20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
In search of a lost epic – whatever happened to Wallace McCutcheon’s ambitious first ever adaptation of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? The American 1905 answer to Georges […]
The ‘?’ Motorist
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (6/10) Walter R. Booth’s short film is a subversive and funny trick film about a couple of mad motorists that speed through the British streets, toppling police officers, riding […]
A Voyage Around a Star
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (4/10) An astronomer travels to woo the lady in stars by enclosing himself in a soap bubble in this 1906 short film by Gaston Velle. A Voyage Around a […]
The Moon Lover
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (7/10) A drunken romantic reaches for the moon in this warmly whimsical 1905 pseudo-sci-fi film by French trick filmer Gaston Velle. Clearly inspired by Georges Méliès, but with a […]
The Twentieth Century Tramp; or, Happy Hooligan and His Airship
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (3/10) The first American science fiction film was made in 1902 is shows the comic book character Happy Hooligan flying a balloon-bicycle over New York. A crude and technically […]
Gugusse and the Automaton
No rating, film lost. The world’s first film featuring a robot was a short one-reeler made by Georges Méliès in 1897. It is considered a lost film, and there probably […]
An Over-Incubated Baby
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (5/10) Britain’s first sci-fi film features a marvelous incubator. The short comedy clip was directed by Walter R. Booth, early cinema’s most prolific science fiction director and the artistic […]
