1900 Movies

A day at the beach in 1901.

Shot in 1900, the film is of Elizabeth Yates, a trailblazing woman elected Mayor of Onehunga in 1893 – just a few weeks after New Zealand women became the first in the world to win suffrage and the right to vote in a general election. Created by Enos Pegler f...

A magician dressed as Mephistopheles conjures up a variety of people and objects in this short film.

A German warship.

The famous Polytechnic Harriers, one of Britain’s premier athletic clubs, who would later open the 1908 London Olympics, running a paper chase – a gruelling cross-country race in which the “hares” lay a paper trail for the “hounds”.

Dam Square in Amsterdam, bustling with pedestrians and horse trams.

Several painters unsuccessfully try to paint something on a canvas. A man enters the scene and with a single brushstroke achieves a huge sign that says: Oliver, Juncal 108.

Back in Blighty - after fighting in the Boer War, these volunteer soldiers are heading home to London and Middlesex

This British Bioscope short from 1900 is a crackerjack piece, on an order with 1903's FIREBOAT 'NEW YORKER' ANSWERING AN ALARM. It's little more than a perfectly framed picture of the Odin slowly leaving harbor, with all her guns ablaze in the roiling clouds a...

A short film

A scene takes place in front of a cafe; only one performer.

An astonishing display of synchronised gymnastics. The looping, synchronised vaults on display here are truly mesmerising - thanks both to the skill of the gymnasts and the shrewd positioning of the camera. Military and athletic displays were a popular subject...

In the early days of films, most regional film showings happened at the fairground. The Travelling Cinematograph of Bioscope was a popular attraction, so it is no wonder that a camera was on hand to record this salvage operation. The film shows a Burrell's Sho...

It's a demolition derby, as two giant industrial chimneys come crashing down to earth. Although this is dynamite footage, no explosives are used - the chimneys are shored up by pit props which are then set aflame. The scurrying figures from the base of the chi...

Panorama of the quai de la Seine and the foreign pavilions of the Exhibition: Sweden, Monaco, Romania, Spain.

“Same scenery as in the previous view, the sailors embark in the canoes which take them ashore.”

In an arena, a Landes race scene with cows.

British fictional propaganda film on a Boer defeat in the Second Boer War, 27th February 1900