The titles tell us this film is based on an incident in the Boxer Rebellion. A man tries to defend a woman and a large house against Chinese...

A man, objecting to being filmed, comes closer and closer to the camera lens until his mouth is all we see. Then he opens wide and swallows camera...

Firefighters ring for help, and here comes the ladder cart; they hitch a horse to it. A second horse-drawn truck joins the first, and they head down...

A village fire brigade puts out a fire.

A lad from a butcher shop is carrying a tray laden with a roast or a leg of lamb. A hobo grabs it and runs. The boy gives chase, joined by dogs, as...

A short melodrama based on Hans Christian Andersen's harrowing tale. A poor little girl tries to sell matchsticks in the freezing December cold. She...

The adventures of an inattentive man who can't look away from his book.

A two-wheeled convoy of Victorian gentlewomen in a charming early film enigma.

A boy helps a convict to escape after meeting him at his mother's graveyard. The convict gets rich in Australia and when he returns is arrested again...

A workman flees from a lunatic who wishes to return a putty knife.

Innovative early 'trick' film showing the popular 'flying the foam' stunt performed on - or rather off - Brighton's West Pier.

Boys blow peas at the cobbler, who throws a boot and hits a woman.

Directed by one of the pioneers of the cinematic industry, James Williamson, The History of a Butterfly - A Romance of Insect Life is an intriguing...

A clown cuts off a customer's head and replaces it.

A young man's telephone call to his sweetheart is intercepted by her father, who beats him with his umbrella.

A comedy of faux Frenchmen who engage in a duel over some slight disagreement and who manage to shoot everyone but each other. Filmed by James...

As a man removes his clothes to bathe, more reappear on him.

A momentous act of self sacrifice is caught on camera - Emily Davison is trampled by the King's horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby.

On the Yorkshire coast, a Victorian crew launch their lifeboat the old-fashioned way, with a horse-drawn slipway

An aged villager, reminded of his boyhood days in the church choir by the sound of the bells, totters to the church door and begs the vicar to allow...