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Movies: Popular Movies of 1897

Movies in chronological context: 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 1897th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 897th year of the 2nd millennium, the 97th year of the 19th century, and the 8th year of the 1890s decade. As of the start of 1897, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923. ()

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322 movies found (page 1/11):

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat(1897)

3.5/5 (with 202 votes)

Likely in June 1897, a group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

After the Ball(1897)

1min
2.6/5 (with 35 votes)

A woman arrives home after the ball. Her servant helps her undress and bathe.

Directed by Georges Méliès - With Jehanne d'Alcy

Snowball Fight(1897)

3.3/5 (with 30 votes)

Wintertime in Lyon. About a dozen people, men and women, are having a snowball fight in the middle of a tree-lined street. The cyclist coming along the road becomes the target of opportunity. He falls off his bicycle. He's not hurt, but he rides back the way he came, as the fight continues.

Directed by Louis Lumière

The Bewitched Inn(1897)

2min | Fantasy
3.2/5 (with 27 votes)

A weary traveler stops at an inn along the way to get a good night's sleep, but his rest is interrupted by odd happenings when he gets to his room--beds vanishing and re-appearing, candles exploding, pants flying through the air and his shoes walking away by themselves.

The Haunted Castle(1897)

3min | Horror
2.9/5 (with 26 votes)

A man has an encounter with several spooky apparitions in a castle that is evidently owned by the Devil.

The X-Ray Fiend(1897)

1min | Comedy, Horror
2.7/5 (with 23 votes)

A romantic couple are transformed into skeletons via X-Rays. The film combines two very recent innovations: Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895, and Georges Méliès' accidental realisation of the special-effects potential of the jump-cut in 1896.

Directed by George Albert Smith - With Tom Green

Leaving Jerusalem by Railway(1897)

3.0/5 (with 23 votes)

Lasting for roughly 50 seconds, it shows the goodbyes of many passersby - first Europeans, then Palestinian Arabs, then Palestinian Jews - as a train leaves Jerusalem.

Directed by Alexandre Promio

Washerwomen on the River(1897)

2.7/5 (with 17 votes)

Women wash clothes in a washhouse on the edge of a river.

Between Calais and Dover(1897)

1min | Comedy
2.6/5 (with 16 votes)

A rocky sea voyage as reenacted by Georges Méliès.

Directed by Georges Méliès

The Surrender of Tournavos(1897)

2.5/5 (with 15 votes)

Three military men, seen inside a fortification, are firing on an unseen enemy force. The call for reinforcements but ladders appear signalling the enemy is about to overrun this position.

Directed by Georges Méliès

Bonne d'enfants et soldat(1897)

1min | Comedy
2.9/5 (with 15 votes)

A maid is out walking with her young charge when a soldier takes the boy's place.

Directed by Auguste and Louis Lumière

Mr. Edison at Work in His Chemical Laboratory(1897)

2.6/5 (with 15 votes)

- No description / details available yet. -

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Bocal aux poissons-rouges(1897)

2.6/5 (with 15 votes)

[…] by shooting the fish in a globular bowl, the Lumières effectively use a fisheye lens, which offers distortions. The history of cinema has witnessed a struggle between the objective and subjective camera and the optically distorting lenses like the fisheye lens has been a powerful tool for the subjective camera. Here it is at the start.

Directed by Louis Lumière

Arroseur et arrosé, III(1897)

1min | Comedy
3.0/5 (with 14 votes)

A gardener is watering his flowers, when a mischievous boy sneaks up behind his back, and puts a foot on the water hose. The gardener is surprised and looks into the nozzle to find out why the water has stopped coming. The boy then lifts his foot from the hose, whereby the water squirts up in the gardener's face. The gardener chases the boy, grips his ear and slaps him in his buttocks. The boy then runs away and the gardener continues his watering. Three separate versions of this film exist, this is the third version.

Attelage d'un camion(1897)

2.6/5 (with 13 votes)

A parade of horses pulling a very large and, one must assume, heavy cart.

On the Roofs(1897)

1min | Crime, Comedy
2.5/5 (with 13 votes)

Two crooks throw a lady off a roof, and a hapless policeman tries to capture them.

Le goûter des bébés(1897)

2.5/5 (with 13 votes)

- No description / details available yet. -

Bains en mer(1897)

2.7/5 (with 13 votes)

Swimmers jump into the water from the docks, as a small boat passes by.

Douche après le bain(1897)

2.5/5 (with 12 votes)

Four young people throwing buckets of water at each other.

Bains sur la Saône(1897)

2.5/5 (with 12 votes)

Boys diving into a river.

Transport of a Turret by a Team of 60 Horses(1897)

2.7/5 (with 11 votes)

A very heavy turret is transported on a truck drawn by a long line of horses. The inscription “Charlemagne 53790K” readable on the turret suggests that this view was shot in the vicinity of Saint-Chamond, a town where there are factories specializing in the construction of heavy steel. It is certainly a turret intended for the battleship “Charlemagne”. In addition, a view projected by the Aléthorama on January 20, 1898 in Saint-Étienne, and entitled “Transportation of the armored turret of Saint-Chamond by a team of 80 horses”, could represent the same event.

Entrée d'une noce à l'église(1897)

2.4/5 (with 11 votes)

A marriage procession following the bride and her father enter a church.

The Last Cartridges(1897)

1min | War
2.5/5 (with 11 votes)

An incident of the Franco-Prussian War. It shows the bombardment of a house at Bazeille. It is the animated reproduction of de Neuville's celebrated painting.

Directed by Georges Méliès

Partie de cartes(1897)

1min | Drama
2.7/5 (with 11 votes)

Three people playing cards.

Colleurs d'affiches(1897)

1min | Comedy
2.4/5 (with 11 votes)

A bill poster comes upon a blank wall, and immediately puts up a poster advertising a movie show at one location.

Paris, le Pont-Neuf(1897)

2.5/5 (with 11 votes)

Small glimpse of Paris city life.

Naval Combat in Greece(1897)

1min | War, Drama, History
2.6/5 (with 11 votes)

An officer calls his sailors to the deck. They assemble around the canon while the officer scans the horizon. They all turn in the direction of the camera to look in the distance. At the same time the ship is hit! This scene is a filmed reconstruction of the 1897 Greek-Turkish war.

Directed by Georges Méliès

The Hallucinated Alchemist(1897)

2min | Horror, Fantasy
3.0/5 (with 10 votes)

The Flicker Alley DVD "Georges Méliès: Encore New Discoveries (1896-1911)" misidentified a partial hand-colored print of the 1906 film "Alchimiste Parafaragaramus ou La cornue infernale" (The Mysterious Retort) as this film, "L'hallucination de l'alchimiste" (An Hallucinated Alchemist) from 1897, which continues to be considered a lost film.

Directed by Georges Méliès

Place du Pont(1897)

2.6/5 (with 10 votes)

A shot of a street in Lyon, people passing, horses etc.

The Miller and the Sweep(1897)

1min | Comedy
2.6/5 (with 10 votes)

In front of a flour mill, two men fight. One is the miller, and he's swinging a bag of flour in the scuffle. The other is a chimney sweep, and he's swinging what may be a bag of flour, but when it breaks open, it's clearly something else. Well into the havoc, spectators gather and give chase to the flour-covered sweep and the "well-sooted" miller.

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