
The Morning Alarm
Genres
Overview
“This shows the Fire Department leaving headquarters for an early morning fire. The scene is remarkable for its natural effect. The opening of the engine house doors, the prancing of the horses, and even the startled expression upon the faces of the spectators are all clearly depicted.” -Edison Films, 1897. 150 ft. strip, filmed December 25, 1896 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Details
Budget
$0
Revenue
$0
Runtime
1 min
Release Date
1896-12-31
Status
Released
Original Language
Vote Count
13
Vote Average
3.8
7.0
The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk
Film historians, and survivors from the nearly 30-year struggle to bring sound to motion pictures take the audience from the early failed attempts by scientists and inventors, to the triumph of the talkies.
2007-09-02 | en
6.8
Silent Britain
Long treated with indifference by critics and historians, British silent cinema has only recently undergone the reevaluation it has long deserved, revealing it to be far richer than previously acknowledged. This documentary, featuring clips from a remarkable range of films, celebrates the early years of British filmmaking and spans from such pioneers as George Albert Smith and Cecil Hepworth to such later figures as Anthony Asquith, Maurice Elvey and, of course, Alfred Hitchcock.
2006-05-31 | en
5.3
The Photographical Congress Arrives in Lyon
Down the gangway, photographers leave the deck of a riverboat in large numbers.
1895-06-12 | fr
7.1
The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat
A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.
1896-06-30 | fr
4.7
Railway Station
Kieslowski’s later film Dworzec (Station, 1980) portrays the atmosphere at Central Station in Warsaw after the rush hour.
1980-01-01 | pl
7.5
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.
1927-09-23 | de
7.1
Nanook of the North
This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.
1922-06-11 | en
7.8
Laurel & Hardy: Their Lives and Magic
The lives of Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), on the screen and behind the curtain. The joy and the sadness, the success and the failure. The story of one of the best comic duos of all time: a lesson on how to make people laugh.
2011-12-28 | de
5.5
Apache 8
This is the story of the courageous all-female Apache 8 firefighting unit which has protected their reservation and responded to wildfires around the nation for 30 years. This group, which recently became co-ed, earned the reputation of being fierce, loyal and dependable--and tougher than their male colleagues. Despite facing gender stereotypes and the problems that come with life on the impoverished reservation, the women became known as some of the country's most elite firefighters. The film focuses on four women from different generations of Apache 8 crewmembers who speak tenderly and often humorously of hardship, loss, family, community and pride in being a firefighter.
2011-11-04 | en
6.2
One Got Fat
This bicycle-safety film shows children what can happen when bicycles are driven carelessly and recklessly.
1963-12-01 | en
3.0
R. F. Outcault Making a Sketch of Buster and Tige
Buster Brown creater R.F. Outcault sketches his creation. Part of the Buster Brown series for Edison film studio.
1904-03-12 | en
7.0
The Epic of Everest
The official record of Mallory and Irvine's 1924 expedition. When George Mallory and Sandy Irvine attempted to reach the summit of Everest in 1924 they came closer than any previous attempt. Inspired by the work of Herbert Ponting (The Great White Silence) Captain Noel filmed in the harshest of conditions, with specially adapted equipment, to capture the drama of the fateful expedition.
1924-12-01 | en
6.5
The New Apartment
A commissioned film for Schweizerischer Werkbund (SWB), Die neue Wohnung was produced for the Basel architectural and interior design exhibition, WOBA, to demonstrate innovative aspects of modern architecture and highlight their differences from the event’s highly conservative approach. Despite its ad campaign roots, Richter's touch is not absent; The surviving version, aimed at a "bourgeois" Swiss public, presents decluttered, functional architecture and decor as superior to the traditional and luxurious "ancient" ways of living.
1930-12-31 | de
7.0
Of Pups and Puzzles
This short film shows how the war department utilizes a Ph.D., a chimp, and three dogs to help design aptitude tests for men applying for work.
1941-09-06 | en
5.0
Panorama of Machine Co. Aisle
A camera on an overhead crane travels down a large, long aisle where men are shown working on large machinery on either side. Carts carrying equipment are shown traveling on rails down the aisles. There are also men walking in the aisles. From Bitzer's Westinghouse Works series.
1904-05-01 | en
6.2
Bugs!
Explore the extraordinary hidden world of insects, where a leaf weighs more than a car, rain drops feel like exploding hand grenades and a blade of grass soars like a skyscraper. Shot on location in the Borneo rainforest, Bugs! brings the beautiful and dangerous universe of its tiny stars up close and personal with cutting-edge technology that magnifies them up to 250,000 times their normal size.
2003-07-24 | en
5.8
Hurricane on the Bayou
The film "Hurricane on the Bayou" is about the wetlands of Louisiana before and after Hurricane Katrina.
2006-07-29 | en
5.2
Carmencita
The first woman to appear in front of an Edison motion picture camera and possibly the first woman to appear in a motion picture within the United States. In the film, Carmencita is recorded going through a routine she had been performing at Koster & Bial's in New York since February 1890.
1894-03-14 | xx
5.6
Blacksmithing Scene
Three men hammer on an anvil and pass a bottle of beer around. Notable for being the first film in which a scene is being acted out.
1893-05-08 | xx
6.3
Roundhay Garden Scene
The earliest surviving celluloid film, and believed to be the second moving picture ever created, was shot by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince using the LPCCP Type-1 MkII single-lens camera. It was taken in the garden of Oakwood Grange, the Whitley family house in Roundhay, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire (UK), possibly on 14 October 1888. The film shows Adolphe Le Prince (Le Prince's son), Mrs. Sarah Whitley (Le Prince's mother-in-law), Joseph Whitley, and Miss Harriet Hartley walking around in circles, laughing to themselves, and staying within the area framed by the camera. The Roundhay Garden Scene was recorded at 12 frames per second and runs for 2.11 seconds.
1888-10-14 | en