The film is loosely based on Alexandre Dumas’ play about the celebrated actor Kean, who moves effortlessly through all walks of life in 1830s London. One evening he’s in the company of counts and princes, and the next he’s enjoying the company of poor artists at the city’s pubs. A series of infatuations drive him into a complicated love drama. (stumfilm.dk)
The scenes are laid in the Hudson Bay country in comparatively recent years and cover the life of a Hudson Bay factor, showing him as a young man assuming his business in the wilderness and, as was common in those days, taking an Indian wife that he had purchased of her father in Indian fashion.
Magda, a piano teacher, meets Knud, a parson’s son, who invites her to spend the summer at his parents’ parsonage. When a travelling circus stops in the village, Magda leaves the meek Knud for the dashing circus rider Rudolf. But circus life with Rudolf quickly turns out to be anything but happy, and Magda comes to a tragic end.
Frankenstein, a young medical student, trying to create the perfect human being, instead creates a misshapen monster. Made ill by what he has done, Frankenstein is comforted by his fiancée; but on his wedding night he is visited by the monster.
A woman undresses, takes a bath, gets a massage, and relaxes.
Directed by J. Stuart Blackton.
A short, cautionary tale of emigrating to America.
Directed by Robert W. Paul.
A woman becomes slowly visible in front of a black space. She points a wand and spells the word “Bonsoir” in colored letters formed from flowers.
Based on Oscar Wilde's version of the story, what is noteworthy is the sheer luxury of the production, an attempt to capture the wild and weird Aubrey Beardsley illustrations that transfigure the work. The sets are elaborate, with stonework and palm trees and draperies. There seem to be dozens of dress extras, courtiers at Salome's dance and soldiers.
Mired in poverty and no longer able to endure the hardships that this situation brings upon their baby, a young man chooses, with his wife, to give up the child by abandoning it in a rich household. A burglar who himself has just lost a child, breaks into this house and decides to ease the mourning of his wife by stealing the abandoned baby. Soon after, the young man and his wife receive word of their sudden fortune. They then try to find their child, but their search is in vain. Faced with the desperation of his wife, the young man calls a doctor whose coachman is none other than the burglar, since reformed. When the burglar learns the cause of the young woman’s misery, he realizes the gravity of his crime and convinces his wife that they must return the baby to its parents.
Silver Bell, the winsome daughter of old Gray Wolf, is sought by Fleetfoot, a likely young man of the tribe and a good huntsman. Gray Wolf sees no reason why his obstinate daughter should not become the squaw of Fleetfoot and despite her pleadings to be permitted to stay in her father's tepee she is sold to Fleetfoot for the consideration of Tu-tu, the horse, and a red blanket.
Earlier version of Reinhardt Orientalist pantomime, later remade by Lubitsch: a pathetic hunchback performer and a flirtatious dancing girl get involved at the court of a despotic Arabian desert sheikh, complete with sinister eunuchs.
A British clown invents a device which shows all people in grotesque sizes.
Harry loved Betty, and vice versa, but Harry was very shy. No matter how he tried, he never could muster up sufficient courage to propose, despite the fact that Betty always endeavored to help him out. An idea! He writes his proposal, and invents a sentimental code of signals. The letter reads: "If you will accept me, wear red roses; if you are in doubt, the pink. If you do not love me and reject me, wear the white."
A short silent film produced by Gaston Mèliès in San Antonio.
Directed by Alfred Machin.
To Walter Holden since the death of his wife, falls the responsibility of raising his only child.
In this Western, the sergeant takes his commander’s daughter on a horseback ride along the Merced River (which actually might be Oregon's Clackamas River). When their horses are stolen by a renegade, they are forced to travel back to headquarters by foot and lose the trail. In the first clip, mounted troops search for the lost couple. The two are found the next day and the sergeant is disgraced. However, the sergeant proves his mettle when he escapes during an Indian attack and leads reinforcements to the rescue. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with National Film Preservation Foundation New Zealand Project in 2012.
A silent French film depicting the story of the nativity.
