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Comedy, spectacle and new horizons / - 1 videodisc (85 min.) : sound, black and white and tinted black and white ; 4 3/4 in. - Movies begin : a treasury of early cinema, 1894-1914 ; volume 5 . - Movies begin ; v. 5. .

Collective title from disc menu. Film titles & film credits from screen. Originally compiled for video in 1994. "Presenting cinematic milestones by Winsor McCay, Max Linder, Alice Guy Blaché."--Front cover of container.

Policemen's little run / Troubles of a grasswidower / Nero, or, the fall of Rome / Onésime horloger = Onésime, clock-maker / Winsor McCay, the famous cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and his moving comics / Making an American citizen / Girl and her trust / Bangville police / [by Ferdinand Zecca ; Pathé] Pathé Frères ; [by Max Linder] [by Ambrosio] Gaumont ; [Jean Durand] photographed by Vitagraph Co. of America produced by Alice Guy Blaché Biograph Company ; [directed by D.W. Griffith] Keystone Film Company (1907) -- (1908) -- (1909) -- (1912) -- (1911) -- (1912) -- (1912) -- (1913).

Music compiled and directed by Robert Israel ; program notes by Charles Musser. Music compiled and directed by Robert Israel ; program notes by Charles Musser.

"By 1907 the cinema's initial growing pains had subsided and fairly distinct generic categories of production were established. This volume of The Movies Begin examines some of these integral works that begin to reflect the modern day cinema -- punctuated with authentic hand-tinted lantern slides used during early theatrical exhibition. Visual comedy, with notable elements of slapstick, is represented in Pathé Frères' The Policeman's Little Run (1907), Bangville Police (1913, marking the first appearance of the legendary Keystone Kops) and Max Linder's Troubles Of A Grass Widower (1908). Best remembered today as a major influence on Charlie Chaplin, Linder was one of the first and most popular stars of the cinema. The comic potential of such a basic device as an undercranked camera is exhibited in Pathés Onésime, Horloger (Onésime, Clock-maker, 1912). Alice Guy-Blaché's Making An American Citizen (1912) is an excellent example of the films of social conscience, always an undercurrent beneath the apparently smooth surfaces of commercial productions. Released the very same week was D.W. Griffith's A Girl And Her Trust, a superb film of wide emotional range and great technical virtuosity made near the end of his tenure at the Biograph Company. Nero, Or The Fall Of Rome (1909) strains at conventional film limitations in dimension and duration, looking forward to the revolutionary Italian epics (Cabiria, The Last Days Of Pompeii) that followed a few years later. Equally prophetic are the dazzling animations showcased in the Vitograph Company's Windsor McCay And His Animated Pictures (1911)."--Publisher.




DVD; NTSC.


Silent, with musical accompaniment. Some intertitles, predominantly in English.

Standard No.: 738329023621

Publisher. No.: K236E Kino on Video

Subjects--Topical Terms:
Motion pictures--History.
Silent films--History.
Comedy films--History.
Motion picture film collections.
Motion picture industry--History.
Producers and directors.
Cinéma--Histoire.
Films muets--Histoire.
Cinémathèques.
Cinéma--Industrie--Histoire.
Motion picture film collections.
Motion picture industry.
Motion pictures.
Silent films.

Index Terms--Genre/Form:
DVDs.
Animated films.
Comedy films.
Fiction films.
History.
Short films.
Silent films.
Silent films.
Short films.
Comedy films.
Animated films.
Silent films.
Short films.
Feature films.
Films muets.
Courts métrages.

LC Class. No.: PN1993.5.A1 / M68 2002 vol.5

Dewey Class. No.: 791.43/09