Public Domain Movies

At the Hypnotist’s (1898)
Black & White


Bathing in a Stream (1897)
Black & White


Demolition of a Wall (1896)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Auguste Lumière
Auguste Lumière directs four workers in the demolition of an old wall at the Lumière factory. One worker is pressing the wall inwards with a jackscrew, while another is pushing it with a pick. When the wall hits the ground, a cloud of white dust whirls up. Three workers continue the demolition of the wall with picks.

Dickson Greeting (1891)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: William K.L. Dickson
Dickson Greeting' is credited as one of the world's very first films in the world and was made by William Dickson. It is only a 3 second film but it still captured the essence of motion and was made in 1891. It was the first public demonstration of motion pictures in the United States to a public audience as he showed it to The General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC) in Edison's lab. The very first sound-film was the 'Dickson Experimental Sound Film' by William Kennedy Dickson and is known to be the very first film with live recorded sound and was made in America. The very first hand-coloured film was called 'Annabelle Serpentine Dance' by William Dickson in America as it was distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company in 1895, a company based in New York City at the time. Theatres started to be built for films in the US as the first building exclusively for showing films was built in 1896, June 26 on Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana and later on that same year another was built in Buffalo, New York in the Ellicott Square Building, it was called the Edisonia Hall which was the first motion picture theatre in the world.

In the Grip of the Blizzard (1899)
Running Time: 2 mins Black & White

"This is a very remarkable picture, showing Union Square, New York City, during the great March blizzard of 1899. The camera was stationed at the corner of Broadway and Fourteenth Street, and was swept in almost a complete circle, showing the tremendous drifts of snow and the blockade at 'Dead Man's Curve' in Fourteenth Street. This picture was taken during the busiest time of the day, and shows to what extent New York City was tied up by this tremendous fall of snow."

Jeanne D'Arc (1899)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White


Monkeyshines, No. 1 (1890)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Giuseppe Sacco Albanese
One of W.K.L. Dickson's laboratory workers horses around for the camera.

New York City (1896)
Black & White


On the Roofs (1897)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Georges Méliès
A woman's home is forcibly invaded by robbers, and a clumsy law enforcement officer tries to detain the thieves.

Onesime Horlager by Jean Durand (1899)
Running Time: 5 mins Black & White
Starring: Ernest Bourbon, Raymond Aimos, Berthe Dagmar
The only way Onésime could think of to get his inheritance quicker was to set the clocks forward. Surprise: the whole world starts speeding up wildly.

Post no Bills (1896)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Georges Méliès
Two bill posters argue as an incompetent guard patrols the area.

Sarah Bernhardt - The Fencing Scene from Hamlet (1899)
Black & White


Scene with Laertes (1899)
Running Time: 2 mins Black & White
Starring: Sarah Bernhardt, Pierre Magnier, Suzanne Seylor
1900 French film adaptation of an excerpt from the William Shakespeare play Hamlet.

Sea Fighting in Greece (1897)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Georges Méliès
Under bombardment, five sailors load and fire a cannon on a naval ship, as their captain supervises.

Sprinkler Sprinkled, The (1895)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: François Clerc, Benoît Duval
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 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 runs away, and the gardener continues his watering.

Statue Of Liberty (1898)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White

"Panoramic view taken from a tug, showing the Statue of Liberty and its environments in New York Harbor."

The Haunted Castle (1897)
Running Time: 3 mins Black & White
Starring: Georges Méliès
Released under different titles in France--and not surprisingly, often confused with its analogous 1896 movie, "Le Manoir du Diable (1896)"--Georges Méliès' Haunted Castle is considered, by all means, a remake.

The Kiss (1896)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: May Irwin, John C. Rice
In a medium close-up shot of the first kiss ever recorded on screen, two fervent lovers cuddle and talk passionately at hair's breadth, just before the love-smitten gentleman decides to give his chosen one an innocent peck.

The Last Cartridges (1897)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White

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.

The Pumpkin Race (1896)
Running Time: 6 mins Black & White

Two youths unharness a man's donkey, letting the cart tip up, and the pumpkins inside roll down the street. The owner and his donkey then pursue the pumpkins through a variety of obstacles until they catch up with them.

Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge (1888)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White

A shot of people walking on The Leeds Bridge.

Tranformation By Hats, Comic View (1895)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Félicien Trewey
In commedia dell'arte style, an actor on a stool presents six distinct characters through speedy application of whiskers and a hat or, in one case, a wig followed by a few gestures. First he becomes the large-nosed squire whipping his horse as he rides in his surrey, then he's a kindly mustachioed ticket taker, next an imperious sea captain with the bearded look of Czar Nicholas. Out comes a light-colored top hat, big nose and handkerchief for the brief appearance of a lugubrious character, followed by a capitalist making a deal in black silk top hat and mustache. Last, white hair, pork-chop sideburns and large mustache capture a retired raconteur.

Wonderful Absinthe (1899)
Black & White