1900 Poll 2.0

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Choose your favourite films from 1900 (according to IMDB).

Each person can vote for up to 20 films. Do not feel compelled to fill the maximum allowable number.

Twenty-film ballots can be formatted as follows:
- Five tiers of four films each, 4/4/4/4/4; scored 5-4-3-2-1 pts/film/tier
- Four tiers of five films each, 5/5/5/5; scored 4.5-3.5-2.5-1.5 pts/film/tier
- Two tiers of ten films each, 10/10; scored 4-2 pts/film/tier
- No tiers, unranked; scored 3 pts/film
- A 20-film three-tier ballot is not possible

A tiered ballot can include less than 20 films, but in that case the total number of films must still be able to be factored by the number of tiers, so:
- A five tier ballot can include only 20, 15, 10, or 5 films
- A four tier ballot can include only 20, 16, 12, 8, or 4 films
- A three tier ballot (scored 5-3-1) can include only 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, or 3 films
- A two tier ballot can include only 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, or 2 films
- Ballots that are 19, 17, 13, 11, 7 or 1 films must be no tiers

Users are urged to post their provisional lists as soon as possible, so that others can use them for recommendations. You may revise your lists at any point prior to the deadline. Ballots posted by new members who have not participated in other parts of the forum are welcome, but they will be considered on a case-by-case basis and are not guaranteed inclusion on the final list.

Deadline for 1900 lists will be Monday, February 28th at around midnight EST.

[greennui]

A Storm at Sea (James H. White)
Serpentine Dance
Four Warships in Rough Seas (William K.L. Dickson)
Warships at Sunset (William K.L. Dickson)
Neptune’s Daughters (Frederick S. Armitage)

Solar Eclipse (Nevil Maskelyne)
Rough Sea (James Bamforth)
A Nymph of the Waves (Frederick S. Armitage)
Let Me Dream Again (George Albert Smith)
Pierrette’s Escapades (Alice Guy-Blaché)

Dance of the Seasons: Winter, Snow Dance (Alice Guy-Blaché)
Iphigénie en Tauride
Gavotte
As Seen Through a Telescope (George Albert Smith)
Avenue de l’Opéra (Alice Guy-Blaché)

Les Escaliers du Pont de l’Alma
Dutch Fishing Fleet (William K.L. Dickson)
How It Feels to Be Run Over (Cecil M. Hepworth)
Le village de Namo - Panorama pris d’une chaise à porteurs (Gabriel Veyre)
White Horse Rapids (Thomas Crahan)

[greennui]

My fav of the Serpentine Dance cinematic universe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGi63uVrJzk

[sally]

my vote: all the ones with the sea

these are all either so absurdly poetic or incredibly silly but technically amazing. will have to just have a day or two devoted to thinking seriously about them

[flip]

a few of my favourite films from this year are ones i watched for our directors polls, it turns out:

Warships at Sunset (William Dickson)
Explosion of a Motor Car (Cecil Hepworth)
Four Warships in Rough Seas (William Dickson)

Grandma's Reading Glass (George Albert Smith)
How It Feels to be Run Over (Cecil Hepworth)
The Enchanted Drawing (J Stuart Blackton)

Hooligan Assists the Magician (J Stuart Blackton and Albert E Smith)
Little Tich and his Funny Feet (Alice Guy-Blache)
Turn of the Century Surgery (Alice Guy-Blache)

The Chimney Sweep and the Miller (Arthur Marvin)
Neptune's Daughters (Frederick Armitage)
The Magic Book (Georges Melies)

[greennui]

Long read:

https://filmsbytheyear.com/first-talkie ... a-theatre/

The First Talkies – Part 1: 1900 “Le Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre”

Some of the most important early developments in “talking pictures” were stimulated by the Paris Exposition of 1900. One of the most notable cinematic events at the Exposition was the “Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre” financed by Paris businessman Paul Decauville (1846-1922) with actress and dancer Marguerite Vrignault, later known as Marguerite Vrignault Chenu, (1861-c. 1933), apparently the original inspiration of the project, as directrice artistique, the term used at this period for what, broadly speaking, would now be simply described as the director. A limited company (société anonyme), La Société Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre, was formed on 2 March 1900 and the films were shot by photographer and cinematographer Clément-Maurice, using the “Cinépar” camera created by Ambrose-François Parnaland (1854-1913). Sound was provided by the “Idéal” phonographe of Henri Lioret (1848-1838), advertised, in competition with the Columbia’s Phonograph Company of Washington’s “Graphophone Multiplex Grand”, as “le plus grand phonographe du monde” (the largest phonograph in the world) but this was later replaced (September 19th) by the Pathé phonographe “Le Céleste”. Lioret was also responsible for the system of “playback” sound-synchronization. The pavilion at the Exposition, in the rue de Paris, was built by the architect René Dulong (1860-1944), and was based on Ange-Jacques Gabriel’s Pavilion frais (1751) in the Petit Trianon at Versailles. The décors were by the painter François Flameng (1856-1923), who also designed the magnificent poster showing Sarah Bernhardt in costume as Tosca, although no such scene was actually filmed for the show. The system of sound-synchronisation was fairly basic and relied essentially on the dexterity of the operator. According to Le Figaro (7 July 1900), the theatre had two exhibition-halls.



