The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever

Michigan State University professor Joshua Yumibe has spent much of his research career examining color in silent film (and beyond). Having that particular lens, it makes sense that all of his picks contain some aspect of color, most of them quite spectacular.Joshua is the author of Moving Color: Early Film, Mass Culture, Modernism and co-author of Fantasia of Color in Early Cinema and Chromatic Modernity: Color, Cinema, and Media of the 1920s. He is also an editor of Screen and of the Contemporary Film Directors at the University of Illinois Press.Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1906!Films and resources mentioned:The Witch (1906) - Georges MélièsMiniature Theatre (1906) - Gaston VelleTit-for-Tat (1906) - Gaston VelleThe Butterflies (1906) - unknownLe chemineau (1906) - Albert CapellaniAnnabelle Serpentine Dance (1895) - William K.L. DicksonThe Merry Frolics of Satan (1906) - Georges MélièsThe Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship (1905) - Georges MélièsThe Legend of Rip Van Winkle (1906) - Georges MélièsBob’s Electric Theatre (1909) - unknownAn Adventurous Automobile Trip (1905) - Georges MélièsGrandma’s Reading Glass (1900) - George Albert SmithMickey’s Garden (1935) - Wilfred JacksonUnder the Skin (2013) - Jonathan GlazerThe Wizard of Oz (1939) - Victor FlemingLes Misérables (1934) - Raymond BernardLes Misérables (1925) - Henri FescourtLes Misérables (1912) - Albert CapellaniThe Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) - D.W. GriffithDiscovering Cinema: Learning to Talk & Movies Dream in Color

Oliver Gaycken, Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, has a particular interest in early cinema and popular science. That perspective is brought to bear on most of his five picks, including both fiction and nonfiction films.Oliver is the author of Devices of Curiosity: Early Cinema and Popular Science. His articles have appeared in Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television, Science in Context, Journal of Visual Culture, Early Popular Visual Culture, Screen, and the collection Learning with the Lights Off.Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1906!Films and resources mentioned:A Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire (1906) - Harry MilesA Visit to Peek Frean and Co.’s Biscuit Works (1906) - unknownLa neuropatologia (1906) - Roberto OmegnaHumorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) - J. Stuart BlacktonThe Vacuum Cleaner (1906) - Segundo de Chomón[warning] Electrocuting an Elephant (1903) - Edwin S. PorterThe Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) - Charles TaitSan Francisco Earthquake & Fire: April 18, 1906 (1906) - unknownDream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) - Edwin S. PorterEureka (1974) - Ernie GehrTom, Tom, the Piper’s Son (1969) - Ken JacobsDawson City: Frozen Time (2016) - Bill MorrisonNew York Subway (1905) - Billy BitzerThe Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. PorterThe Big Swallow (1901) - James WilliamsonLa Séparation de Doodica-Radica (1902) - Eugène-Louis Doyen[warning] Epileptic Seizure nos. 1-9 (1905) - Walter G. ChaseThe Enchanted Drawing (1900) - J. Stuart BlacktonFantasmagorie (1908) - Émile CohlGertie the Dinosaur (1914) - Winsor McCayA Lightning Sketch (Chamberlain) [1896] - Georges MélièsThe Magnetized Man (1906) - Louis FeuilladeFantômas (1913) - Louis FeuilladeLes vampires (1915) - Louis FeuilladeDr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) - Fritz Lang“‘Experiments of Destruction’: Cinematic Inscriptions of Physiology” - Lisa CartwrightPicturing Time: The Work of Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904) - Marta Braun“The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century”Medicine on Screen

Mario Slugan, Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, has literally written the book on fiction in early cinema. With that background and research in mind, he selects four films that may fit into what we consider narrative before turning to a standout “nonfiction” film that looms large for 1906.Mario has written three other monographs, including the upcoming Taking Fiction Film Seriously. He is also co-editor of New Perspectives on Early Cinema History and the special double issue of Early Popular Visual Culture, "Early Cinema in the British Colonies.”Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1906!Films and resources mentioned:The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) - Charles TaitThe ? Motorist (1906) - Walter R. BoothThe Merry Frolics of Satan (1906) - Georges MélièsThe Consequences of Feminism (1906) - Alice Guy-BlachéA Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire (1906) - Harry MilesUncle Tom’s Cabin (1903) - Edwin S. PorterHamilton (2020) - Thomas KailAmerican Utopia (2020) - Spike LeeThe Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. PorterHow It Feels to Be Run Over (1900) - Cecil HepworthJurassic Park (1993) - Steven SpielbergThe Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - Martin ScorseseThe Temptation of Saint Anthony (1898) - Georges MélièsThey Shall Not Grow Old (2018) - Peter Jackson

