Tetherball, or Do-Do

Four men of different ranks play a game of tetherball on a ship's deck.

Caped Mounted Riflemen Passing St Paul's

Royal Carriages Passing Westminster

Head of Colonial Procession, Canadians, etc

Head of Procession Including Bluejackets

The Countryman and the Cinematograph

A satire on the way that audiences unaccustomed to the cinema didn't know how to react to the moving images on a screen - in this film, an unsophisticated (and stereotypical) country yokel is alternately baffled and terrified, in the latter case by the apparent approach of a steam train.

Come Along, Do!

Come Along, Do! is an 1898 British short silent comedy film, produced and directed by Robert W. Paul. The film was of 1 minute duration, but only forty-some seconds have survived. The whole of the second shot is only available as film stills. The film features an elderly man at an art gallery who takes a great interest in a nude statue to the irritation of his wife. The film has cinematographic significance as the first example of film continuity. It was, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "one of the first films to feature mor...

Delhi Durbar

Aristocracy, army, elephants and more mark the start of the 1903 Durbar.

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee

A series of actuality films showing the procession to mark Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee.

Hammerfest

A panorama shot of the Norwegian town and harbour of Hammerfest. Believed to be the earliest surviving film of Norway.

The Deonzo Brothers

The famous acrobats in the above title appear in a marvellous acrobatic act. There are three barrels arranged on the stage. The boys, blindfolded, stand on opposite sides of the stage, and jump from one barrel into the other until they both land in the same barrel at the same time. They then jump backwards onto the stage over the two barrels. One table is then mounted upon another and the center barrel is placed on top. The brothers still blindfolded jump one each into a barrel and from them to the first to the second table and from the seco...

The Launch of H.M.S. Albion

The festive start and disastrous aftermath of the launch of the H.M.S. Albion.

Comic Costume Race

Three athletes make their way to wicker baskets that contain a mishmash of wacky costumes. They need to dress up as quickly as they can, and make their way back on the running track.

A Switchback Railway

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.

Buy Your Own Cherries

A barmaid plies a swell with smiles and with cherries from a box that's just been delivered. When she refuses a cherry to a roughly-dressed tradesman who runs a tab at the bar, he pays off his debt in a huff, using all his week's pay. He then storms penniless and without provisions into his ill-furnished house where his wife and two children, ill-clad and ill-fed, cower. Is there any hope for him and for his family? If he does realize how low he's sunk, what help is there to lift him up? Will the family ever know the taste of cherries?

Hyde Park Bicycling Scene

London Street Scene / Turn Out Of A Fire Brigade

The first part of the film shows an actuality street scene of traffic in the Strand. Behind the traffic we can see the entrance to the Gaiety Theatre on the Strand, advertising its latest show 'My Girl'. The second part is a different film altogether, spliced onto the first and is R W Paul’s Turn Out of a Fire Brigade filmed in November 1896 in Newcastle at the Westgate Road fire station. The film date is 1896.