The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever

George Willeman has been the Nitrate Film Vault Leader at the Library of Congress for 41 years. Having been in love with movies as far back as he can remember, George is still constantly amazed at the discoveries found within the Library’s nitrate film collection, and his picks reflect the enthusiasm and intrigue that occur at least weekly in his role.

At a young age, George got hooked on 8mm releases from the renowned Blackhawk Films company. He brought this lifelong passion to his degree in film production and began his time at the Library with a part-time job as an inspector of nitrate film cans.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1904!

Films and resources mentioned:

• Gage d’amour (1904) - Alice Guy-Blaché
• The Great Train Robbery (1904) - Siegmund Lubin
• The Terrible Turkish Executioner (1904) - Georges Méliès
• The Impossible Voyage (1904) - Georges Méliès
• Dog Factory (1904) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Saving Brinton (2017) - Tommy Haines and Andrew Sherburne
• The Heart of Lincoln (1922) - Francis Ford
• The Heart of Lincoln (1915) - Francis Ford
• When Lincoln Paid (1913) - Francis Ford
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and the Moon (1907) - Georges Méliès
• The Conquest of the Pole (1912) - Georges Méliès
• Mon Oncle (1958) - Jacques Tati
• The Patriot (1928) - Ernst Lubitsch
• Wonder Dogs

Film historian Steve Massa is a particular expert on silent film comedy. His five choices for 1904 certainly reflect that interest, as they feature premises and gags that can still rouse surprise, chuckles, and laughs today.

Steve is the author of Lames Brains and Lunatics: The Good, the Bad, and the Forgotten of Silent Comedy and its sequel as well as many other books. He also co-hosts Silent Comedy Watch Party with Ben Model, has curated comedy film programs for institutions and festivals, and has provided essays and commentary tracks for DVDs and Blu-rays.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1904!

Films and resources mentioned:

• Burglars at Work (1904) - Gaston Velle
• As Seen on the Curtain (1904) - A.E. Weed
• How a French Nobleman Got a Wife through the New York Herald Personal Column (1904) - Edwin S. Porter
• Dog Factory (1904) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Impossible Voyage (1904) - Georges Méliès
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Steve Massa
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• A Trip to Jupiter (1909) - Segundo de Chomón
• Pull the Curtain Down, Susie (1904) - A.E. Weed
• A False Beauty (1914) - Ford Sterling
• Shoulder Arms (1918) - Charlie Chaplin
• The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) - Lotte Reiniger
• Personal (1904) - Wallace McCutcheon
• The Policemen’s Little Run (1907) - Ferdinand Zecca
• Seven Chances (1925) - Buster Keaton
• The Mechanical Butcher (1895) - Louis Lumière
• The Sausage Machine (1897) - unknown
• Fun in a Butcher Shop (1907) - Edwin S. Porter
• Ham and the Sausage Factory (1915) - Marshall Neilan
• The Man with the Rubber Head (1901) - Georges Méliès
• Joan of Arc (1900) - Georges Méliès
• Robinson Crusoe (1902) - Georges Méliès
• The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon (1907) - Georges Méliès
• The Conquest of the Pole (1912) - Georges Méliès
• Hugo (2011) - Martin Scorsese
• The One-Man Band (1900) - Georges Méliès
• Bluebeard (1901) - Georges Méliès
• Broadway (1929) - Paul Fejos
• Lonesome (1928) - Paul Fejos
• The Last Performance (1929) - Paul Fejos
• The Kid Brother (1927) - Ted Wilde and J.A. Howe
• King of Jazz (1930) - John Murray Anderson
• The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903) - Georges Méliès
• What Demoralized the Barber Shop (1898) - William Heise
• Lames Brains and Lunatics: The Good, the Bad, and the Forgotten of Silent Comedy - Steve Massa

While 1904 doesn't have an iconic film like the past two seasons have each featured, that doesn't mean it doesn't have its share of worthwhile films and intriguing aspects of film history to explore. From the eve of the nickelodeon boom to expanding narrative ambitions, this season will explore both returning and new threads of the cinematic discourse of the early cinema period, from its time to now.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own picks for 1904!

