Une scène d'hypnotisme II

Film historians, and survivors from the nearly 30-year struggle to bring sound to motion pictures take the audience from the early failed attempts by scientists and inventors, to the triumph of the talkies.

Warsaw's Central Railway Station. 'Someone has fallen asleep, someone's waiting for somebody else. Maybe they'll come, maybe they won't. The film is about people looking for something.

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.

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

Madrid, Spain, 1949. The Circo Americano arrives in the city. While the big top is pitched in a vacant lot, the troupe parades through the grand avenues: the band, a witty impersonator, the Balodys, acrobats, jugglers, acrobatic skaters, clowns and… Buffallo Bill.

From polar bears in the arctic tundra to black bears in the Northern Rockies, you'll see some of the most spectacular footage ever shot of these enterprising omnivores. Catch salmon with a group of hungry grizzlies on the McNeil River in Alaska. Crawl inside a den with a mother black bear and her cubs. Learn about the challenges facing each of these species as their habitat diminishes.

While vacationing in St. Moritz, a British couple receive a clue to an imminent assassination attempt, only to learn that their daughter has been kidnapped to keep them quiet.

The world appears black on black until it separates from itself, looks at itself, includes itself, and sees colour.

Filmed in IMAX, a young Mayan boy who lives close to the ruins becomes acquainted with an archaeologist (Guerra) and asks her to tell him about his ancestors. The crew travelled to over 15 locations in Mexico and Guatemala, including Tulum and Chichén Itzá.

Street Trading. Fishermen's wives from Skovshoved sell their fish from the stalls at Gammel Strand. Anker Kirkeby is in the picture.

The horse-drawn tram "Hønen" comes running along Nørregade and into the Old Square. "Hønen"'s last trip was on June 14, 1915.

Horse carriages seen at the Copenhagen Town Square.

From inside a tower, a man admires an artistic rendition of another tower.

The remains of the Baltic Violence have been eroded away by the large steam excavator. There is a man standing at the railway cutting as trains pass. He throws something into the railway cutting. This person is seen in several of the recordings from 1913. It may be journalist Anker Kirkeby.

Street Trading in Copenhagen in about 1913. The old butcher stalls by Nicholas Church, called the "stomach" before demolition.

Swimming. The Russian swimmer Romantschenko visits Copenhagen. He jumps into the water and swims around in the harbor, and he is later seen together with journalist Anker Kirkeby.

A documentary short film showing the flying of an airplane by the famous French pilot Chevillard.

From Elsinore shipyard launched the steamer AP Bemstorff sliding slowly out into the harbor.

Farmers' wives from Amager selling flowers.

View over the castle island of Holmen's Church and the Stock Exchange from the top of Christiansborg, where architect Thorvald Jørgensen is seen at Christiansborg slotting scaffolding, and with builders in the courtyard. The architect is also seen with stonemasons in the yard.