Top 10 Films of 1910

1. "The Abyss" (Urban Gad, Denmark)

2. "The White Slave Trade" (August Blom, Denmark)

3. "Les Débuts de Max au cinéma" (Louis J. Gasnier, Max Linder, France)

4. "Salome" (Ugo Falena, Italy)

5. "The House With Closed Shutters" (D.W.Griffith, USA)

6. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (Otis Turner, Selig)

7. "In The Border States" (D.W.Griffith, Biograph)

8. "A Day In The Life Of A Coalminer" (Charles Urban, UK)

9. "Frankenstein" (J. Searle Dawley, Edison)

10. "Rusalka" (Vasili Goncharov, Russia)

Other great shorts:

Funny Story (Austria)

The House Doctor (Austria)

In The Bath (Austria)

Preparing To Meet (Austria)

Stimulating Reading (Austria)

Cartoon Top 3:

1. "Peintre néo-impressioniste" (Émile Cohl, France)

2. "En route" (Émile Cohl, France)

3. "Songe d'un garçon de café" (Émile Cohl, France)

Weak shorts of 1910:

Aeroplane Flight And Wreck
Den Hvide Slavehandel (Denmark)
Max fait du ski (France)
Mobilier fidele (France)
Twelfth Night
The Unchanging Sea
The Usurer
Wilful Peggy

The White Slave Trade (1910) ***

Impressive Danish melodrama about a young girl forced into prostitution. Produced by Nordisk, it's an exact shot-by-shot remake of an earlier Danish film of the same title (also released in 1910 and produced by Fotorama) which is almost completely lost. But the remake is much better directed and shot. Length: 33 min.

Den Hvide Slavehandel (1910) **

Only a fragment survives from the original version of "The White Slave Trade", produced by Fotorama. Its remake, made by Nordisk, has survived entirely and is a better-made film.

The House With Closed Shutters (1910) ***

Civil War melodrama about a cowardly Confederate soldier (Henry Walthall) and his brave sister who dies instead of him on the battlefield. Directed by D.W.Griffith and produced by Biograph.

The Abyss (1910) ****

Great Danish film starring Asta Nielsen. Length: 38 minutes. Danish title: "Afgrunden".

Rusalka (1910) ***

Stimulating Reading (1910) ***

Preparing To Meet (1910) ***

In The Bath (1910) ***

The House Doctor (1910) ***

Funny Story (1910) ***

Salome (1910) ***

Wilful Peggy (1910) **

Mary Pickford plays a poor, but strong-willed, girl who marries a rich lord in this D.W. Griffith melodrama.

Mobilier fidele (1910) *

A man cannot pay his rent and his furniture is sold at an auction. A live-action film with some very brief animated sequences. Produced by Gaumont. Often confused with a later (and far more impressive) film produced by Pathe, "Le Garde meuble automatique" (1912), because both films were named "The Automatic Moving Company" for their US releases.

Twelfth Night (1910) *

A very static and unimpressive adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy. Quite dated compared to other films from 1910 (though it would probably be quite “avant-garde” if made only 10 years earlier).

Aeroplane Flight And Wreck (1910) *

An airplane accident.

A Day In The Life Of A Coalminer (1910) ***

The hard life of a British coalminer. Directed by Charles Urban and produced by Kineto.

The Usurer (1910) *

Not even the Soviet filmmakers have ever made a more Communist film than this D.W. Griffith's simplistic and manipulative class-struggle melodrama about an evil capitalist exploiter bleeding poor people dry, and getting his just desserts by suffocating inside his bank vault.

Max fait du ski (1910) *

Max (Max Linder) learns how to ski.

Frankenstein (1910) ***

Impressive adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel. Often quite scary. Directed by J. Searle Dawley and produced by Thomas Edison. Length: 13 minutes.

The Unchanging Sea (1910) **

Silent melodrama about fishermen and their wives. Directed by D.W.Griffith.

The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz (1910) ***

The first adaptation of L.Frank Baum's famous novel. Quite impressive, and more faithful to the original than the Larry Semon's 1925 version. Directed by Otis Turner. Length: 13 minutes.

In The Border States (1910) ***

Excellent Civil War drama directed by D.W. Griffith. Anticipating "The Birth Of A Nation" (1915), it's a story of two soldiers, a Southerner and a Northerner.

Les Débuts de Max au cinéma (1910) ***

Max Linder plays an aspiring film actor in this silent comedy. Directed by Louis J.Gasnier and Max Linder. Produced by Pathé.

Songe d'un garçon de café (1910) ***

A weird dream of a bartender. Innovative French animated film directed by Emile Cohl.

Le Peintre néo-impressioniste (1910) ***

A painter displays his works for a potential buyer. His paintings represent (among others) "a cardinal eating a lobster with tomatoes by the banks of the Red Sea", "a little fish offering forget-me-nots to a lavender-seller blueing her linen on the Cote d'Azur", "a Chinaman transporting corn on the Yellow river on a sunny summer day" and "Negroes making shoe polish in a tunnel at night". One can easily guess the original color tints. Directed by Émile Cohl.

En route (1910) ***

Animated documentary about the evolution of various transportation methods.