Films mentioned:

• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter

While one particular film was explored in-depth this season, every guest (whether they selected The Great Train Robbery or not) explored lesser known or at least lesser appreciated arenas of cinema in 1903. The myth busting, amateur spotlighting, and spectacle showcasing elements of this season's conversations make the case for the expansion of the art form in this calendar year, which may indeed deserve its special attention.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to view the full list of films submitted for 1903 (and beyond)!

Films mentioned:

• The Enchanted Well (1903) - Georges Méliès
• Alice in Wonderland (1903) - Cecil Hepworth
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Infernal Cauldron (1903) - Georges Méliès
• The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903) - Georges Méliès
• What Happened in the Tunnel (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Execution (1903) - Peter Elfelt
• Mary Jane’s Mishap (1903) - George Albert Smith
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès

Colin Williamson, Assistant Professor in Cinema Studies at University of Oregon, has wide-ranging interests, including animation, special effects, and media archaeology. With these angles and more in mind, he brings a unique perspective and some myth busting to his standout films of 1903.

Colin is the author of Hidden in Plain Sight: An Archaeology of Magic and the Cinema and the forthcoming Drawn to Nature: American Animation in the Age of Science. He is also currently Associate Editor at Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal.

Films and resources mentioned:

• Electrocuting an Elephant (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Cheese Mites (1903) - F. Martin Duncan
• The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903) - Georges Méliès
• Mary Jane’s Mishap (1903) - George Albert Smith
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Execution of Czolgosz with Panorama of Auburn Prison (1901) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Unclean World (1903) - Cecil Hepworth
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• Blade Runner (1982) - Ridley Scott
• Under the Seas (1907) - Georges Méliès
• Hugo (2011) - Martin Scorsese
• Citizen Kane (1941) - Orson Welles
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• What Happened in the Tunnel (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Life of an American Fireman (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896) - Louis Lumière

Film archivist and historian Rob Stone has always been interested in silent film. With his five picks, he charts evolving storytelling capabilities in the medium’s earliest days and the darker side of the fading actuality, mostly as represented by one filmmaker!

Rob’s publishing company Split Reel specializes in books and other media highlighting lesser-known aspects of the entertainment industry, especially the silent era. He was also Moving Image Curator at the Library of Congress for over 15 years.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1903!

Films and resources mentioned:

• Alice in Wonderland (1903) - Cecil Hepworth
• Electrocuting an Elephant (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Life of an American Fireman (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• What Happened in the Tunnel (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• When Comedy Was King (1960) - Robert Youngson
• The Golden Age of Comedy (1957) - Robert Youngson
• Fire! (1901) - James Williamson
• The Lucky Dog (1921) - Jess Robbins
• Pokes & Jabbs: The Before, During and After of the Vim Films Corporation - Rob Stone
• Laurel or Hardy: The Solo Films of Stan Laurel & Oliver "Babe" Hardy - Rob Stone
• Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies - Randy Skretvedt
• Mack Sennett’s Fun Factory: A History and Filmography of His Studio and His Keystone and Mack Sennett Comedies, with Biographies of Players and Personnel - Brent E. Walker
• Victor Moore and His Klever Komedies - Steve Massa and Rob Stone
• Poverty Row Royalty: The Films of Producer Sigmund Neufeld and His Brother, Director Sam Newfield - Thomas Reeder
• Hometown Tinsel: The Life, Career, and Friendships of Virginia Karns - Jim Kerkhoff
• Story of Grover Jones - Rob Stone

Pordenone Silent Film Festival director Jay Weissberg has facilitated an array of programs that expand the canonical ideas about what was made in the silent era and what can be appreciated now. With his picks (which he stretches a bit past five with two more must-sees), he showcases international, amateur, and aesthetic ambitions in 1903.

Jay also worked as a film critic for 18 years with Variety and contributes essays for a host of festivals, retrospective catalogues, and international publications with a particular focus on contemporary Arab cinema. Among his published works as a film historian are essays on the American films of Albert Capellani and Balzac in silent cinema.

