Gaumont Treasures 1897-1913
A 3 Part Collection of More Than 75 Early Films by Alice Guy, Louis Feuillade and Léonce Perret. The invention of cinema—and its growth into a sophisticated art form—are vividly brought to life in this massive collection of films from the early years of the influential Gaumont Film Company. Each disc is devoted to one of Gaumont’s artistic directors, who oversaw all film production at the studio, and profoundly influenced not only the identity of the studio but also the evolution of the cinema itself.
Also Directed by Louis Feuillade
A four-year-old saves the day.
LA TARE is about Anna, a woman who is rescued from a Parisian dance hall to work in a charitable hospital. Over the years, she rises to become the head of the institution, but when an old habitué of the dance hall recognizes her picture, he attempts to blackmail her.
Pierrot et Pierrette, brother and sister, live in a caravan with their grandfather, the former ringmaster of a circus. To earn a living, they sing in the streets, and their lives are happy. But a charitable lady interferes, determined to put grandfather in an old folks' home and the children in an orphanage. Pierrot and Pierrette run away, and fall into the hands of a travelling vendor who wants to use them for burglaries.
A midsummer Phantasy. The man having been attacked by footpads, puts on a suit of medieval armor which has been magnetized at a dynamo by two boys. Every metallic article which he approaches flies to him, to the great consternation of many people.
The artist awakens. His maid brings him a letter from the Gaumont Studio. After a quick glance to it, he hastens to get dressed and runs to the studio followed by his wife, his maid and his son, Bout-de-Zan who want a part in the movie.
Lost short film
Louis Feuillade's final film
The constant smile of the eternally amiable Jacques Perdrot often complicates his life. Appointed chief of police at Castel-Boudin, he takes up his new post accompanied by his maid and his godmother, who watches over his virtue, and by the Widow Gibard, who is determined to marry him. At Castel-Boudin, his smile has great effect, provoking distaste and misunderstandings.
Also Directed by Alice Guy-Blaché
An illusionist makes a woman disappear in thin air.
A blind man begging for change tries to outsmart a cop.
Columbine resists Pierrette's courting in favour of Harlequin in this hand-coloured short by Alice Guy.
A client has trouble listening to the photographer's instructions.
A dancer personifying Winter, dances in the snow.
A fighting couple gets interrupted by the landlady.
A hapless man tries to get undressed only to find himself magically layered in even more clothes.
A four-year-old saves the day.
An impecunious chap is unable to pay his rent, whereupon he is ejected, but all his furniture is retained and he is allowed to remove only his rolling bed. Pulling this a few blocks, he is exhausted and lies down on the bed to rest. He is soon the center of attraction, and the crowd continues to gather, when the police order him away, and as he refuses to move he is started off by the officers, who guide him for a time, but are forcibly deterred by indignant citizens from further interference. The impecunious man and his bed, which gains momentum as it runs down the inclines, cause much excitement en route, and finally arrive at the business center, where it comes to a stop alongside the walk. Our friend has purloined a fur coat and an auto horn on his tour, and now presents a modern chauffeur. (Gaumont catalogue)
Polin performs a song.
Also Directed by Léonce Perret
Maddened by jealousy, Jacques (Emile Keppens) tries to kill his fellow worker (Eugène Bréon).
A moneylender kidnaps the young son of a rich widow as part of a plot to cheat her of her fortune. The boy is sent away on a fishing boat with the intention of drowning him, but a kindly old fisherman intervenes.
A little girl gets sick and a specialist has to be called....
Early short film.
In times of World War I, a group of boisterous young ladies occurs to them that they could help the boys of the front writing letters to them and, thus, becoming their godmothers of war. Madeleine writes to the soldier Jacques Bertin, but, out of prudence, instead of giving her true identity, she impersonates her late grandmother. When the soldier comes on leave and wants to see her, the mistake will bring humorous consequences.
Mademoiselle Blanche Durand, in her sixties who lives on the mezzanine level of her property, is found dead, stabbed, inside her home. To enter, the judge had to ask for help from an operator to remove the grate from the small window that faces the street. The door of the flat has two locks and a chain placed inside. Whoever committed the crime could not get out of there or out of the window, since it was embedded in the wall.
A tragic love story, torn apart by the war.
Crime and Drama silent movie
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