Top 10 Films of the 1900's

1. "Rescued By Rover" (1905, Cecil M. Hepworth, UK)

2. "The Great Train Robbery" (1903, Edwin S. Porter, USA)

3. "Life Of An American Fireman" (1903, Edwin S. Porter, USA)


4. "That Fatal Sneeze" (1907, Lewin Fitzhamon, UK)

5. "La Course des sergents de ville" (1907, Ferdinand Zecca, France)

6. "Le Médecin du château" (1908, France)

7. "The Lonely Villa" (1909, D.W. Griffith, USA)

8. "La Course aux potirons" (1907, Louis Feuillade, Romeo Bosetti, France)

9. "Le Cheval emballé" (1908, Louis J. Gasnier, France)

10. "Le Voyage dans la Lune" (1902, Georges Méliès, France)



Cartoon Top 3:

1. "Fantasmagorie" (1908, Emile Cohl, France)

2. "Hôtel électrique" (1908, Segundo de Chomon, France)

3. "Humorous Phases Of Funny Faces" (1906, J. Stuart Blackton, USA)


Other films of the 1900's:

Top 10 Films of 1900
Top 10 Films of 1901
Top 10 Films of 1902
Top 10 Films of 1903
Top 10 Films of 1904
Top 10 Films of 1905
Top 10 Films of 1906
Top 10 Films of 1907
Top 10 Films of 1908
Top 10 Films of 1909

Top 10 Films of 1909

1. "The Lonely Villa" (D.W. Griffith, Biograph)

2. "Nerone" (Luigi Maggi, Italy)

3. "Corner In Wheat" (D.W. Griffith, Biograph)

4. "Those Awful Hats" (D.W. Griffith, Biograph)

5. "The Airship Destroyer" (Walter R. Booth, UK)

6. "The Hessian Renegades" (D.W.Griffith, Biograph)

7. "Affaires de coeur" (Emile Cohl, France)

8. "Le Printemps" (Louis Feuillade, France)

9. "Les Joyeux microbes" (Emile Cohl, France)

10. "16th Century Russian Wedding" (Vasili Goncharov, Russia)

Other great shorts:

Forfeits (Austria)

In The Studio (Austria)

Like Master Like Servant (Austria)

Living Marble (Austria)

The Magic Of The Mandarins (Austria)

Weak shorts of 1909:

The Country Doctor
Les Illusions fantaisistes (France)
Le Locataire diabolique (France)
Mr Flip
Nursing A Viper
The Redman's View
Romeo se fait bandit (France)
The Sealed Room
What Drink Did

Weak cartoons:

Princess Nicotine

Nerone (1909) ***

The reign of Nero, a cruel Roman emperor: the killing of his wife Octavia, the burning of Rome and his death. Directed by Luigi Maggi and produced by Arturo Ambrosio. Length: 13 minutes.

Corner In Wheat (1909) ***

A social drama contrasting the harsh existence of the poor with the opulent life of their rich exploiters. The story focuses on wheat speculators, whose shady financial dealings cause a sharp increase in the price of bread. Every time D.W. Griffith tackles a political theme (like racism in "The Birth Of A Nation" or class warfare here), the result is always very demagogic, but stylistically, this film is certainly very impressive, and its montage techniques definitely inspired the Soviet filmmakers in the 1920's.

The Sealed Room (1909) *

A jealous king imprisons his wife and her lover in a sealed room, where they slowly suffocate to death. Directed by D.W.Griffith and produced by Biograph.

The Lonely Villa (1909) ****

One of D.W. Griffith's earliest "rescue" melodramas. Basically a remake of "Le Médecin du chateau", a French film made in 1908.

Le Printemps (1909) ***

The Magic Of The Mandarins (1909) ***

The Hessian Renegades (1909) ***

Aka "1776". Mary Pickford plays a small supporting role in this D.W. Griffith's melodrama about an American revolutionary trying to get an urgent message to General Washington.

Living Marble (1909) ***

Like Master Like Servant (1909) ***

In The Studio (1909) ***

Forfeits (1909) ***

16th Century Russian Wedding (1909) ***

The Airship Destroyer (1909) ***

Directed by Walter R. Booth, it was a science-fiction film back in 1909, though today it looks very much like a perfectly realistic war movie about an aerial bombing campaign.

Nursing A Viper (1909) **

During the French Revolution, a lecherous aristocrat, saved from a blood-thirsty mob of sans-coulottes, repays his savior by sexually assaulting his wife. A silent melodrama by D.W. Griffith that eats its Marie Antoinette cake and has it too.

What Drink Did (1909) *

Over-the-top melodrama about how a father's alcoholism leads directly to his young daughter's death. D.W. Griffith at his most manipulative and ridiculous.

Les Illusions fantaisistes (1909) *

Magic tricks.

The Country Doctor (1909) *

A physician's child dies while he is away treating another sick child. Manipulative melodrama by D.W. Griffith.

Romeo se fait bandit (1909) *

A Max Linder film, but it's not a comedy, but a variation on the “Romeo And Juliet” story, with Romeo becoming a bandit who kidnaps Juliet.

The Redman's View (1909) *

The plight of an Indian tribe, oppressed by the White People. Proof positive (along with 1919's “Broken Blossoms”) that D.W. Griffith wasn't really a racist (not towards American Indians or Asians, anyway), but just a Southerner hostile to African-Americans specifically.

Mr Flip (1909) *

One of Ben Turpin's earliest films. He plays an annoying drunk who harasses women. In 1909, that was considered to be funny. Directed by Gilbert M.Anderson and produced by Essanay.

Le Locataire diabolique (1909) *

A lodger uses magic tricks to hang his paintings and move the furniture.

Princess Nicotine (1909) *

"This is mostly a live-action short about a smoker, who finds two miniature girls in his tobacco. There are some brief scenes with animated cigars, match boxes etc." (quoted from "Animated Short Films"). Directed by J.Stuart Blackton.

Les Joyeux microbes (1909) ***

Satiric cartoon with a live-action prologue set in a bacteriologist's office. The patient observes animated microbes through a microscope. Directed by Emile Cohl.

Those Awful Hats (1909) ***

A movie theatre is invaded by an army of pompous dames wearing gigantic hats and refusing to remove them despite loud protests from male patrons - until a mechanical "hat-remover" appears out of nowhere and disposes of either the hat or the dame. One of D.W.Griffith's earliest films, hilarious and very clever.

Affaires de coeur (1909) ***

Wonderful cartoon directed by Emile Cohl.