Top 10 Films of 1912

1. "From The Manger To The Cross" (Sidney Olcott, Kalem)

2. "Parsifal" (Mario Caserini, Italy)

3. "The Pride Of The Circus" (Alfred Lind, Denmark)

Short Top 10

1. "Onésime horloger" (Jean Durand, France)

2. "The Girl And Her Trust" (D.W. Griffith, USA)

3. "The New York Hat" (D.W. Griffith, USA)

4. "An Unseen Enemy" (D.W. Griffith, USA)

5. "The Musketeers Of Pig Alley" (D.W. Griffith, USA)

6. "The Burglar's Dilemma" (D.W. Griffith, Biograph)

7. "The Sunbeam" (D.W. Griffith, Biograph)

8. "Max et l'inauguration de la statue" (Max Linder, France)

9. "The Lesser Evil" (D.W. Griffith, Biograph)

10. "A Visit To Lundsberg's School" (Sweden)

Other great shorts:

Le Chevalier des neiges (France)
La Pantoufle merveilleuse (France)

Cartoon Top 3:

1. "Zemsta kinooperatora" (Wladyslaw Starewicz, Poland)

2. "How A Mosquito Operates" (Winsor McCay, Vitagraph)

3. "Le Garde-meuble automatique" (Romeo Bosetti, France)

Other great cartoons:

Piekna Lukanida (Poland)
Wesole sceny z zycia zwierzat (Poland)
Wooden Athletes (UK)

Weak films of 1912:

La Reine Élisabeth (France)

Weak shorts of 1912:

Algie The Miner
L'Ane jaloux (France)
La Conquête du pôle (France)

A Cure For Pokeritis
For His Son
Friends
Furs
Helen's Marriage
Idylle a la ferme (France)
In Nacht und Eis (Germany)
Katchem Kate
Making An American Citizen
Max a peur des chiens (France)
Max et son chien Dick (France)
Max jongleur par amour (France)
The Mender Of Nets
One Is Business The Other Crime
The Painted Lady

Tourists
Une nuit agitee (France)

Parsifal (1912) ***

The Pride Of The Circus (1912) ***

La Reine Élisabeth (1912) **

La Pantoufle merveilleuse (1912) ***

A remake of Méliès' own "Cinderella" (1899). More impressive and more innovative (there is even a close-up), but quite long.

The Lesser Evil (1912) ***

A typical D.W. Griffith rescue melodrama with Blanche Sweet kidnapped by evil smugglers.

A Visit To Lundsberg's School (1912) ***

Le Chevalier des neiges (1912) ***

Impressive fairy tale with dragons, knights, devils, monks in KKK robes and damsels in distress.

Une nuit agitee (1912) **

Max tries to get rid of an annoying insect.

Idylle a la ferme (1912) **

Max is supposed to marry a rich farmer's older daughter, but he falls in love with the farmer's younger daughter, mistaking her for a servant girl.

Max a peur des chiens (1912) **

Max is chased by vicious dogs.

L'Ane jaloux (1912) **

Max is chased by a donkey.

La conquête du pôle (1912) **

A science-fiction short about a trip to the North Pole. Very dated by the 1912 standards. One of Georges Méliès' last films.

In Nacht und Eis (1912) **

German film about the Titanic disaster, made only a few months after the tragedy. English title: "In Night and Ice". Length: 35 minutes.

Tourists (1912) *

Train passengers visit a Native Indian village.

Katchem Kate (1912) *

A Biograph comedy starring Mabel Normand as a young sleuth. Directed by Mack Sennett.

Furs (1912) *

A wife, a husband, a mother-in-law and lots of furs. A Biograph film directed by Mack Sennett.

Helen's Marriage (1912) *

A Biograph comedy directed by Mack Sennett. Boring and insignificant.

Algie The Miner (1912) *

Alice Guy's homophobic western about a gay man who spends some time among “real” men in a mining town and becomes straight and ready to be married.

The Mender Of Nets (1912) **

Mary Pickford stars in this D.W. Griffith melodrama about a love triangle among fishermen.

Onésime horloger (1912) ****

A young man, forced to wait 20 years for his inheritance, decides to accelerate the passage of time. Smart comedy directed by Jean Durand, written by Louis Feuillade and produced by Gaumont.

