Paul's Animatograph Works

Short actuality showing Kaiser Wilhelm II visiting Portsmouth, including views associated with Nelson’s flagship H.M.S. Victory. Produced in Britain during the late-Victorian boom in topical films, it records the Kaiser’s naval-themed stop at the Royal Navy’s principal base.

Mephistopholes causes an artist's model to disappear.

Top-hatted pedestrians and horse-drawn traffic pass over Blackfriars Bridge in London.

Here we present a picture that simply convulses an audience with laughter. The scene opens in the bedroom of a hotel. A traveler appears, evidently a "little worse for wear." After stretching and yawning, he proceeds to disrobe. He throws off his coat and vest, but to his surprise and anguish, he suddenly finds himself clothed in a continental uniform. He throws this off in anger, but immediately a policeman's costume flies on him. This is in turn thrown aside in great rage and he finds himself clothed in a soldier's uniform. At last, thinking himself successful, he makes for the bed and finds a skeleton complacently resting on his pillow. The bed suddenly disappears, leaving him seated on the floor, and great quantities of bed clothes rain down from the ceiling. The picture ends leaving the audience simply convulsed in laughter. (Edison Catalog)

The Switchback Railway was the forerunner of the roller coaster. Passengers sit in a small car which trundles up a swooping railway track then performs a 180 degree turn at its summit before swooping back down on a parallel track.

Trick film. A stage magician transforms a woman into a butterfly and himself into a giant bat. This film is considered lost.

A conjurer makes furniture return from the bailiff's.

A short documentary about industrial whaling. The surviving footage runs for approximately 12 minutes.

Filmed in 35mm and in black and white, this short silent film was produced by the English film pioneer R. W. Paul, and directed by Walter R. Booth and was filmed at Paul's Animatograph Works. It was released in November 1901. As was common in cinema's early days, the filmmakers chose to adapt an already well-known story, in this case A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, in the belief that the audience's familiarity with the story would result in the need for fewer intertitles. It was presented in 'Twelve Tableaux' or scenes. The film contains the first use of intertitles in a film.

The Prince and Princess of Wales visited India from November 1905 to March 19, 1906.

Clog dancing contest winner dances on dinner plate.