Prior to 1910 - my favorites

Right in front of our very eyes, two attractive and feminine women metamorphose into two professional wrestlers who begin a no-holds-barred wrestling match.

A traveler at an inn is harassed by a mischievous devil in his room.

In this spectacular free adaptation of the popular theatre play "La Biche au Bois", the valiant Prince Bel-Azor pursues a baleful old witch to her impregnable castle, to save the beautiful young Princess Azurine.

Much to our amazement, an elegant and masterful illusionist detaches his own head effortlessly from his shoulders for a once-in-a-lifetime performance.

An extremely clumsy man tries to clean a woman's house with disastrous results.

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

Using every known means of transportation, several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea.

Atop a wonderful central pedestal, a happy clown puts the finishing touches on a William Tell's incomplete model, assembling the mannequin limb by limb with the intention of shooting a target off of its head with a potent crossbow.

A chemist carries out a bizarre experiment with his own head.

Filmmaker Alice Guy creates something of an oddity with this one-minute comedy. An inventor and his assistant create a machine that, true to its title, makes hats and grinds sausages! The absurdity of the device is beside the point. Or, rather, it is the point.

One night, Arlequin come to see his lover Colombine. But then Pierrot knocks at the door and Colombine and Arlequin hide. Pierrot starts singing but Arlequin scares him and the poor man goes away.

Porter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of the famous fairy tale story of Jack and his magic beanstalk. Borrowing on cinematographic methods reminiscent of 'Georges Melies', Porter uses animation, double exposure, and trick photography to illustrate the fairy's apparitions, Jack's dream, and the fast growing beanstalk.

With the help of a magic cauldron, Mephistopheles conjures up a variety of supernatural characters.

A group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.

Against a moonlit Egyptian backdrop duly encompassing the Sphinx, a narrator explains how a prince hires a mystic to bring back his beloved late wife.

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.

Fend l'air, a flying machine, flies over the heights of Paris.

A group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.

A man and woman are flirting when a professor turns on an X-ray machine, revealing their insides. After turning it off again the two have a dispute and break up.

This short film, one of the first to use camera tricks, depicts the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Denied a handout, a witch exacts vengeance by cursing the village well.

A man tries to get a good night's sleep, but is disturbed by a giant spider that leaps onto his bed, and a battle ensues in hilarious comic fashion.

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.

Originally 70 minutes in running time, only 17 minutes of the world's first full-length narrative feature film survived in stills and other fragments and tell the story of Ned Kelly, an infamous 19th-century Australian outlaw.

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.