For His Son (1912) *

Inspired by the invention of Coca-Cola, it's a D.W. Griffith melodrama about a greedy chemist who invents a drink containing cocaine, leading to addiction and misery.

Friends (1912) *

A D.W. Griffith melodrama set in a small mining village in the Far West.

From The Manger To The Cross (1912) ***

The story of Jesus Christ.

An Unseen Enemy (1912) ***

An exciting suspense melodrama about two orphan girls (Lilian and Dorothy Gish) robbed at gunpoint by their maid and her accomplice. One of many Griffith films involving last minute rescue sequences. Produced by Biograph. 17 minutes.

The Sunbeam (1912) ***

A stuffy old bachelor and a prim old maid adopt a little orphan girl. Sweet, touching and shamelessly sentimental - a quintessential Griffith's melodrama. Produced by Biograph. 17 minutes.

The New York Hat (1912) ***

A minister buys an expensive hat for a young girl (Mary Pickford) and everyone in town suspects them of having an affair. The script was written by 19-year old Anita Loos. Directed by D.W.Griffith and produced by Biograph. 16 minutes.

The Musketeers Of Pig Alley (1912) ***

A musician tries to recover his stolen wallet, while a full-fledged gang war erupts in the neighborhood. The thugs aren't very threatening and the film lacks the hard-edge grit of the later gangster films, but this is still an impressive picture. Directed by D.W.Griffith and produced by Biograph. 17 minutes.

The Girl And Her Trust (1912) ****

Thieves rob a telegraph operator's office. A remake of "The Lonedale Operator" (1911). Produced by Biograph. 17 minutes.

The Burglar's Dilemma (1912) ***

A young man tries to blame a burglar for his brother's murder. Tense, dramatic film, directed by D.W.Griffith and produced by Biograph. 15 minutes.

Max et l'inauguration de la statue (1912) ***

Max (Max Linder), dressed as a knight in shining armour, is mistaken for a statue of a knight (in shining armour). Produced by Pathé.

The Painted Lady (1912) **

A young girl kills a masked intruder. She slowly goes mad when she discovers that the intruder was her suitor. Somber melodrama starts well, but then becomes too depressing. Directed by D.W.Griffith.

One Is Business The Other Crime (1912) **

A robber accidently reveals a corruption scandal. Well directed (by D.W.Griffith), but too moralistic, simplistic and naive.

Max jongleur par amour (1912) **

Max pretends to be a juggler to impress a girl. Directed by Max Linder.

Making An American Citizen (1912) *

An immigrant from Russia refuses to become a good American citizen by beating his wife (because, of course, no American man has ever hit a woman). Only after being sentenced to many years of hard labor, does he finally change his attitude. This film cleverly (and quite dishonestly) mixes ardent feminism with anti-immigrant xenophobia. Directed by Alice Guy Blache.

A Cure For Pokeritis (1912) *

Boring comedy about a compulsive gambler (John Bunny) trying to reform himself. Produced by Vitagraph.

How A Mosquito Operates (1912) ****

A mosquito bites a sleeping man. Probably Winsor McCay's best film. Length: 6 minutes.

Zemsta kinooperatora (1912) ****

A husband's infidelity is recorded by a cameraman, who shows the film to the wife. Famous animated film with insects. Directed by Wladyslaw Starewicz. Length: 14 minutes.

Max et son chien Dick (1912) **

Max's faithful dog helps him find out about an unfaithful woman. Directed by Max Linder and René Leprince. French comedy produced by Pathé.

Wooden Athletes (1912) ***

A British cartoon by Arthur Melbourne Cooper.

Piekna Lukanida (1912) ***

Pierwszy zachowany film lalkowy w historii i pierwszy zachowany polski film animowany, zrealizowany przez Wladyslawa Starewicza w Kownie. Na ekranach kin pojawil sie w roku 1912 w Moskwie. Adaptacja mitow greckich o Helenie i Parysie.

Le Garde meuble automatique (1912) ***

The furniture is moving by itself in this ingenious film, which uses stop-motion photography. Produced by Pathe. Often confused with an earlier (and far weaker) film produced by Gaumont, "Mobilier fidele" (1910), because both films were named "The Automatic Moving Company" for their US releases.

Wesole sceny z zycia zwierzat (1912) ***

An early animated film by Wladyslaw Starewicz.