Peter Elfelt

German emperor William II arrives to Copenhagen.

At first this looks like another of those innumerable fire brigade movies of the era in which you saw the horses charging pellmell out of the firehouse, pulling the firemen and the equipment. Usually they would be on wheels, occasionally on sleigh runner, but always the same: fire departments from Buffalo, New York, Chicago and probably Omsk and Tomsk. This one is different: you see not only the fire brigade heading out for the fire, you see the site of the fire itself. (imdb)

Early wrestling footage.

A Danish factor ("colony manager") in Greenland drives a sledge with the help of some Greenlandic sledge dogs in Fælledparken in Copenhagen as an illustration of his life in Greenland in this first film ever shot in Denmark (by Peter Elfelt). (imdb)

Filmed while the Christian IX, King of Denmark, and his family was taking their picture. (imdb)

A film by Peter Elfelt. (imdb)

Early film from Danish director Peter Elfelt is pretty much like the stuff you'd expect to see from Edison and other American studios. There's really no plot here but instead just a quick (51-second) clip of a part of history that most have forgotten. We see the Russian czar Nicholas II visiting his grandfather, King Christian IX, and that's pretty much it. (imdb)

Clara Rasmussen and Margrethe Andersen - Pas de Deux. Royal Danish Ballet. (imdb)

This Danish film shows us a young woman doing a dance, which translates to tarantula. According to the brief bio over at the Europa Film Treasures site, this dance was "influenced" by the delirium caused by the bite of a tarantula. (imdb)

A short film from Peter Elfelt showing Dagmar Hansen. (imdb)

Denmark's first fiction film. (imdb)

Danish film has three dancers from the Danish Royal Ballet doing what they do best: dancing. (imdb)

Long winded film runs just over six-minutes but we're pretty much shown Iceland's Parliament as they board a ship and are given a reception by the Danish crown. (imdb)

Another Danish film from director Peter Elfelt, this one here pretty much just showing a woman doing an gypsy dance for 59-seconds. (imdb)

Danish filmmaker Peter Elfelt took his camera to the bottom of the slopes at the skiing competition in Norway. At the bottom of the slope the director captured the man finishing off their jumps. (imdb)

Documentation of a royal visit to Helsingør.

Documentation of a royal visit to Bellevue.

Fredensborg castle in North Zealand was the base of the so-called 'Fredensborg Days' in the period 1880-1898, where King Christian IX and Queen Louise would gather the family. The tradition petered out after the death of Czar Alexander III in 1894 and Queen Louise in 1898. The images nevertheless give an impression of the relaxed atmosphere at the castle.

Princess Marie (1865-1909), born Princess of Orléans, great granddaughter of the French King Ludvig-Filip (1773-1850), who was king of France 1830-1848. She was married to Prince Valdemar (1858-1939), son of Christian IX. The princess helped open the royal court to people outside the otherwise closed and conservative circle surrounding Christian IX. Princess Marie was also known as a capable rider.

Images of a hunting party with the Swedish King Oscar II, Prince Christian, Prince Gustav, Prince Valdemar and Prince Georg. Hveen is an island in the strait 'Øresund' between Denmark and Sweden. The island was under Danish rule until 1658. It is mainly know as the site where the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe made his internationally acclaimed observations in the years 1576-1597.

In September 1903 the ferry line between Gedser in Denmark and Warnemünde in Germany was opened. The images are from the opening of the route which included King Christian IX, Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV of Mecklenburg Schwerin (1882-1945), Crown Prince Frederik and members of the Duentzer ministry (1901-1905).

Solo from 'La sylphide' (1836), ballet by August Bournonville. Performed by Ellen Price (1878-1968), soloist from 1903. Ellen Price's dancing in Hans Beck's ballet 'The Little Mermaid' (1909) was the inspiration for Edvard Eriksen's statue of the same name (1911).

Dagmar arrives by train.

Dance from the opera from 1762 by Christoph Willibad Gluck (1714-1787), choreography by Hans Beck 1896. Performed by Valborg Borchsenius (née Guldbrandsen), Ellen Price, Elisabeth Beck (1865-1946) and Anna Marie Agerholm (1875-1929).

Alexandra (1844-1925), daughter of Christian IX, married in 1863 to Prince Edward (1841-1910), who after Queen Victoria's death in 1901 became King Edward VII of Great Britain and Ireland. She often visited Denmark.

Swans getting handled as people watch.

Fun at the beach.

The funeral of composer Johan Peter Emilius Hartmanns in Vor Frue Kirke.

Prominent people at a funeral.

Bathing Danish beauties.

Horses riding at Kongerevuen.

Danish street scene.

Military in action.

A workers parade.

Early commercial film for Daniel Dalgaards Kaffeforretning.

Scenes from Ribe Domkirkes.

Prince Carl leaves Denmark to become King Haakon of Norway.

A Danish commercial.

Traveling by tracks through the streets of Aarhus.

At the racetrack.

Students collecting money for the children.

King Haakon on the boat of Crown Prince Christian.

King Haakon and Queen Maud visit Denmark.

View of the Lerfossen near Trondhjem.

17th of May celebrations in Norway.

The 1906 Kongerevue.

At the racetrack.

Fragments of military showing off.

King Haakon visits the battleship 'Herluf Trolle'

The Proclamation of Frederik VIII

The Prince and Princess of Wales visit Trondhjem, Norway.

King Haakon travels to Trondhjem.

King Haakon and Queen Maud in Trondhjem.

The King and Queen travels to and from Trondhjems Domkirke.

King Frederik VIII arrives in Berlin.

People traveling by horse carriage to a party.

Demonstrations on May 1st in Slagelse.

Børnehjælpsdagen parade of 1907.

Peter Elfelt filming on a boat sailing in to harbor.

The short clip shows a spiritualist séance featuring a medium and two ‘spirits’, shot in Peter Elfelt’s studio. Dr Faustinus (1868–1946 – real name Faustinus Edelberg Pedersen), after whom the film is named, was an active figure within the field of spiritism and the occult.

Spirited Ukrainian trepak dance, performed by Russian soloist Wania Tartakoff.

The Children’s Dance from ‘Elverhøj’, performed by Gudrun Christensen and Helga Smith. Elverhøj (1828; literal translation, Elves’ Hill) by Johan Ludvig Heiberg, with music by Frederik Kuhlau, is considered the Danish national play. It was commissioned by King Frederik VI for the marriage of his youngest daughter Vilhelmine Marie to Frederik Carl Christian (later King Frederik VII).

‘From Siberia to Moscow’ (1876) was August Bournonville’s last long ballet. It was inspired by an 1874 trip to Russia, where Bournonville met Marius Petipa and saw several of his ballets. The music was composed by Carl Christian Møller. The smart prances of the Jockey Dance are here performed by Gustav Uhlendorff (1875-1962), dancer and later master of the Danish Royal Ballet in the 1920s, and dancer Richard Jensen (1883-1935), who acted in a number of Danish silent films in the early 1910s.