Likely in June 1897, 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.
Footage of the German airship Hansa over Copenhagen.
The subject is two grotesque-looking human beings who are sitting on the deck of a ship. The two weird individuals sit cross-legged and do the bidding of a man in oriental costume. The point of the film seems to be directed at the fact that the bone structure of the two subjects makes them look like monkeys or apes, and the spectators seem to be trying to get them to behave like monkeys, that is, scratch themselves, etc.
Almost 200 women file by a device on the wall from which they take their time checks. A man runs half-way across the screen at the end of the film.
A camera on an overhead crane travels down a large, long aisle where men are shown working on large machinery on either side. Carts carrying equipment are shown traveling on rails down the aisles. There are also men walking in the aisles. From Bitzer's Westinghouse Works series.
On the left of the screen, a small group of men lift the top off of what appears to be a turbine with a crane and continue to check the machine, tightening various parts with wrenches. On the right side, a few men appear to be testing the workings of what may be a turbine.
Women getting onto a rickshaw.
A very graceful dance with voluminous draperies, by Annabelle Moore, well-known on the metropolitan stage.
A group of ten infant girls are on a playground. They are in pairs, matched in height. They are doing an organised dance. Each pair twirls simultaneously, while all five pairs rotate in a circular sequence. They often stop their circular rotation so that each pair can perform the same manoeuvre as the other four simultaneously. (IMDb)
Descent of the Great Pyramid.
Visitors at a historical fair in the mediaeval city of Dresden.
A hypnotism scene from the Lumière Brothers.
In a sunny open air setting with a background of high, deep foliage trees, and a white-walled storeyed house, an acrobat with light shirt and trousers and white plimsolls is doing acrobats in a trapeze in the center of the area. Behind it, a pair of men in similar dress seem to be carrying barbells from one place to the other, rather then exercising with them.
Lumière's documents life in Palestine.
Different species of fish and frogs, inside an aquarium.
Marquesas in their sedan chairs.
Lyon, Men rescue rabbits from flood.
A crowd of spectators listen to President William McKinley's speech during his inauguration ceremony outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
19th century carnival ride.
People gather at the exit of the St. Trophime cathedral in Arles.