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.
The Dangers of the Fly is an educational film made by Ernesto Gunche and Eduardo Martínez de la Pera, also responsible for Gaucho Nobility (1915), the biggest blockbuster of Argentinean silent cinema. De la Pera was a talented photographer, always willing to try new gadgets and techniques. This film experiments with microphotography in the style of Jean Comandon's films for Pathé and it is part of a series which included a film about mosquitoes and paludism and another one about cancer, which are considered lost. Flies were a popular subject of silent films and there are more than a dozen titles featuring them in the teens and early twenties.
This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.
Staged boxing match between Sergeant-Instructor Barrett and Sergeant Pope, with a round, interval, and knockout.
A short black-and-white silent documentary film featuring one dog jumping through hoops and another dancing in a costume, which was considered lost until footage from an 1896 Fairground Programme was identified as being from this film.
A jungle travelogue looking for monkeys.
"All sounds travel in waves much the same as ripples in water." Educational film produced by Bray Studios New York, which was the dominant animation studio based in the United States in the years surrounding World War I.
On the Sorrento peninsula, orange and lemon groves stretch all the way to the coast. In the orange plantations, the high wooden frames are covered with mats to protect the trees from intense sunlight. The function of the artificial irrigation system is demonstrated. The oculation of trees is demonstrated in a young plantation. The oranges are cleaned on the spot, then sent to the laundry, cleaned, dried and made ready for dispatch. In a lemon plantation, many pickers stand on ladders on a tall tree and remove the fruit. The lemons are sorted, wrapped in tissue paper and packaged in home and large-scale factories. Before being exported, the goods are checked again for quality.
In 1926, Buster Keaton was at the peak of his glory and wealth. By 1933, he had reached rock bottom. How, in the space of a few years, did this uncontested genius of silent films, go from the status of being a widely-worshipped star to an alcoholic and solitary fallen idol? With a spotlight on the 7 years during which his life changed, using extracts of Keaton’s films as magnifying mirrors, the documentary recounts the dramatic life of this creative genius and the Hollywood studios.
The world appears black on black until it separates from itself, looks at itself, includes itself, and sees colour.
The meeting point between two comunication media: A letter written in 1929 -hidden inside the adobe walls of an old country house - and the shooting of the coutryside along the highway that connects two Chilean cities un 2018.
The Antwerp Zoo covers a fair extent of ground, and was already in 1910 generally considered as an important one. A large number of views of birds and animals were taken and hand coloured. In those days, the monkey house was in for much attention. People found that the various comic incidents added a touch of whimsicality.
Surfing at Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. Most surfers are human, one is a dog. The educational documentary is part of the Bruce Scenic Novelties series.
Registration of the city of Stockholm and its surroundings. Shots from a tram of various cityscapes: a park, brass band, shopping street, market, canals and boats.
A documentary about the cultural effect of film censorship, focusing on the tumultuous times of the teens and early 1920s in America.
A documentary about some of the comedians of the silent era featuring clips from their films and biographical information.
Los 5 Faust de F. W. Murnau
Roald Amundsen's South Pole Journey is a Norwegian documentary film that features Roald Amundsen's original footage from his South Pole expedition from 1910 to 1912.
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.
An early silent film, made before intertites became common (which is why very early silent films are narrated, at best). This was filmed in 1907 but released in 1908. It was made at the request of Teddy Roosevelt, who saw coyotes being caught in Oklahoma *by hand*, and folks back east didn't believe him. While this movie is called "The Wolf Hunt", it was actually coyotes being caught, not wolves.