

Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants(fr)

Georges Méliès' adaptation of Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" is most distinguished, today, for being a color film of the classic story. Color was rare in 1902 (and many years after) as non-tinted color has to be hand painted on the film; this was an arduous task. Also notable is the film's short running time of approximately five minutes. Much of the original work is not covered, but viewers were expected to be familiar with the story, and enjoy the filmed highlights. There are a couple of scenes missing; according to contemporary reports, Gulliver's shipwreck was certainly included. You can do a lot in a few minutes, as Mr. Méliès includes a re-make of his own "Une partie de cartes" (1896), which already looked like something previously covered by the Lumière Brothers.

Lancement d'un navire(fr)

At the launch of a ship, of which we can only see the hull, the audience moves aside.

The Portrait(ru)

A man is increasingly unnerved by a mysterious portrait. Based on a story by Nikolai Gogol, the film is thought to have run about 45 minutes long, but only an 8 minute fragment is known to have survived.

Arrival of a Train at Vincennes Station(fr)

This lost film presumably features a train arriving at Vincennes station, eastern Paris. (Until 2020, was confused with Arrival at Joinville flipbook.)

An Up-to-Date Conjurer(fr)

A film from Méliès has him playing a magician who does a few tricks including making a woman disappear.

Ramassage du linge(fr)

Lone Wolf(sh)

A boy finds a large wolf-like dog in the mountain and they befriend. The local peasants think that it may be a real wolf responsible for the sheep pestilence. They decide to kill the animal, but the boy is worried about it and he secretly provides the dog with the food.

François Mitterrand & Anne Pingeot: Pieces of a Love Story(fr)

In the summer of 1963, François Mitterrand was going through a deep existential crisis. His political career was at a standstill and, after 19 years of marriage, the couple had grown apart. It was at this point that François Mitterrand met the woman who was to give new meaning to his life. Anne Pingeot, aged 19, was to become the companion of a lifetime, a woman who would be with him throughout his rise to power and who would remain by his side until his last breath. For the first time, Anne Pingeot has agreed to allow the fragments of this passionate love story — hundreds of letters and a diary — to be shown on television, before being donated to the National Library.

The Clock Store(en)

The various clocks and watches in a clock store dance, ring alarms musically, and otherwise entertain us in an after hours presentation.

Dunechka(ru)

Melodrama based on the autobiographical screenplay by Svetlana Shafranskaya. A love story of a 12-year-old girl who goes on a tour with the theatre in which her father works. This love will bring her much trouble, disappointments and grief, but at the same time will awaken her soul, make her happier and wiser.

Summoning the Spirits(en)

A bearded man hangs up a wreath and, like any good magician, waves his hands inside of it and under it to show us it's only a wreath…

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat(fr)

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote(en)

Toby, a cynical film director finds himself trapped in the outrageous delusions of an old Spanish shoe-maker who believes himself to be Don Quixote. In the course of their comic and increasingly surreal adventures, Toby is forced to confront the tragic repercussions of a film he made in his idealistic youth.

Tutta colpa di Freud(it)

Francesco is a psychoanalyst grappling with three hopeless causes: a bookseller in love with a book thief, a lesbian hell-bent on becoming straight after a heartbreak, and an 18-year-old in a relationship with a much older married man. Unfortunately, these patients are also his three beloved daughters!

Andrei Rublev(ru)

An expansive Russian drama, this film focuses on the life of revered religious icon painter Andrei Rublev. Drifting from place to place in a tumultuous era, the peace-seeking monk eventually gains a reputation for his art. But after Rublev witnesses a brutal battle and unintentionally becomes involved, he takes a vow of silence and spends time away from his work. As he begins to ease his troubled soul, he takes steps towards becoming a painter once again.

Disappearance at Clifton Hill(en)

Following the death of her mother, a young woman returns home to Niagara Falls and becomes entangled in the memory of a kidnapping she claims to have witnessed as a child.

Scoop(en)

An American journalism student in London scoops a big story, and begins an affair with an aristocrat as the incident unfurls.