Vrignault’s highly ambitious programme consisted of over thirty synchronized sounds films, many hand-colored. There were songs, monologues, comic sketches and extracts from plays, operas and ballets featuring artistes such as Sarah Bernhardt, Coquelin, Gabriel Réjane, Rosita Mauri, Carlotta Zambelle, Cléo de Mérode, Foottit and Chocolat, Little Tich and many others. The films, all but a handful of which survive, several with their original sound cylinders, were long for the period (in practice two films of just over a minute long played continuously), each being nearly three minutes (between 2 minutes 30 seconds and three minutes) in all. The entire show, according to one contemporary review ran for between two and two and a half hours, although this relates to the touring show which probably contained a good deal of additional material. The running time of the original would presumably have been somewhat variable since there were two exhibition halls but probably no more than about an hour and a half altogether (forty-five minutes in each venue if the division between them was equal) and perhaps shorter still. One contemporary poster lists just six films: La Korrigane, L’Enfant prodigue, Le Cid, Hamlet, Danse javanaise and Chanson en crinoline, a twenty-minutes programme, although it is possible that further pieces, comic monologues and sketches, were used as “intermèdes” (interludes). Showing a selection in this way meant that the programme could be constantly varied; it was apparently changed every Friday. Another programme again lists just six pieces (Danse Directoire, La Poupée, Le Cygne, Les Précieuses ridicules, crossed out on the programme, La Korrigane and Chanson en Crinoline), with another six (Hamlet, Cyrano de Bergerac, Falstaff, Le Rêve and La Poupée announced for the following week. The “Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre” opened on 29 April 1900.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBW3mebs734&t

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VeTXRq4iNE&t

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7--IGyPzBG8&t

[sally]

have come across parnaland quite often lately - with these early ones it's often difficult to assign credit as director/studio/cameraman seem to be interchangeable and everything has a different title & sequence depending on the archive it's stored in, but there's virtually nothing on him on letterboxd and it seems, at least from the spanish national archive, that he was quite prolific, aside from founding the eclair company.....(especially nice rural actualités but also the staged tableaux.....and some lovely sea ones but not from 1900)

la sortie de l'usine!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hMfnmhK3W0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCfrAXB4hrE


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxL34EZXmJU

[greennui]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJwQy-DhV2s&t

Sarah Bernhardt as the first Hamlet on screen.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Plugging my favs of 1900: Alice Guy's Le départ d'Arlequin et de Pierrette, and Alice Guy's At the Floral Ball. If Alice Guy wasn't queer, I'll eat my shoe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOu8agk8UCM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqpKAvpNvWM

[niminy-piminy]

FILM STUDIES OF IMPATIENS, VETCH, TULIP, MIMOSA, AND DESMODIUM (Wilhelm Pfeffer, 1900, 3min)
→ https://av.tib.eu/media/12258?portal-locale=de

An experiment conducted from 1898 to 1900 at the University of Leipzig used time-lapse photography to reveal the secrets and aesthetic captivation of plant movement and growth. The researchers photographed various types of plants for up to 28 days at a time to explain to the viewer the process of tulip germination or the effect of light on the movement of flower leaves.

„Many scientists strive for professorship. Also in former times. At that time it often was sufficient to be a student of Wilhelm Pfeffer to be appointed to a university.“ K. Mägdefrau

Wilhelm Pfeffer (1845-1920) was a German botanist and the founder of modern plant physiology. During his time at the University of Leipzig, he published an article on the use of photography for the study of plants and subsequently experimented with the chronophotographic recording of plant growth and movement.

[niminy-piminy]

tough job to get dressed or undressed in 1900!

HOW HE MISSED HIS TRAIN
https://youtu.be/pnXbODgop2U

GOING TO BED UNDER DIFFICULTIES
https://youtu.be/VLd-PlQ0IZw

[niminy-piminy]

in 1900, entering & leaving factories still in!

20,000 EMPLOYEES ENTERING LORD ARMSTRONG'S ELSWICK WORKS, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE
https://youtu.be/qkV3Td7Ia_A

MESSRS LUMB AND CO LEAVING THE WORKS, HUDDERSFIELD
https://youtu.be/qrjxo8JowQ4

[niminy-piminy]

The House That Jack Built (George Albert Smith)
Film Studies of Impatiens, Vetch, Tulip, Mimosa, and Desmodium (Wilhelm Pfeffer)
Solar Eclipse (John Nevil Maskelyne)
As Seen Through a Telescope (George Albert Smith)
Messrs Lumb and Co Leaving the Works, Huddersfield (Unknown)
Namo Village, Panorama Taken from a Rickshaw (Gabriel Veyre)
How He Missed His Train (Georges Méliès)
Going to Bed Under Difficulties (Georges Méliès)
The One-Man Band (Georges Méliès)
Bird's-Eye View of Dock Front, Galveston (Albert E. Smith)

