Mario Slugan, Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, has literally written the book on fiction in early cinema. With that background and research in mind, he selects four films that may fit into what we consider narrative before turning to a standout “nonfiction” film that looms large for 1906.

Mario has written three other monographs, including the upcoming Taking Fiction Film Seriously. He is also co-editor of New Perspectives on Early Cinema History and the special double issue of Early Popular Visual Culture, "Early Cinema in the British Colonies.”

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1906!

Films and resources mentioned:

• The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) - Charles Tait
• The ? Motorist (1906) - Walter R. Booth
• The Merry Frolics of Satan (1906) - Georges Méliès
• The Consequences of Feminism (1906) - Alice Guy-Blaché
• A Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire (1906) - Harry Miles
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Hamilton (2020) - Thomas Kail
• American Utopia (2020) - Spike Lee
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• How It Feels to Be Run Over (1900) - Cecil Hepworth
• Jurassic Park (1993) - Steven Spielberg
• The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - Martin Scorsese
• The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1898) - Georges Méliès
• They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) - Peter Jackson

Carl Bennett, publisher and editor of silentera.com, has run the crucial resource covering the first decades of film since 1999. He selects five films reflecting the growing trend of narrativization of cinema, with one notable exception in his conclusion.

Carl’s site provides information about silent motion pictures, silent era people, the era’s theatres, documentation and reviews of home video editions of silent films, book reviews, and more.

Films and resources mentioned:

• The Spring Fairy (1906) - Vincent Lorant-Heilbronn
• The ? Motorist (1906) - Walter R. Booth
• Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Merry Frolics of Satan (1906) - Georges Méliès
• A Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire (1906) - Harry Miles
• The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962) - Edward Bernds
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• Schindler’s List (1993) - Steven Spielberg
• An Adventurous Automobile Trip (1905) - Georges Méliès
• The Automatic Motorist (1911) - Walter R. Booth
• The Impossible Voyage (1904) - Georges Méliès
• Hugo (2011) - Martin Scorsese
• Nosferatu (1922) - F.W. Murnau
• The Phantom of the Opera (1925) - Rupert Julian
• Intolerance (1916) - D.W. Griffith

From changes in distribution and exhibition to formal firsts (with caveats), 1906 carries just a few pieces of oft-cited film history. But this season, on a year that is still very much part of cinema's earliest growth spurts, illustrates the heterogenous landscape of global filmmaking at the time and the thrills it can still offer today.

Films mentioned:

• The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) - Charles Tait
• Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) - J. Stuart Blackton

While the “nickelodeon boom” began in the United States and the global film industry was standardizing certain production elements, many of the conversations for this 1905 season turned to how wide the modes of moviemaking still were, resulting in strange yet beautiful experiments. As this year’s five guests have shown, cinema in even in an apparently obscure period such as the mid-1900s can still yield up riveting viewing experiences.

Films mentioned:

• The Misadventure of a French Gentleman Without Pants at the Zandvoort Beach (1905) - Albert and Willy Mullens
• Coney Island at Night (1905) - Edwin S. Porter
• New York Subway (1905) - Billy Bitzer
• The Night Before Christmas (1905) - Edwin S. Porter
• Rescued by Rover (1905) - Cecil Hepworth and Lewin Fitzhamon
• The Miller’s Daughter (1905) - Edwin S. Porter and Wallace McCutcheon
• An Adventurous Automobile Trip (1905) - Georges Méliès
• The Palace of the Arabian Nights (1905) - Georges Méliès
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter

Film historian and author Mary Mallory has written five books about cinematic yesteryear. With her research of past traditions and underappreciated figures in mind, Mary selects some films that reflect the intermediality of early film and its basis in stage tricks, poetry, and even postcards, while others demonstrate new cinematic inventions.

Mary’s most recent book is First Women of Hollywood: Female Pioneers in the Early Motion Picture Business. She is also a lecturer for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and blogger for the LA Daily Mirror.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1905!

Films mentioned:

• The Living Playing Cards (1905) - Georges Méliès
• New York Subway (1905) - Billy Bitzer
• Rescued by Rover (1905) - Cecil Hepworth and Lewin Fitzhamon
• The Night Before Christmas (1905) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog (1905) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Gone with the Wind (1939) - Victor Fleming
• The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) - Henry Selick

Chris O’Rourke, Associate Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick, explores the early history of film acting, stardom and fandom in Britain up to the end of the silent era in his book Acting for the Silent Screen: Film Actors and Aspiration between the Wars. While film acting wasn’t quite a specific discipline in 1905, that distinction would arise sooner than one might think, and in the meantime, Chris’ picks explore UK innovations in editing, pace, and length, French spectacle, and American actuality.

Chris also developed the website London's Silent Cinemas, which mapped early film exhibition sites across the city. His other research interests include queer and trans film history and he is one of the editors of the academic journal Early Popular Visual Culture.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1905!

Films and resources mentioned:

• Rescued by Rover (1905) - Lewin Fitzhamon and Cecil Hepworth
• The Life of Charles Peace (1905) - William Haggar
• The Black Imp (1905) - Georges Méliès
• The Hen that Laid the Golden Eggs (1905) - Gaston Velle
• Coney Island at Night (1905) - Edwin S. Porter
• The International Exchange (1905) - Lewin Fitzhamon
• The Lonely Villa (1909) - D.W. Griffith
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• History of a Crime (1901) - Ferdinand Zecca
• The Life of Charles Peace (1905) - Frank S. Mottershaw
• A Terrible Night (1896) - Georges Méliès
• King of Dollars (1905) - Segundo de Chomón
• Down in the Coal Mines (1905) - Ferdinand Zecca and Lucien Nonguet
• The Strike (1904) - Ferdinand Zecca
• The Boarding School Girls (1905) - Edwin S. Porter
• Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis (1927) - Walter Ruttmann
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