The Spark That Lit the Fire (1890–1921)

Every journey has a beginning. In the premiere season of A Film Podyssey, we’ll travel back in time to the earliest days of cinema, when inventors, illusionists, and storytellers were still exploring what motion pictures could do. From the flickering fantasies of Georges Méliès to the explosive epics of D. W. Griffith, we’ll discover how a curious little novelty became one of humanity’s most powerful art forms.

000 • The Dawn of Motion Pictures

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View from the Window at Le Gras (Nicéphore Niépce, 1826)

The Horse in Motion (Eadweard Muybridge, 1878)

Roundhay Garden Scene (Louis Le Prince, 1888)

Horse and Rider Jump Over an Obstacle (Ottomar Anschütz, 1888)

001 • Edison Studios

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Screening I: The Very First Movies

Monkeyshines, No. 1 (William K. L. Dickson, c. 1890)

Dickson Greeting (Dickson, 1891)

Blacksmith Scene (Dickson, 1893)

Leonard-Cushing Fight (Dickson, 1894)

Annabelle Serpentine Dance (Dickson, 1895)

Screening II: Early Film Form

The Barbershop (Dickson, 1894)

Fire Rescue Scene (Dickson, 1894)

Sandow (Dickson, 1894)

Fred Ott’s Sneeze (Dickson, 1894)

The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (Alfred Clark, 1895)

002 • The Lumière Brothers

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Screening I: Actualités

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (Louis Lumière, 1895)

Baby’s Meal (Lumière, 1895)

Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station (Lumière, 1896)

Panorama of the Grand Canal (Alexandre Promio, 1896)

The Pyramids (Promio, 1897)

Screening II: Non-Actualités

Demolition of a Wall (Lumière, 1895)

The Waterer Watered (Lumière, 1895)

The Lover in the Sack (Georges Hatot, 1897)

Pistol Duel (Gabriel Veyre, 1896)

The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (Lumière & Hatot, 1898)

003.1 • Georges Méliès

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Screening I: Trick Films

The Vanishing Lady (1896)

The One-Man Band (1900)

A Mysterious Portrait (1899)

The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head (1900)

The Man with the Rubber Head (1901)

Screening II: Story Films

The Astronomer’s Dream (1898)

Cinderella (1898)

The Dreyfus Affair (1899)

003.2 • A Trip to the Moon (Georges Méliès, 1902)

004 • The Brighton School

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Screening I: George Albert Smith

The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899)

Grandma’s Reading Glass (1900)

As Seen Through a Telescope (1900)

The Sick Kitten (1903)

Screening II: James Williamson

Attack on a China Mission (1900)

Stop Thief! (1901)

Fire! (1901)

The Big Swallow (1901)

005.1 • Edwin S. Porter

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Screening I: Early Narrative Films

Jack and the Beanstalk (1902)

Another Job for the Undertaker (1901)

The Finish of Bridget McKeen (1901)

The Gay Shoe Clerk (1903)

Screening II: Life of an American Fireman (1903)

005.2 • The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)

006 • The Spread of Continuity Cinema

Screening I: Rescued by Rover (Cecil Hepworth & Lewin Fitzhamon, 1905)

Screening II: The Physician of the Castle (prod. Ferdinand Zecca, 1908)

007.1 • Early D. W. Griffith

Screening I: The Lonely Villa (1909)

Screening II: The Lonedale Operator (1911)

007.2 • A Corner in Wheat (D. W. Griffith, 1909)

008 • Alice Guy-Blaché and Lois Weber

Screening I: Falling Leaves (Guy-Blaché, 1912)

Screening II: Suspense (Weber & Phillips Smalley, 1913)

009 • The Beginnings of the Studio System
Screening I: The Strength of Men (Ralph Ince, 1913)
Screening II: The Last of the Line (Thomas H. Ince, 1914)

010 • Tillie’s Punctured Romance (Mack Sennett, 1914)

011 • The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (André Calmettes & Charles Le Bargy, 1908)

012 • Albert Capellani

Screening I: L’Arlésienne (1908)

Screening II: L’Épouvante (1911)

013 • Fantômas (Louis Feuillade, 1913–1914)

Screening I: In the Shadow of the Guillotine (1913)

Screening II: Juve vs. Fantômas (1913)

014 • The Student of Prague (Stellan Rye, 1913)

015 • Twilight of a Woman’s Soul (Yevgeni Bauer, 1913)

016 • Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914)

017 • The Mysterious X (Benjamin Christensen, 1914)

018 • A Man There Was (Victor Sjöström, 1917)

019 • Early Asian Cinema

Screening I: Chūshingura (Shōzō Makino, 1910–1917)

Screening II: Raja Harishchandra (Dadasaheb Phalke, 1913)

020 • The Birth of a Nation (D. W. Griffith, 1915)

021 • Intolerance (D. W. Griffith, 1916)

022 • The Cheat (Cecil B. DeMille, 1915)

023 • The Hollywood Star System

Screening I: The Poor Little Rich Girl (Maurice Tourneur, 1917)

Screening II: Wild and Woolly (John Emerson, 1917)

024 • Broken Blossoms (D. W. Griffith, 1919)

025.1 • Charlie Chaplin

Screening I: The Tramp (1915)

Screening II: The Immigrant (1917)

025.2 • The Kid (Charlie Chaplin, 1921)