Alice in Wonderland (1903) Directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow

          

     I had to do this one because it is the first film adaptation of Lewis Carroll's tale of a little girl named Alice falling into the rabbit’s hole and her adventures in Wonderland. This was actually considered lost but then was found, partly anyway, so its just a short, choppy version of the story but you still get to see some creative camera tricks and the first characters ever on film inspired by the original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Caroll) died in 1898, so he never got to see his tale come to life on screen but I’m sure he would have enjoyed it.

Watch the first film adaptation of Alice's adventure in Wonderland

        Cecil Hepworth was an early pioneer in British cinema and he went on to direct some very important films. I’ll definitely be revisiting his career as I carry on along the decades of great cinema.

Henrettelsen (1903) Directed by Peter Elfelt

A.K.A. Capital Execution, Barnemordersken, Child Murderess

     Henrettelsen is based on a true story of the execution of a French woman who is sentenced to death for killing her two children. Though part of the film has been lost, little of what is left is still a very important part of early cinema. The early stages of plot progression and reference to things happening off screen make this antique film a stepping-stone in movies to come. The director, Peter Elfelt was the pioneer of Danish cinema making over 200 films in the early 20^th Century. He was the only filmmaker in the first decade of Danish film actually making movies. Henrettelsen was the first Danish drama, and a major influence in those early days, widening the scope and development of the story beyond what was captured by the camera. This effect intensified the drama. Very original and important to the history of film.

I couldn't find a full version of the film on the web

The Great Train Robbery (1903) Directed by Edwin S. Porter

Nickelodeon: a movie theatre with an admission fee of one nickel.

Cross-cut editing: an instance of alternating between two or more sequences when editing

       Edwin S. Porter was a pioneer in early cinema. He made early comedies and trick films for Thomas Edison’s company, Edison Manufacturing Company. Porter made a name for himself with his innovative editing techniques in Jack and the Beanstalk (1902) and Life of an American Fireman (1903). But the pinnacle of his career was his western, The Great Train Robbery.

         The Great Train Robbery is a milestone in film history. The 11 minute long film depicts a gang of outlaws robbing a train and the passengers then fleeting. It was a groundbreaking film with the director’s use of cross-cutting editing technique to show action happening in different places simultaneously. It was also the formation of cinematic narration in the United States. No film before this had such a variety in scenes or as swift from scene to scene. Porter invented dissolves from one scene to another in this film for the first time. Edwin Porter made an entirely new experience for the audience using creative camera movement and on location shooting. There are also scenes throughout that have color; several explosions, pretty girls in bright yellow dresses, epic gunfights with colored gun smoke. The end of the film is the leader of the gang of outlaws raising his revolver and pointing it directly at the camera and emptying the barrel.

         No film had been made like The Great Train Robbery before. It was very popular and caused sensationalism among viewers, establishing the motion picture as commercial entertainment in the U.S Two years later it was used as the premier film in the very first nickelodeon. Today’s cinema wouldn’t be the same today without this historical, sensational little gem. It’s a PRETTY DAMN GOOD film.

Voyage to the Moon (1902) Directed by Georges Méliès

AKA: Le Voyage dans la lune, A Trip to the Moon, A Trip to Mars

Science Fiction (Sci-Fi): a fiction based on imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently portraying space or time travel and life on other planets.

Parody: an imitation of the style of a particular artist or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect; to mimic humorously.

watch Voyage to the Moon

         Georges Méliès had a background in show business and he was a skilled magician/illusionist. So he was always trying to go to fantastical heights in his films. He was really shooting for the moon in this one…. literally. This short (actually pretty long for it's time) running a little under 15 minutes, is a milestone in Sci-Fi and in the history of film. The film depicts a group of astronomers building a spacecraft to go to the moon. They come up with a mechanism, basically a giant gun; they use to shoot their bullet shaped space ship to the moon. In a scene, that is infamous in the history of Sci-Fi cinema, their makeshift spacecraft cannon blasts the cadets into the eye of the moon with a spurt. There’s also an incredible under water scene of the space ship crashing back into the earth, splashing into the ocean. Very beautiful and very inspiring for me.

          Méliès started it all with his elaborate set designs, thought up and painted by Méliès himself, combined with constructed props gives a great depth to the atmosphere. His films were almost made to parody, that’s why they have that outlandish, campy feel and that’s what it took to push the limits of Méliès’ talents. His originality and his peculiar taste in theater planted the seed in psychological thrillers, surrealism, sci-fi, camp, horror, and the comedy genres. Georges Méliès was the greatest director/writer/producer/star/production designer of the turning of the century.

December 8, 1861 – January 21, 1938

         Though ‘Voyage to the moon’ is widely accepted as the first science fiction movie, this is not so. Méliès made several early films with elements in sci-fi. Check out ‘The Astronomer's Dream’ and ‘The Man on the Moon’ both made in 1898, four years before ‘Voyage to the Moon’