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The Birth of a Flower | F. Percy Smith | ★★★★
Employing stunning time-lapse photography, Percy Smith’s ground-breaking film beautifully captures a number of different flowers opening up their petals to the emerging sunlight, doing so against a series of stark black backgrounds for maximum impact.
A Day in the Life of a Coal Miner | Anon | ★★★★
Though some of its footage is clearly staged, this fascinating documentary paints an invaluable portrait of pit life in 1910. Structured around the eponymous pitman’s day, the film systematically documents the various stages of the coalmining process, highlighting—quite illuminatingly—the parts played by women and children.
Jesters-Jokes | Anon | ★★★★★
With her magic cigarette, a mischievous jester makes things (both animate and inanimate) dis- and reappear, including a trio of clowns—the affections of the female one of which she soon begins to court, in this irreverently sexy Dutch conjuring film.
New York of Today | Anon | ★★★★★
Produced by The Edison Manufacturing Company to advertise the city’s great tourist potential, this fascinating short documentary provides an invaluable record of New York life in 1910. Visiting Grant’s Tomb, Central Park, Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge, Luna Park, Wall Street, Chinatown, an unnamed ghetto, and The MetLife and Flat Iron Buildings, the film examines the city’s architecture, people, and leisure facilities with equal interest.