Films and resources mentioned:

• Blackpool North Pier (1903) - Mitchell & Kenyon
• The Tarantella from ‘Napoli’ (1903) - Peter Elfelt
• He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (1903) - Wallace McCutcheon
• Mary Jane’s Mishap (1903) - George Albert Smith
• Familie Neubronner geht spazieren (1903) - Julius Neubronner
• The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903) - Georges Méliès
• The Execution (1903) - Peter Elfelt
• Move On (1903) - Alfred C. Abadie
• Anna Held (1901) - Frederick S. Armitage
• The Great Ziegfeld (1936) - Robert Z. Leonard
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Alice in Wonderland (1903) - Cecil Hepworth
• Life of an American Fireman (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Finish of Bridget McKeen (1901) - Edwin S. Porter
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• Conclave (2024) - Edward Berger
• The Slave (1917) - William Nigh
• London After Midnight (1927) - Tod Browning
• Beyond the Rocks (1922) - Sam Wood
• A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen - Daniel Blum
• Cinema’s First Nasty Women

Silent film historian Bruce Calvert has been collecting silent film memorabilia for 30 years, showcased on his site The Silent Film Still Archive. He shares his story of how he came to develop this interest and addresses how supporting materials can help us understand how incomplete, missing, and even fully surviving movies were made, seen, and received.

Bruce is also a moderator of the classic film discussion site NitrateVille.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1903!

Films and resources mentioned:

• The Melomaniac (1903) - Georges Méliès
• Eccentric Waltz (1903) - unknown
• A Search for Evidence (1903) - Billy Bitzer
• Mary Jane’s Mishap (1903) - George Albert Smith
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Ella Cinders (1926) - Alfred E. Green
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• The One-Man Band (1900) - Georges Méliès
• The Great Train Robbery (1904) - Siegmund Lubin
• Star Wars (1977) - George Lucas
• Napoléon (1927) - Abel Gance
• A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen - Daniel Blum
• The Film Preservation Society
• Cinema’s First Nasty Women

Neil Brand has been a silent film accompanist for nearly 40 years. He shares his musical expertise, which also includes composing new scores for silent film re-releases, while exploring exciting threads of fantasy, comedy, and violence in his five picks.

Neil regularly plays at the Barbican and BFI National Film Theatres in London and film festivals around the world. His scores include Blackmail (1929), Underground (1928), Easy Street (1917), Robin Hood (1922), and The Lodger (1927) and he is also a prolific writer, television presenter, and Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1903!

Films and resources mentioned:

• Alice in Wonderland (1903) - Cecil Hepworth
• A Desperate Poaching Affray (1903) - William Haggar
• A Chess Dispute (1903) - Robert W. Paul
• The Infernal Cake Walk (1903) - Georges Méliès
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) - Alfred Hitchcock
• Blackmail (1929) - Alfred Hitchcock
• The Third Man (1949) - Carol Reed
• The Exorcist (1973) - William Friedkin
• Rescued by Rover (1905) - Cecil Hepworth
• The Dog Outwits the Kidnapper (1908) - Lewin Fitzhamon
• First Prize in Cello (1907) - unknown
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• The Impossible Voyage (1904) - Georges Méliès
• Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria and Early Cinema - Maggie Hennefeld

The law (at least in America) had a significant effect on the development of film genres, aesthetics, production, and viewing practices from 1903 on. The world over, tightly run studios were becoming more and more prevalent, shifting story films further and further into the spotlight, and dedicated filmviewing spaces were cropping up. It's difficult to define any one calendar year as fundamentally shifting the development of cinema, but as guests will demonstrate, new techniques, technologies, and industrialization make the case for an exciting year.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1903!

Films mentioned:

• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès

It's not like the established actuality suddenly evaporated in 1902, but as guests have pointed out throughout this season, a diversification of film topics, aesthetics, and technology fostered new genres and production styles. In this season finale, Tristan briefly summarizes the common threads of his conversations and puts together the most selected 1902 films.

Films mentioned:

• The Treasures of Satan (1902) - Georges Méliès
• The Spring Fairy (1902) - Ferdinand Zecca
• Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants (1902) - Georges Méliès
• Jack and the Beanstalk (1902) - Edwin S. Porter
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• Miss Dundee and Her Performing Dogs (1902) - Alice Guy-Blaché
• Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902) - Edwin S. Porter
• How to Stop a Motor Car (1902) - Cecil Hepworth
• The Eruption of Mount Pelee (1902) - Georges Méliès

Tristan welcomes two guests to one episode for the first time: the husband-and-wife film historian, archivist, and curator duo of Tamara Shvediuk and Federico Striuli. The pair showcase spectacle with their five picks, from the féerie to chronicles of a significant political change.

