Top 10 Films of 1913

1. "Juve contre Fantômas" (Louis Feuillade, France)

2. "Quo vadis" (Enrico Guazzoni, Italy)

3. "Fantômas: À l'ombre de la guillotine" (Louis Feuillade, France)

4. "Traffic In Souls" (George Loane Tucker, Universal)

5. "Twilight Of A Woman's Soul" (Yevgeni Bauer, Russia)

6. "Atlantis" (August Blom, Denmark)

7. "Spartacus" (Giovanni Enrico Vidali, Italy)

8. "Fantômas: Le Mort qui tue" (Louis Feuillade, France)

9. "The Student Of Prague" (Paul Wegener, Stellan Rye, Germany)

10. "The Last Days Of Pompei" (Mario Caserini, Eleuterio Rodolfi, Italy)

Short Top 10:

1. "Piu forte che Sherlock Holmes" (Giovanni Pastrone, Italy)

2. "Barney Oldfield's Race For A Life" (Mack Sennett, Keystone)

3. "A Muddy Romance" (Mack Sennett, Keystone)
 4. "Fatty Joins The Force" (George Nichols, Keystone)

5. "Suspense" (Lois Weber, Universal)

6. "Mabel's Dramatic Career" (Mack Sennett, Keystone)
 7. "The Mothering Heart" (D.W. Griffith, Biograph)
 

8. "Bangville Police" (Mack Sennett, Keystone)

9. "Pozar zapalczarni" (Antoni and Wladyslaw Krzeminski, Poland)

10. "Milling The Militants" (Percy Stow, UK)

Cartoon Top 3:

1. "Boze Narodzenie w lesie" (Wladyslaw Starewicz, Poland)

2. "Bewitched Matches" (Emile Cohl, Universal)

3. "Konik polny i mrowka" (Wladyslaw Starewicz, Poland)

Weak films of 1913:

Le Mystere des roches de Kador (France)

Weak shorts:

The Battle At Elderbush Gulch
Le Chapeau de Max (France)

Death's Marathon

A Fishy Affair

The Inside Of The White Slave Traffic
Kosciuszko pod Raclawicami (Poland)
Max fait de la photo (France)
Nursery Favorites
The Speed Kings
Le Voyage de la famille Bourrichon (France)

Weak cartoons:

The Artist's Dreams

Juve contre Fantômas (1913) ****

The second "Fantômas" serial. 61 minutes. It is divided into four episodes ("La catastrophe de Simplar-Express", "Au Crocodile", "La villa hantée" and "L'homme noir"). Fantômas is responsible for a horrible train wreck. There is also a memorable shootout among huge wine barrels.

Fantômas: À l'ombre de la guillotine (1913) ****

The first "Fantômas" serial by Louis Feuillade. 54 minutes. It consists of three episodes ("Le vol du Royal-Palace-Hôtel", "La disparition de Lord Beltham" and "Autour de l'échafaud"). Fantômas is captured by inspector Juve, but he manages to escape from prison.

Spartacus (1913) ***

Traffic In Souls (1913) ***

One of the first American feature films, impressive for its editing and locations. Innovative in every respect.

Fantômas: Le Mort qui tue (1913) ***

The third "Fantômas" serial. 90 minutes. It consists of six episodes ("Le drame du rue Novins", "L'enquête de Fandor", "Le collier de la princesse", "Le banquier Nanteul", "Elizabeth Dollon" and "Les gants de peau humaine").

Twilight Of A Woman's Soul (1913) ***

Russian melodrama about an aristocratic woman who gets raped by a proletarian man. An eerie prophecy of the Bolshevik revolution. One of the best pre-Soviet Russian films, very innovative. It contains the first known traveling shot using a camera dolly by cameraman Mikolaj Kozlowski.

Quo vadis (1913) ****

Lions and Christians and bears. Truly impressive Italian epic drama based on a celebrated novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz.

Atlantis (1913) ***

An amazing Danish film about an ocean liner which sinks. Directed by August Blom and co-starring Charles Unthan.

Le Mystere des roches de Kador (1913) **

French film about a young woman in danger from her guardian.

Boze Narodzenie w lesie (1913) ***

Father Christmas (a Russian Santa Claus) invites forest animals to a Christmas party. Polish animated film by Wladyslaw Starewicz.

Piu forte che Sherlock Holmes (1913) ****

Crazy comedy filled with trick photography, wild sight gags and slapstick action. This Italian short film defies all law of physics, logic and coherence. 

Milling The Militants (1913) ***

An anti-suffragette comedy. Directed by Percy Stow.

Suspense (1913) ***

Kosciuszko pod Raclawicami (1913) *

Pozar zapalczarni (1913) ***

Innovative documentary short about a fire in a match factory in Czestochowa in Poland. Directed by Antoni and Wladyslaw Krzeminski. Impressive camerawork.

Fatty Joins The Force (1913) ***

An early Keystone Kops farce, without any lizzie chases, but with Roscoe Arbuckle getting hit with one of the first cream pies in the history of Hollywood slapstick comedy.

Max fait de la photo (1913) **

At a beach resort, Max is taking a photograph of a bathing beauty and mistakenly believes that she has drown.

Death's Marathon (1913) **

Typical Griffith's melodrama about gambling debts, sobbing wives, suicides etc.

Le Voyage de la famille Bourrichon (1913) **

A debt-ridden family is escaping from creditors. Georges Méliès' last film.

The Speed Kings (1913) *

Boring comedy about car races.

The Inside Of The White Slave Traffic (1913) *

Hopelessly sanitized film about prostitution.

A Fishy Affair (1913) *

Weak Keystone farce.

A Muddy Romance (1913) ***

This typical Keystone comedy was filmed during the draining of the Echo Lake in Los Angeles, with a slim narrative build around it. Directed by Mack Sennett.

The Mothering Heart (1913) ***

A sad melodrama about a young husband cheating on his wife. He only reconciles with her after the death of their child. Victorian values dominate the moral arguments of this film. Directed by D.W. Griffith and produced by Biograph.

Le Chapeau de Max (1913) *

Max isn't taking a proper care of his hat.

Mabel's Dramatic Career (1913) ***

A young country lad (Mack Sennett) flirts with a maid (Mabel Normand), but his mother objects. The maid is fired, but soon becomes a famous movie star. Years later, the lad goes to a movie theatre, where he sees a picture starring his former girlfriend. Seeing her attacked by a villain (Ford Sterling), he pulls out his six-shooter and starts firing at the screen, scaring other patrons (among them Roscoe Arbuckle).