Movies & TV Shows from 1901

A convicted criminal dreams about his past the night before his execution.

Troops parade past the camera.

Persons who have visited the "Hub," no doubt carried away with vivid recollections of Boston's famous system of Underground Transportation and this film takes the audience from the bright sunshine into the dim obscurity of the subway. The Underground stations and rows of Electric Arc lamps are plainly shown and, after traversing the tunnel for a considerable distance, the car finally emerges opposite the railroad depot.

To the modern viewer, it may seem peculiar that there are several movies in which a man sneaks a kiss off a young woman in a darkened railway car, all produced in the first few years of the motion picture.

Using a blue tint to set the scene under the sea, this is a short, surprisingly violent film where two divers fight to the death with axes over some treasure beneath the waves.

Silent film

A man tries to climb ito bed to get a night's sleep. Every time he does, the bed suddenly is someplace else and he falls on the floor.

A short film

In 1901 people in Belfast paid their tram drivers in carrots.

A jovial looking man is seated nearest the window of a restaurant. He has just finished his meal and the waiter brings a glass of beer, and when he places the glass upon the table, lo, a little sailor boy about six inches high appears from the foam, and climbing down the side of the glass, proceeds to dance a sailor's hornpipe on the table.

A man flies his plane "Fend l'Air" over Paris.

Girl gives spoonful of milk to kitten. (Cut-in close-up) [The British Film Catalogue]

A group of people exiting an enormous carriage.

At the beginning of the scene Romeo in his gondola sings to Juliet a sentimental song, then goes away. Hardly has he departed when the colonnade falls to pieces, disclosing the devil. Juliet, frightened, runs to the window and calls Romeo. The latter attempts to enter and protect his fiancée, but at a gesture from the devil the window is instantly covered with a grating and Romeo makes frantic efforts to break it. The devil begins to dance a wild dance before Juliet, who is beside herself from terror. The devil gradually becomes the size of a giant (a novel effect). Juliet implores the statue of Madonna, which becomes animated, descends from its pedestal, and stretching out its arms orders the devil to disappear. (Méliès Catalog)

The President of France and entourage on a pier's promenade.

An inventive use of slow-motion filming helps hammer home the gag as an unconvincing 'Indian chief' hopes to dissolve some trapped wind with a popular brand of indigestion powder.

Panorama of a mountainside railroad and tunnel.

Here we present a picture that simply convulses an audience with laughter. The scene opens in the bedroom of a hotel. A traveler appears, evidently a "little worse for wear." After stretching and yawning, he proceeds to disrobe. He throws off his coat and vest, but to his surprise and anguish, he suddenly finds himself clothed in a continental uniform. He throws this off in anger, but immediately a policeman's costume flies on him. This is in turn thrown aside in great rage and he finds himself clothed in a soldier's uniform. At last, thinking himself successful, he makes for the bed and finds a skeleton complacently resting on his pillow. The bed suddenly disappears, leaving him seated on the floor, and great quantities of bed clothes rain down from the ceiling. The picture ends leaving the audience simply convulsed in laughter. (Edison Catalog)