Hissstory

This short film, one of the first to use camera tricks, depicts the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.

A divinely inspired peasant woman becomes an army captain for France and then is martyred after she is captured.

Historical legend composed of five Scenes. 1. William Tell's heroism. 2. The Plot. 3. The Apple. 4. Death of Gessler. 5. The Swiss cheer their Liberator. This popular and interesting legend takes place amidst the country life of the mountain populations. The beautiful and picturesque sites which exist in Switzerland have given us an opportunity of utilising the resources our theatre affords, and our scene-painters have been able to have a free run on their imaginations, and have completed the work by a series of magnificent scenes in the most artistic character.

The scene opens with an assembly of citizens who are harangued by one of their number, whose words have great weight with the crowd, and their attitude of approval shows that Roman misrule in Jerusalem has reached its climax. Heralds now approach and Roman soldiers beat back the crowd to make way for the approach of the Roman Procurator. The scene changes to the home of Ben Hur, who is seen with his sister and mother on the house top. The cavalcade of Roman troops approaches, and to get a near view Ben Hur leans from the coping and knocks down one of the stones thereof onto the shoulder of the Procurator. This is seen and misconstrued by the Governor, who orders soldiers to arrest the inmates; they, after ineffectual pleas and struggles, are carried off. Ben Hur is consigned to the galleys, where he is loaded with chains. Here he signalizes himself by saving the life of Arrias, who publicly adopts him as his son and proclaims him a Roman citizen amidst the acclamations of the assembled crowd in the forum. Now comes the scene in the games where Ben Hur is challenged by Messala, and accepts it, to the great delight of the citizens. The chariots and athletes parade before the dais and in due time are arranged, and the chariot race commences. Three times 'round the ring dash the chariots, and at the fourth turn Ben Hur comes out the victor and is crowned with the wreath, to the great, chagrin of Messala, who is borne on a stretcher, wounded to death.

France, at the end of the sixteenth century. Henry III decided to eliminate his rival, the Duke of Guise, and, therefore, calls him in the castle of Blois. The mistress of the duke, warned of the King's intentions, informs him, but the noble, sure of his own authority, went there anyway. In Cabinet-Vieux castle Duke is stabbed by guards of the King, while he attends the murder hidden behind the curtains. Eventually, Henry III does burn the duke body to discard.

Roman emperor Nero is used to getting what he wants. He has grown tired of his wife Octavia, and has become infatuated with Poppea. He succeeds in making Poppea the new empress, but soon he faces opposition from an outraged populace.

Rip Van Winkle, although a loving father to his little girl Meenie, and a hale-fellow-well-met with all his fellow townsmen, is being constantly scolded by his wife for leading an idle and profitless existence. Rip is also fond of the bottle, and spends the greater part of his time and money at the village tavern. Catching him entering the house late one night after a day's carouse, his wife Gretchen becomes thoroughly angry with him and drives him from the house. In the face of a terrible storm and with only his dog Schneider and his faithful rifle to protect him, Rip wanders toward the mountains. Here he comes across a band of Gnomes who are supposed to be the spirits of Heinrich Hudson and his merry men who disappeared near the Catskill Mountains, hundreds of years before, and had never been heard of since. The Gnomes give Rip some magic schnapps to drink, and under its influence he goes to sleep for twenty years. When he wakes, he is an old man and in ragged clothes, his dog is dead, and his rifle has rusted away. He makes his way as best he can back to the village, and his old home. But there no one knows him. He finds his wife married to another man, his daughter grown to womanhood, and most of his old friends dead and gone. Rip, however, finally manages to prove his identity, and also to lay claim to his property, which has greatly increased in value during his sleep, and which he is just in time to save from being unlawfully confiscated by his old time enemy. Happily reunited to his family, Rip looks forward to his declining years with a spirit born of peace and solace.

One of the first epics on the History of Movies, it tells the story of the Fall of Troy: Paris seduces Helen, queen of Sparta, and takes her to Troy, city state of his father, King Priam. The Greeks declare war against the Trojans, and after ten years of siege finally manage to invade the city with a wooden horse.

Episodes from the life of Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533-1603), focusing on her ill-fated love affair with Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.

An epic Italian film, "Quo Vadis" influenced many of the later movies.