Searching Ruins on Broadway, Galveston, for Dead Bodies (Albert E. Smith)
The Chimney Sweep and the Miller (Arthur Marvin)
An Exciting Pillow Fight (Robert W. Paul)
The Kiss (Edwin S. Porter)
Grosse tête de Pierrot (Unknown)
The Rajah's Dream (Georges Méliès)
The Magic Book (Georges Méliès)
How They Rob Men in Chicago (Wallace McCutcheon)
How It Feels to Be Run Over (Cecil M. Hepworth)
The Dainaid's Barrel (Georges Méliès)

[...]

Ekoin Natsu-basho Ozumo
Going to Bed Under Difficulties/Le déshabillage impossible
Muzaffar al-din shah's trip to europe
Grandma’s Reading Glass
How They Rob Men in Chicago

Solar Eclipse
Eiffel Tower from Trocadero Palace
The One-Man Band
Explosion of a Motor Car
Gavotte

As Seen Through a Telescope
The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match/Nouvelles luttes extravagantes
Let Me Dream Again
A Storm at Sea
Joan of Arc

The Chimney Sweep and the Miller
Vue prise d’une baleinière en marche/View taken of a Whaling Boat in Action
The Dull Razor
A Wake in ‘Hell’s Kitchen’
A Nymph of the Waves

[Curtis, baby]

The Christmas Dream
Kobelkoff

A Fantastic Meal
Little Tich and His Funny Feet

Dance of the Seasons: Winter, Snow Dance
The Enchanted Drawing

At the Photographer’s
The Landlady

Addition and Subtraction
Davey Jones’ Locker

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Two tiers

Les fredaines de Pierrette (Alice Guy)
Au bal de flore (Alice Guy)
Neptune's Daughters (Frederick S. Armitage)
Jeanne d'Arc (Georges Melies)
Cyrano de Bergerac (Clement Maurice)

An Exciting Pillow Fight (Robert W. Paul)
A Nymph of the Waves (Frederick S. Armitage)
Chez le photographe (Alice Guy)
Sherlock Holmes Baffled (Arthur Marvin)
Le duel d'Hamlet (Clement Maurice)

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

RESULTS

Number of ballots: 6 / Films voted for: 61.

1. Solar Eclipse (John Nevil Maskelyne) / 11

2. Neptune's Daughters (Frederick S. Armitage) / 10

3. As Seen Through a Telescope (George Albert Smith) / 9

— Four Warships in Rough Seas (W.K.L. Dickson) / 9

— Warships at Sunset (W.K.L. Dickson) / 9

6. Going to Bed Under Difficulties (Georges Méliès) / 8.5

7. Explosion of a Motor Car (Cecil M. Hepworth) / 8

— Grandma's Reading Glass (George Albert Smith) / 8

9. The One-Man Band (Georges Méliès) / 7.5

— Pierette's Escapades (Alice Guy) / 7.5

11. How It Feels to Be Run Over (Cecil M. Hepworth) / 7
— A Nymph of the Waves (Frederick S. Armitage) / 7
— A Storm at Sea (James H. White) / 7
14. The Enchanted Drawing (J. Stuart Blackton) / 6.5
How They Rob Men in Chicago (Wallace McCutcheon) / 6.5
Joan of Arc (Georges Méliès) / 6.5
Little Tich and His Funny Feet (Alice Guy) / 6.5
18. Gavotte (La Société Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre)/ 6
— Let Me Dream Again (George Albert Smith) / 6
20. Dance of the Seasons: Winter, Snow Dance (Alice Guy) / 5.5
— Le village de Namo (Gabriel Veyre) / 5.5

22. The Chimney Sweep and the Miller (Arthur Marvin) / 5
— The Christmas Dream (Georges Méliès) / 5
— Kobelkoff (unknown) / 5
25. Ekoin Natsu-basho Ozumo (Tsuchiya Tsuneji) / 4.5
— Muzaffar al-Din Shah's Trip to Europe (unknown) / 4.5
— Serpentine Dance (Alice Guy) / 4.5
28. At the Floral Ball (Alice Guy) / 4
— At the Photographer's (Alice Guy) / 4
— Cyrano de Bergerac (Clement Maurice) / 4
— Bird's-Eye View of Dock Front, Galveston (Albert E. Smith) / 4
— An Exciting Pillow Fight (Robert W. Paul) / 4
— A Fantastic Meal (Georges Méliès) / 4
— Film Studies of Impatiens, Vetch, Tulip, Mimosa, and Desmodium (Wilhelm Pfeffer) / 4
— The House That Jack Built (George Albert Smith) / 4
— How He Missed His Train (Georges Méliès) / 4
— Messrs Lumb and Co Leaving the Works, Huddersfield (Mitchell & Kenyon) / 4