George Albert Smith

Mary Jane tries to light the oven. When she's unsuccessful, she plays around, getting black boot polish on her face. She mugs before a mirror. Then, it's back to work. When the stove still won't light, she pours in paraffin, winks at the camera, and lights a match. Kaboom! Is there any rest for the foolish, even in the grave? (imdb)

A train moves down the track. In a car, seated next to each other in a companionable way, is a couple who are reading, probably wife and husband. As the train enters a tunnel, the man abandons his reading, turns to the woman, and kisses her; she is somewhat reluctant. As the train leaves the tunnel, they return to their books. (imdb)

A elderly gentleman in a silk hat sits on a stool in front of a store on the main street of town. He has a telescope that he focuses on the ankle of a young woman who is a short distance away. Her husband catches the gent looking. What will the two men now do? (imdb)

A child borrows her grandmother's magnifying glass to look at a newspaper ad for Bovril, at a watch, and then at a bird. The child shows grandma what she's doing. The child looks next at grandma's eye, then at a kitten.

A man dreams he is flirting with an attractive young lady, then he wakes up in bed next to his wife. (imdb)

A miller, while flirting with a young lady, suddenly bumps into a chimney sweep carrying a bag of soot. After an exchange of words, they start to fight and each uses his bag of cloth as a club. After the battle is over neither can be recognized. The air is so filled with flour and soot that the fighters are almost lost sight of for a few seconds. (imdb)

A simple scene of two rather flamboyantly-dressed Edwardian children attempting to feed a spoonful of medicine to a sick kitten. The film is important for being one of the earliest films to cut to a close-up, then back again to the same medium shot as before (imdb)

In this picture you see Santa Claus enter the room from the fireplace and proceed to trim the tree. He then fills the stockings that were previously hung on the mantle by the children. (imdb)

Forgotten sci-fi/comedy about a man and woman who are flirting with one another when another man comes up to them with an x-ray machine, zaps them and turns them into skeletons. (imdb)

A child-crossing sweeper dies in the snow. (imdb)

A man attempts to shave with a blunt razor. (imdb)

The Old Maid's Valentine is a 1900 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, which features the titular Miss Pimple receiving an unpleasant surprise on 14 February. The film, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "is essentially a facial - a medium close-up shot of a single performer whose changing expression constitutes virtually all the film's dramatic action." (wiki)

A colourised trick film set in a haunted castle.

A cleverly conceived picture of a little boy and girl with building blocks. The little girl has erected a pretty structure, which the boy proceeds to demolish with pokes of his fingers. When the demolition of the house is completed, the film is shown in reverse, and the little building comes back to its original form in a most marvellous manner. (imdb)

Comic Face is an 1897 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a man drinking a glass of beer whose face and hands become increasingly lively as a result. (letterboxd)

Consisting of a single shot, Spiders on a Web is one of the earliest British examples of close-up natural history photography. Made by one of the pioneers of the British film industry, G.A. Smith, this short film details spiders trapped in an enclosure, and despite the title, does not actually feature a web. (letterboxd)

Four cooks make sausages from cats, dogs, ducks and old boots. (imdb)

It's common knowledge that Scotsmen are macho enough to pull off wearing a skirt - perhaps it's all that caber-tossing. This disarmingly simple film concentrates on the tartan cloths of various clans rather than the men who wore them, and is an early filmic reminder of their huge importance to both Scottish national identity and the thriving tourist industry north of the border. The film's unique selling point was that pioneering... (themoviedb)

London street scenes, showing varieties of horse-drawn traffic. Views of Parliament Square, Charing Cross, Pall Mall, the Royal Exchange and others.

A man comes in for a shave in this film of a popular stage act.

George Smith's picture of the crowds out for a stroll on what I imagine is Brighton Pier.

A cab is hailed in front of a palatial mansion by a gentleman who wishes a score of people driven to another part of the city. A clown jumps out and a satisfactory agreement is made between the clown and the gentleman, and a score or so of persons are hustled in one at a time until the clown succeeds in piling in the whole lot except Bridget, who is carrying a child.

A man shaves, back to the camera, face reflected in a mirror.

Two clowns, colorfully attired, sit at a table, drinking, talking, laughing and playing around as they enjoy each others company. The film demonstrates the use of G.A. Smith's new Kinemacolor process and features his wife as one of the clowns.

Short snippets of beachgoers enjoying Brighton. The first successful commercial film shot in Kinemacolor, a Technicolor precursor.

An early British Kinemacolor short, in which delicate tones and shades of color are beautifully reproduced in examples of highly cultivated sweet pea flowers.

The staghound and the related breed, the buckhound, both went extinct in the 19th century. The dogs seen in this movie are actually foxhounds, looking like large beagles.

A view taken from Brighton beach on the Channel coast of the transit of Magnus Volk’s amazing seagoing electric railway, long celebrated as one of the world’s more bizarre railway experiments. All aboard for “A Sea Voyage on Wheels!”

Documentary shot in Kinemacolor by the riverside with horses crossing.

Coronation Drill at Reedham Orphanage, shot in Kinemacolor.