Tamara has curated film programs for several events, including the Moscow International Festival of Archival Films and the Cinema Ritrovato film festival in Bologna. She also has collaborated with archives such as the Cinémathèque royale de Belgique, the Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum and the Cineteca di Bologna.

Federico holds a Ph.D. in Art History with a focus on Film Studies from the University Cà Foscari, Venice. He has lectured in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Poland, and Russia, and has curated film programs for prestigious festivals, including the Pordenone Silent Film Festival.


Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1902!

Films and resources mentioned:

• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1902) - Ferdinand Zecca
• Jack and the Beanstalk (1902) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Coronation of Edward VII (1902) - Georges Méliès
• Bradford Coronation Procession (1902) - Mitchell & Kenyon
• The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1902) - Ferdinand Zecca and Lucien Nonguet
• The Ring (1927) - Alfred Hitchcock
• Serenade to the Moon (1902) - unknown
• The Fairy of the Stars (1902) - unknown
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Mary Jane's Mishap (1903) - George Albert Smith
• Execution of Czolgosz with Panorama of Auburn Prison (1901) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Story of Victorian Film - Bryony Dixon

Vanessa Toulmin, Chair in Early Film and Popular Entertainment at the University of Sheffield, is an expert on variety theater, circus, travelling exhibitions, fairgrounds, and other aspects of the history of show business. She brings this expertise to her five picks from 1902, ranging from her vast experience with the Mitchell & Kenyon films to an intriguing connection between A Trip to the Moon and an early amusement park ride.

Vanessa has published 11 books including Electric Edwardians: The Films of Mitchell and Kenyon and four books on Blackpool's entertainment heritage and was the curator of the Mitchell & Kenyon Collection for the BFI and the Crazy Cinematograph project for the City of Luxembourg.  She is Chair of the Morecambe Winter Gardens Preservation Trust, an independent charity which is currently restoring that unique entertainment complex in northwest England.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1902!

Films and resources mentioned:

• Hull Fair (1902) - Mitchell & Kenyon
• Miss Dundee and Her Performing Dogs (1902) - Alice Guy-Blaché
• The Six Sisters Dainef (1902) - unknown
• How to Stop a Motor Car (1902) - Cecil Hepworth
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• Freaks (1932) - Tod Browning
• Sandow (1894) - William K.L. Dickson
• Carmencita (1894) - William K.L. Dickson
• The Dancing Pig (1907) - unknown
• The Countryman and the Cinematograph (1901) - Robert W. Paul
• Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902) - Edwin S. Porter
• Explosion of a Motor Car (1900) - Cecil Hepworth
• The Life of Charles Peace (1905) - William Haggar
• The '?' Motorist (1906) - Walter R. Booth
• The Automatic Motorist (1911) - Walter R. Booth
• Liverpool Street Scenes (1901) - Mitchell & Kenyon
• Kiri-Kis (1907) - Segundo de Chomón
• The Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon: Edwardian Britain on Film - Vanessa Toulmin, Simon Popple, Patrick Russel, eds.
• Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination: Georges Méliès's Trip to the Moon - Matthew Solomon, ed.

Lea Stans has been writing about the silent era on her blog Silent-ology since 2014, informed by her college interests and even younger fascinations with the obscure. Her 1902 picks reflect the increasing diversity of the worldwide filmic output of the year, from the French féerie genre to actuality chronicles of downtown Indianapolis and northern England.

Lea is also a columnist for Classic Movie Hub and has written for The Keaton Chronicle and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1902!