Sherlock Jr.(en)

A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.

The Hands of Orlac(de)

A world-famous pianist loses both hands in an accident. When new hands are grafted on, he is horrified to learn they once belonged to a murderer.

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog(en)

London. A mysterious serial killer brutally murders young blond women by stalking them in the night fog. One foggy, sinister night, a young man who claims his name is Jonathan Drew arrives at the guest house run by the Bunting family and rents a room.

The Peddler of Lies(en)

At a party thrown at the Metcalf estate, the Marquise D'Irancy's Sultana diamond disappears when the lights go out during a power failure. Suspected of the crime is William Kirkland, the wastrel son of the wealthy Kirkland family, but William's sister Diana comes to his defense. Aiding her in the investigation is Clamp, a wandering peddler.

No Entry to the City(ru)

Directed by Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky.

Hearts or Diamonds?(en)

Wealthy diamond collector Larry Hanrahan is given the opportunity to assist the beautiful, jewel-bedecked woman he admires in a Broadway café when she and her guardian are attacked by robbers. Larry is invited to visit the grateful pair, Col. Paul Gascoyne and his ward Adrienne, at the colonel's laboratory, where he is introduced to Wintermute, a chemist who produces imitation diamonds. In return, Larry asks them to view his priceless diamond collection. Although he has fallen in love with Adrienne, Larry is forced to believe that she is a thief when he is robbed by a woman wearing Adrienne's scarf. Larry finds his jewels in Gascoyne's house, but before he can escape, a group of thugs overpowers him. Adrienne assists him in contacting the police, who arrive in time to capture Gascoyne and his gang. Badly wounded, the colonel confesses that Adrienne has been his innocent dupe, whereupon Larry happily takes her to his heart.

The Bat(en)

A masked criminal who dresses like a giant bat terrorizes the guests at an old house rented by a mystery writer.

The Monster(en)

A general store clerk and aspiring detective investigates a mysterious disappearance that took place quite close to an empty insane asylum.

West of Zanzibar(en)

A magician seeks vengeance upon the man who paralyzed him and the illegitimate daughter he sired with the magician's wife.

A Blind Bargain(en)

Chaney plays two roles: mad scientist Arthur Lamb and Lamb's "experiment", known only as the Ape Man. This hideous creature was the result of Lamb's attempts to transplant animal glands into human beings. A lost film.

The Mistletoe Bough(en)

During a game of hide and seek, a new bride hides in a chest and remains undiscovered until a strange visitation thirty years later.

Meren kasvojen edessä(fi)

A man stays with a fisherman and his adult daughter in coastal Finland, develops feelings for the daughter and begins to uncover a terrible secret haunting the family.

A Sporting Chance(en)

John Stonehouse (William Russell) checks into a hotel, intending to commit suicide. But instead he winds up helping a girl, Gilberte Bonheur (Fritzi Brunette), out of a jam. He finds her bending over a man who she has apparently killed, and since he's about to kill himself anyway, he offers to assume the blame. Throw a valuable emerald into the works, and the fact that the dead man suddenly comes back to life, and Stonehouse -- not to mention the audience -- becomes thoroughly befuddled by it all. Everything clears up, however, when Gilberte gives him a theater ticket -- it turns out that everything he went through was the plot to a stage play, enacted in real life by the actors. The critics roasted the play, saying it wasn't true to life, and this was their proof that the situations really could happen. Gilberte retires from acting when Stonehouse proposes.

Charlie Chan at Treasure Island(en)

Charlie Chan's investigation of a blackmail-induced suicide as a case of murder leads him into a world of magick and mysticism peopled with a stage magician, a phoney spiritualist, and a for-real mind reader.

The Shovel(en)

A man comes to the beach with one goal: digging a hole. But what he finds beneath will shock him.

The Alchemistic Suitcase(en)

A nervous and unsettling young boy takes a mysterious old suitcase across London... to a twisted and surreal conclusion.

Eerie Tales(de)

A demon, a reaper, and the ghost of a prostitute read gothic short stories and act them out.

Brand Upon the Brain!(en)

After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.