Cabiria is a Roman child when her home is destroyed by a volcano. Sold in Carthage to be sacrificed in a temple, she is saved by Fulvio, a Roman spy. But danger lurks, and hatred between Rome and Carthage can only lead to war.

The Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.

Four historical tales depict the ongoing human struggle against prejudice and inhumanity.

In sixteenth century Greece, Gismonda, the Duchess of Athens, entertains a stream of suitors, although she only loves her little son Francesco. Prince Zaccaria, who wishes to become the duke of Athens, kidnaps Francesco and throws him into a pit holding a huge lion. The duchess, terrified that her child is in danger, offers to marry the man who rescues her boy. The deed is accomplished by a humble huntsman, Almerio, but Gismonda soon breaks her promise, not wishing to marry a commoner. To persuade him to release her from her vow, the duchess visits Almerio one night but is seen by Zaccaria and his cohort Gregoras leaving the hut in the morning. Zaccaria determines to kill the huntsman, but Gismonda stabs him at Almerio's door. Having discovered who was responsible for Francesco's entrapment, Gismonda has Gregoras arrested. Finally realizing her great love for Almerio, she bestows on him the title of duke and marries him.

Civil engineer Robert Clay (Norman Kerry) is commissioned by wealthy New Yorker Mr. Langham to open iron deposits in the tiny South American republic of Olancho. General Mendoza (Wallace Beery), the unscrupulous head of the army, unsuccessfully tries to persuade President Alvarez, and then Clay, to divide the spoils of the contract. Mendoza begins a revolution against Alvarez, but Clay and his men set out to stop the plan. Meanwhile, Mr. Langham arrives with his two enchanting daughters, Alice (Anna Q. Nilsson) and Hope (Pauline Starke), on board a yacht owned by Reginald King, Alice's suitor. Clay's long-lived attraction for Alice has been met with coldness, but Hope wins his heart by shooting down some of Mendoza's men when they try to kill him. After a savage battle, and the arrival of a U.S. battleship with sailors, Mendoza is finally beaten.

Highly stylised biopic of the last Pagan Roman-Byzantine Emperor, Julian the Philosopher, known to Christians as 'the Apostate'. Orphaned by his cousin Constantius (Costanzo), and narrowly escaping death himself as a child, Julian is brought up on the Greek classics by his faithful tutor Mardonius. Constantius's seductive wife, Eusebia, has designs on him, but he is given the emperor's sister Elena as his bride. She is a Christian, and is herself the object of the unrequited affection of her teenaged page. After Julian is posted to Gaul as Caesar, to fight the barbarians, the romantic rivalries come to a tragic climax. Julian becomes Emperor, avenges the woman he realises, too late, he loved, and sets out on a fatal campaign against the Persians... The script is stronger on romance than politics, emphasising the (fictional) intersecting love-triangles. However, Duilio Cambellotti's striking Byzantine-Art Nouveau costumes and Luigi Mancinelli's score make it retain interest.

Cardinal Richelieu, engaged in intrigue at the court of Louis XIII, attempts to rule by threatening the queen, who is secretly in love with the Duke of Buckingham. From Gascony comes D'Artagnan to join the King's Musketeers in his quest for adventure. He wins the right to membership by proving his prowess with the sword and forms an eternal alliance with Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, the Three Musketeers. After many adventures, he embarks on a dangerous mission to England to recover a diamond brooch, a gift of the king, which the queen has given to Buckingham as a token of affection. He recovers it and returns in time to save the queen from the wrath of Louis, defeat the cardinal's intrigue, and win Constance, the queen's seamstress.

The story shows the development of the united state in divergent fields : Political, social and even economic field.

Teodora, a Roman courtesan and former slave girl, marries the Roman emperor Justinian and assumes the throne as Empress of Rome. But a love affair with a handsome Greek whom she meets in Byzantium leads to revolution and armed conflict in both Byzantium and Rome.

Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.

Fictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in Eastern Europe.

A nobleman becomes the vigilante Robin Hood who protects the oppressed English people from the tyrannical Prince John.

After hearing the story of Moses, the sons of a devout Christian mother go their own ways, and the atheist brother's breaking of the Ten Commandments leads to tragedy.

Adventures of King Richard when he travels with Queen Berangaria, the knights and ladies of his court, and his army of crusaders to Palestine to fight Sultan Saladin and the Saracen hordes for possession of the Holy Land.