Georges Méliès was the most imaginative and enthusiastic filmmaker of early cinema, so it's appropriate that his masterpiece tops this list. "A Trip to the Moon" contains one of the most amusing and fantastic narratives of the early history of story films to showcase the many special-effect "trick shots" cinema-magician Méliès had been perfecting since, at least, 1896. Justly, this was one of the most popular films of its time and remains the favorite film from early cinema to this day.

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Probably the second most popular film from early cinema to this day and which was also very popular in its own time, this early story film took that staple of American fiction, the Western, to create a dramatic action picture. "The Great Train Robbery" also built upon an early film genre of crime chase flicks.

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This film lacks the narrative entertainment value of the first two selections on this list (as well as of many of those listed below). The comedy is actually rather stupid and racist. But, it's, perhaps, the most technically cutting-edge film from early cinema. No other picture from so early in film history features such extensive editing within scenes, including match cuts between establishing shots and close-ups.

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This is the first of one of my favorite types of films, which are those about movies themselves. In this primitive original, a countryman overreacts to images he views on the screen, including of his own doppelgänger. The Edison Company remade it as Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902).

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This is only a single-shot scene lasting a couple minutes, but it's the most emotionally affecting piece of early cinema. Most of these early films are interesting for their history and don't engage us in the way this tear-jerker does. The visions the little match seller projects are also a profound metaphor on the power of cinema.

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Anyone who claims that D.W. Griffith invented the close-up obviously hasn't seen the films of George Albert Smith. If anyone can claim authorship of the cinematic close-up, it's Smith. Earlier films featured medium or medium close-up shots, but Smith's films, such as this one and Grandma's Reading Glass, undoubtedly showcased bonafide point-of-view close-ups. In other films, such as the above-listed "Mary Jane's Mishap," he also introduced the more common insert close-up shot.

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"The Kingdom of the Fairies" is one of Georges Méliès's best féeries, or fairy films, where fairies and witches try to guide and thwart the hero in his fantastical adventures. In this one, a prince ventures the depths of the sea to discover an entire kingdom of fairies. These films are best viewed in hand-colored prints.

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D.W. Griffith's "A Drunkard's Reformation" is, indeed, an overly-preachy melodrama on the ills of alcoholism. Yet, it's also quite interesting for its play-within-the-play that mirrors the outer narrative, the cutting between reverse-angle shots of the play and the spectators, and an especially well-lit final tableau.

At the turn of the decade, D.W. Griffith at Biograph was changing the way movies were made forever. And he was doing this largely by the use of editing to tell exciting or dramatic narratives. Here, he used parallel-action crosscutting for social commentary on the contrasts between the rich and poor. In other films, he used rapid crosscutting to enhance the tension and excitement of last-minute rescues.

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In lieu of placing an example of D.W. Griffith's last-minute-rescue films on this list (e.g. "The Lonely Villa" (1909)), I may as well, instead, include what appears to be the original last-minute-rescue film, for which Griffith was obviously influenced. The Pathé film "The Physician of the Castle" features what became the formula for this sub-genre: damsels in distress as criminals attack and men racing from afar to the rescue of said damsels. This race usually requires modern means of transportation--a car in this instance--a train in other incarnations--as well as the telephone (or, at least, telegraph) for communication between the damsels and heroes. The importance in film history of these films was their rapid crosscutting.

"Bluebeard" is another féerie, or fairy film, from cinemagician Georges Méliès. The fairy godmother, a dream sequence and Méliès's usual theatrical style are present. This one is a bit more macabre in parts due to the source material than other féeries, and the film contains some continuity editing that is somewhat unusual for a Méliès film.

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This is an otherwise typical example of the early-cinema chase genre, as well as the crime genre, except for its introduction of extended use of reverse-angle shots and some other innovative techniques, such as non-traditional camera placement and staging.

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People who've seen this film on the "Movies Begin" DVDs and other sources haven't seen the entire film. In its entirety (most of which does exist), it's a four-shot picture, which was rare enough in 1900, where there are, perhaps, the first instances ever of crosscutting and reverse-angle shots.

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"Rescued by Rover" was a popular reworking of the chase genre format. Here, the filmmakers achieved smooth transitions and a good continuity in following a dog as it rescues a child from a kidnapper.

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This early multi-shot story film by James Williamson (who also made "The Little Match Seller" (1902) and "Attack on a China Mission," both of which appear above on this list) is outstanding for its continuity across shots. It's also one of the many early films about firefighting, which was a popular subject in fiction and nonfiction films. This film in particular was surely of great influence on Edwin S. Porter's 1903 film Life of an American Fireman.

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Frequently credited in early-film history texts as one of the first chase films, "Personal" was a popular subject that is also interesting for the legal history of the film in copyright lawsuits between Biograph, the company that made it, and the Edison Company, which (among other companies to do so) made their own plagiarized version of the film. The chase genre is important in film history for their continuity of action across multiple shots, which influenced the emergence of the story, or narrative, film.

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This early nonfiction film, or proto-documentary, is one of the most technically competent productions of its kind from this early in film history. This includes the adoption of editing techniques used in fiction films of the era, as well as using special lighting for the production of the film. It's also an example of what Tom Gunning calls a "process" film, as it's about the industrial manufacture process of making biscuits (a.k.a. cookies).

The other subgenre of early nonfiction film outlined by Tom Gunning is the "place" film, or "scenic." This interior view of a New York subway is also a phantom-ride film, as the camera's view is from the perspective of the front of a subway car. The film is only a one-shot, but the resulting lighting and optical effects are remarkable. It was filmed by G.W. "Billy" Bitzer, who later in this decade became D.W. Griffith's cinematographer.

This film is usually credited as the first photographed animation film. It begins with J. Stuart Blackton exhibiting his "lightning sketches," which then become animate. Reportedly, the chalkboard animation was accomplished via stop-motion, cutouts and some frame-to-frame hand-drawn alterations. Blackton further pioneered trick photography and animation in such films as "The Haunted Hotel" (1907) and "Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy" (1909), as well as having been a co-founder of the Vitagraph studio.

And this film by Émile Cohl is generally credited as the first traditionally animated film--photographing slightly altered drawings made on paper. By photographing on negative film, however, the animation appears similar to the chalkboard style used by Blackton (mentioned above) and also likewise features the artist's hand in live-action parts. Morphing figures, as seen here, have continued to be a staple of animation film.

For a different and female perspective of the Passion of Christ, this film by Gaumont's Alice Guy, the first female filmmaker ever, is interesting.

One of the earliest feature-length films, this passion play from Pathé adopts as much from the trick shots and style of the films of cinemagician Georges Méliès as it does from the New Testament.

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This trick film by R.W. Paul and Walter R. Booth has the benefit over the trick films of Georges Méliès in that it isn't confined to the stage and Méliès's insistence on always using dissolves to transition between shot-scenes. The result here is a smoother, more continuous and cinematic picture that's a lot of fun.

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Walter R. Booth made this film after leaving the employ of R.W. Paul. This narrative trick film features an imaginative Zeppelin invasion of England, which proved to be quite prescient since about five years later Germany tried exactly that during WWI. The film also features a primitive tank and fighter biplanes, as well as a funky-looking surface-to-air missile. In retrospect, the film seems more remarkable not for its unoriginal trick photography but for its science fiction turning out to be eerily accurate.

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