The Dancing Skeleton

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.

A boy steps on the hose a gardener is using to water his garden. The gardener, surprised to see the jet stop, examines the nozzle; at that moment the boy lifts his foot; the jet starts up again and the gardener gets water in the face; furious, he runs after the boy and gives him a beating.

“The workers leave the Lumière factory.” Workers pass through the gate of the Lumière factory and are followed by a carriage drawn by two horses.

Angelic and demonic serpentine dance from dawn of cinema. Hand-colored frame by frame. Lumière no. 765 or 765.1 (colorized, different dancer?).

Passersby stroll through the market aisles.

Two babies, sitting next to each other in their chairs, are playing with their toys, but one of them takes a doll from the other, causing the latter to burst into tears.

A crowd leaves the cinema and disperses into the street while cabs circulate or park.

In very bad weather and a stormy sea, a small boat manned by two men is trying to leave the harbor of La Ciotat, while several people are watching them from the nearby pier.

A group of four children, circle dancing.

Circulation of passers-by and cars in the paved street on the occasion of the Tsar's coronation.

Passengers disembarking in the port of Nice.

While his aide continuously turns the handle of the bellows, keeping hot a small furnace in front of him, a blacksmith is pounding a piece of metal on an anvil, then plunges the shaft into a tub of water, causing a cloud of vapor in the process.

A mounted Mexican president poses for the camera.

King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy stepping down a staircase, followed by their escort, before climbing into a horse-drawn carriage.

On the terrace of a villa, a violinist, two pianists and a singer are playing, until they are interrupted by a false note.

Asian and Near Eastern diplomats and royalty file past the camera on their way to the coronation of Czar Nicholas II of Russia.