Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
A far better overall film than Porter's more famous (and historically more important?) "The Great Train Robbery" and "Life of an American Fireman"
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Films
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A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus
When a rich boy learns from a poor girl that she does not believe in Santa Claus because he has never visited her, the boy decides to get to the bottom of this travesty. You've never seen anything like what happens next. This 1907 Edison short directed by Edwin S. Porter employs simple techniques of...Start your free trial to watch
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College Chums
Loosely based on Brandon Thomas' farce-comedy play CHARLEY'S AUNT, the last two-thirds of COLLEGE CHUMS may seem unique in that it shows one scene entirely in an establishing shot. In fact, the film was often screened with live actors behind the screen providing synchronous dialogue for the on-screen characters, a popular...Start your free trial to watch
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Laughing Gas
With African-American Bertha Regustus in the principle role, this comedy seems to depart from conventional black stereotypes. Indebted to other comedies of the period (Vitagraph made a film with an identical title less than a year earlier), LAUGHING GAS is based on the premise that laughter is contagious.Start your free trial to watch
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The Rivals
THE RIVALS was based on a comic strip by T.E. Powers that ran in the New York American. The strip (like the film) regularly showed two male rivals continually fighting for the attentions of a desirable woman. In one scene, Charlie escorts Tootsie only to have her stolen away by George. In the next scene, George escorts the...Start your free trial to watch
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The Trainer's Daughter
THE TRAINER'S DAUGHTER has a plot similar to Theodore Kremer's A RACE FOR A WIFE (hence the similarly-themed alternate title, A RACE FOR LOVE) in which the victor of a race between the hero and an unscrupulous villain wins the bride. Unless spectators were familiar with A RACE FOR A WIFE or the exhibitor...Start your free trial to watch
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A Suburbanite's Ingenious Alarm
A SUBURBANITE'S INGENIOUS ALARM's slapstick humor centers on a commuter's attempts to find a foolproof way to wake up in the morning. Once again, director Edwin S. Porter tells a simple story using a widely recognized situation. Overlapping time and action are employed as the scene moves between the...Start your free trial to watch
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Fireside Reminiscences
Evoking the storyline of a well-known song of the era, "After the Ball" (in which a man explains why he is single and has no children), FIRESIDE REMINISCENCES details one night when a man and his sweetheart were at a ball and he found her in the arms of another man. He abandons her without waiting for an...Start your free trial to watch
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Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
RESCUED FROM AN EAGLE'S NEST features D. W. Griffith in his first major screen role, that of a father who battles an eagle while attempting to rescue his child from the bird's nest. The story for this family-centered drama was taken from a famous incident that had been enshrined in waxworks. The film...Start your free trial to watch
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Tale the Autumn Leaves Told
This short fragment demonstrates the ways that Edwin S. Porter continued to seek visual novelties favoring a stylistically audacious image over straightforward storytelling. Here he uses different camera mattes (each in the shape of a leaf) for every scene. At a moment when the industry was seeking to...Start your free trial to watch
Genres
- Fantasy / Allegory
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- Adaptation / Subliterary / Comic Strip
- Drama / Dysfunctional Family
- Fantasy / Fairy Tale
- Family
- Comedy / Farce
- Holiday
- Holiday
- Sport / Racing / Horse
- Drama / Melodrama
- Short / Narrative
- Short / Narrative
- Short / Narrative
- Short / Narrative
- Short / Narrative
- Short / Narrative
- Short / Narrative
- Short / Narrative
- Short / Narrative
- Short / Narrative
- Comedy / Romantic Comedy
- Comedy / Romantic Comedy
- Drama / Romantic Drama
- Drama / Romantic Drama
- Drama / Romantic Drama
- Silent / Silent Action/Adventure
- Silent / Silent Comedy
- Silent / Silent Comedy
- Silent / Silent Comedy
- Silent / Silent Comedy
- Silent / Silent Drama
- Silent / Silent Drama
- Silent / Silent Drama
- Silent / Silent Drama
- Silent / Silent Fantasy
- Silent / Silent Fantasy
- Comedy / Slapstick
- Comedy / Slapstick
- Adaptation / Theatrical / Stage
- Action/Adventure / Wilderness
Recent Reviews
Laughing Gas
interesting...
A Suburbanite's Ingenious Alarm
It took a minute to figure out his friend was supposed to tug the rope in the morning to wake him. Ah, but ropes can be tugged by anyone... The...
Laughing Gas
Interesting short featuring an African-American actress. Not much of a plot, except that apparently laughing gas 100+ years ago was much stronger than it is now...
Fireside Reminiscences
Very good film for the time. Brilliant film with in a film.