Films mentioned:

• Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902) - Edwin S. Porter
• Ringling Bros. Circus Parade (1902) - unknown
• Living Wigan (1902) - unknown
• The Spring Fairy (1902) - Ferdinand Zecca
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• The Countryman and the Cinematograph (1901) - Robert W. Paul
• Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896) - Auguste and Louis Lumière
• London After Midnight (1927) - Tod Browning
• Freaks (1932) - Tod Browning
• The Cabbage Fairy (1900) - Alice Guy-Blaché
• A Trip to Jupiter (1909) - Segundo de Chomón
• The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1902) - Lucien Nonguet and Ferdinand Zecca
• The Impossible Voyage (1904) - Georges Méliès

Karl Wratschko, curator, filmmaker, and artist, has been working as a film curator for the Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna since 2016. He brings his experience of programming screenings based in specific years, not unlike this very show (he’s even done 1902 for the festival!), to craft an abridged program you might have seen in that year.

Karl’s artistic work includes film, photography, installation, radio art, and public art. He was co-responsible for several retrospectives of early Austrian film at the Viennale and a member of the Austrian team of the EU-funded research and development project European Film Gateway and its successor EFG1914.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1902!

Films mentioned:

• The Flying Train (1902) - unknown
• The Eruption of Mount Pelee (1902) - Georges Méliès
• Le Cake-walk au Nouveau Cirque (1902) - Louis Lumière
• The Little Match Seller (1902) - James Williamson
• The Fairy of the Stars (1902) - unknown
• The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1902) - Lucien Nonguet and Ferdinand Zecca
• Ingenious Soubrette (1902) - Ferdinand Zecca
• Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and Giants (1902) - Georges Méliès
• The Big Swallow (1901) - James Williamson
• Blade Runner (1982) - Ridley Scott
• Metropolis (1927) - Fritz Lang
• Martinique Disaster (1902) - Ferdinand Zecca
• Mt. Pelee Smoking Before Eruption (St. Pierre, Martinique) - J. Blair Smith and Edwin S. Porter
• Mt. Pelee in Eruption and Destruction of St. Pierre (Martinique) - J. Blair Smith and Edwin S. Porter
• Burning of St. Pierre (Martinique) - J. Blair Smith and Edwin S. Porter
• Le Cake-walk du Nouveau Cirque (1905) - Alice Guy Blaché
• The Infernal Cake Walk (1903) - Georges Méliès
• The Soldier's Return (1903) - James Williamson
• Serenade to the Moon (1902) - unknown
• Hamlet (1900) - Clément Maurice
• Rough Sea at Dover (1895) - Birt Acres

Film scholar and preservationist Clara Auclair and Tristan talk quite a bit about comedy and tricks, those originating from the stage and those that could only come from the magic of filmic technology. That conversation leads into discussing the phenomenon of early recreations of real events…or are they “fakes!?”

Clara teaches media studies at DIS Stockholm and works as a consultant for film archives. She is a DAFIV research fellow and co-secretary of Domitor, the International Association for the Study of Early Cinema, and is currently working on an edited collection of essays dedicated to the films of Alice Guy-Blaché with former guest Aurore Spiers.

Films and resources mentioned:

• The Six Sisters Dainef (1902) - unknown
• Miss Dundee and Her Performing Dogs (1902) - Alice Guy-Blaché
• Ingenious Soubrette (1902) - Ferdinand Zecca
• The Indiscreet Bathroom Maid (1902) - Georges Hatot
• The Eruption of Mount Pelee (1902) - Georges Méliès
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• Life and Passion of the Christ (1903) - Ferdinand Zecca
• The Human Fly (1902) - Georges Méliès
• Nosferatu (1922) - F.W. Murnau
• The Circus (1928) - Charlie Chaplin
• Martinique Disaster (1902) - Ferdinand Zecca
• Mt. Pelee Smoking Before Eruption (St. Pierre, Martinique) [1902] - J. Blair Smith and Edwin S. Porter
• Mt. Pelee in Eruption and Destruction of St. Pierre (Martinique) [1902] - J. Blair Smith and Edwin S. Porter
• Burning of St. Pierre (Martinique) [1902] - J. Blair Smith and Edwin S. Porter
• The Dreyfus Affair (1899) - Georges Méliès
• Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896) - Auguste and Louis Lumière
• Cinema's First Nasty Women

A Trip to the Moon looms large in looking at the picture of 1902 in film. Georges Méliès' masterpiece is inarguably the most famous film of the early cinema period. But as will be explored by this season's guests, its part in reshaping the aesthetics, genres, and industrialization of the global film community exists alongside another version of film history.

Films mentioned:

• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès

Propaganda, comedy, tricks; these approaches may seem to obscure truths. That is certainly their potential in film, but in this 1901 season finale, Tristan reflects on the through lines of his guests' picks and the conversations that stemmed from them.

Also, he shares his personal five selections for 1901 and puts together the collective list of guest and listener submissions. That list, including all films submitted for the season, can be found at the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list.

The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever: 1902 coming soon!

Thank you to the guests of the third season:

• Ian Christie
• Pamela Hutchinson
• Grazia Ingravalle
• Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi
• Lawrence Napper

Films mentioned:

• The Big Swallow (1901) - James Williamson
• The Death of Poor Joe (1901) - George Albert Smith
• Demolishing and Building up the Star Theatre (1901) - Frederick S. Armitage
• De Maasbrug te Rotterdam Omstreeks 1901 (1901) - unknown
• Panoramic View of the Morecambe Sea Front (1901) - unknown
• The Brahmin and the Butterfly (1901) - Georges Méliès
• Bluebeard (1901) - Georges Méliès
• The Magic Sword (1901) - Walter R. Booth
• Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost (1901) - Walter R. Booth

All but one of the picks from Lawrence Napper, senior lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College London, come from the huge trove of discovered Mitchell & Kenyon films. These fascinating records of everyday life in Victorian and Edwardian England and the United Kingdom lead to an array of exciting tangents, while Lawrence also uses his one fictional choice to make a resonant comparison between repeat film viewing and traditional religious ceremonies.

Lawrence’s publications include The Great War in Popular British Cinema: Before Journey’s End (2015) and Silent Cinema: Before the Pictures Got Small (2017). He is a regular on the KinoQuickies podcast and occasionally blogs at https://atthepictures.photo.blog/. Currently he is developing a book length study of The Opening of the Benton New Bank Tram Route (1913). Lawrence also hosts the annual British Silent Film Festival Symposium each spring at King’s College London.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1901!

Films and resources mentioned:

• Ride on the Tramcar through Belfast (1901) - unknown
• Panoramic View of the Morecambe Sea Front (1901) - unknown
• Manchester Band of Hope Procession (1901) - unknown
• Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost (1901) - Walter R. Booth
• Bailey’s Royal Buxton Punch and Judy Show in Halifax (1901) - unknown
• Rescued by Rover (1905) - Cecil Hepworth
• A Daring Daylight Burglary (1903) - Frank Mottershaw
• Mary Jane's Mishap (1903) - George Albert Smith
• Buy Your Own Cherries (1904) - Robert W. Paul
• The Big Swallow (1901) - James Williamson
• The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) - Brian Henson
• Megalopolis (2024) - Francis Ford Coppola
• La Chienne (1931) - Jean Renoir
• Tram Ride into Halifax (1902) - unknown
• Movies under the Influence (2024) - Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece

Tristan has been the grateful viewer of many an eye-popping restoration from Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam on YouTube. He expresses his thanks to Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi, Curator of Silent Film at Eye, before the two mostly discuss comedy films, with the broad genre nevertheless inspiring many different tangents from sexuality to the beginning of the film industry’s self-parody.

Elif has worked on the discovery, restoration, and presentation of presumed lost films starring forgotten or neglected actresses such as Rosa Porten, Little Chrysia, Valeria Creti, and Constance Talmadge. She is directly involved with the programs of international archival festivals Il Cinema Ritrovato and Le Giornate del Cinema Muto and other events dedicated to silent cinema. Elif is also one of three curators of Cinema's First Nasty Women, a DVD box set of 99 films.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1901!

Films mentioned:

• What Is Seen Through a Keyhole - Ferdinand Zecca (1901)
• The Countryman and the Cinematograph - Robert W. Paul (1901)
• Arrosage général - Ambroise-François Parnaland (1901)
• The Finish of Bridget McKeen - Edwin S. Porter (1901)
• De Maasbrug te Rotterdam Omstreeks 1901 - unknown (1901)
• Metropolis - Fritz Lang (1927)
• Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show - Edwin S. Porter (1902)
• The Sprinkler Sprinkled - Louis Lumière (1895)