Carl Bennett, publisher and editor of silentera.com, has run the crucial resource covering the first decades of film since 1999. He selects five films reflecting the growing trend of narrativization of cinema, with one notable exception in his conclusion.Carl’s site provides information about silent motion pictures, silent era people, the era’s theatres, documentation and reviews of home video editions of silent films, book reviews, and more.Films and resources mentioned:The Spring Fairy (1906) - Vincent Lorant-HeilbronnThe ? Motorist (1906) - Walter R. BoothDream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) - Edwin S. PorterThe Merry Frolics of Satan (1906) - Georges MélièsA Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire (1906) - Harry MilesThe Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962) - Edward BerndsThe Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. PorterA Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges MélièsSchindler’s List (1993) - Steven SpielbergAn Adventurous Automobile Trip (1905) - Georges MélièsThe Automatic Motorist (1911) - Walter R. BoothThe Impossible Voyage (1904) - Georges MélièsHugo (2011) - Martin ScorseseNosferatu (1922) - F.W. MurnauThe Phantom of the Opera (1925) - Rupert JulianIntolerance (1916) - D.W. Griffith

From changes in distribution and exhibition to formal firsts (with caveats), 1906 carries just a few pieces of oft-cited film history. But this season, on a year that is still very much part of cinema's earliest growth spurts, illustrates the heterogenous landscape of global filmmaking at the time and the thrills it can still offer today.Films mentioned:The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) - Charles TaitHumorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) - J. Stuart Blackton

While the “nickelodeon boom” began in the United States and the global film industry was standardizing certain production elements, many of the conversations for this 1905 season turned to how wide the modes of moviemaking still were, resulting in strange yet beautiful experiments. As this year’s five guests have shown, cinema in even in an apparently obscure period such as the mid-1900s can still yield up riveting viewing experiences.Films mentioned:The Misadventure of a French Gentleman Without Pants at the Zandvoort Beach (1905) - Albert and Willy MullensConey Island at Night (1905) - Edwin S. PorterNew York Subway (1905) - Billy BitzerThe Night Before Christmas (1905) - Edwin S. PorterRescued by Rover (1905) - Cecil Hepworth and Lewin FitzhamonThe Miller’s Daughter (1905) - Edwin S. Porter and Wallace McCutcheonAn Adventurous Automobile Trip (1905) - Georges MélièsThe Palace of the Arabian Nights (1905) - Georges MélièsThe Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter

Film historian and author Mary Mallory has written five books about cinematic yesteryear. With her research of past traditions and underappreciated figures in mind, Mary selects some films that reflect the intermediality of early film and its basis in stage tricks, poetry, and even postcards, while others demonstrate new cinematic inventions.Mary’s most recent book is First Women of Hollywood: Female Pioneers in the Early Motion Picture Business. She is also a lecturer for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and blogger for the LA Daily Mirror.Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1905!Films mentioned:The Living Playing Cards (1905) - Georges MélièsNew York Subway (1905) - Billy BitzerRescued by Rover (1905) - Cecil Hepworth and Lewin FitzhamonThe Night Before Christmas (1905) - Edwin S. PorterThe Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog (1905) - Edwin S. PorterThe Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. PorterGone with the Wind (1939) - Victor FlemingThe Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) - Henry Selick

Chris O’Rourke, Associate Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick, explores the early history of film acting, stardom and fandom in Britain up to the end of the silent era in his book Acting for the Silent Screen: Film Actors and Aspiration between the Wars. While film acting wasn’t quite a specific discipline in 1905, that distinction would arise sooner than one might think, and in the meantime, Chris’ picks explore UK innovations in editing, pace, and length, French spectacle, and American actuality.Chris also developed the website London's Silent Cinemas, which mapped early film exhibition sites across the city. His other research interests include queer and trans film history and he is one of the editors of the academic journal Early Popular Visual Culture.Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1905!Films and resources mentioned:Rescued by Rover (1905) - Lewin Fitzhamon and Cecil HepworthThe Life of Charles Peace (1905) - William HaggarThe Black Imp (1905) - Georges MélièsThe Hen that Laid the Golden Eggs (1905) - Gaston VelleConey Island at Night (1905) - Edwin S. PorterThe International Exchange (1905) - Lewin FitzhamonThe Lonely Villa (1909) - D.W. GriffithThe Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. PorterHistory of a Crime (1901) - Ferdinand ZeccaThe Life of Charles Peace (1905) - Frank S. MottershawA Terrible Night (1896) - Georges MélièsKing of Dollars (1905) - Segundo de ChomónDown in the Coal Mines (1905) - Ferdinand Zecca and Lucien NonguetThe Strike (1904) - Ferdinand ZeccaThe Boarding School Girls (1905) - Edwin S. PorterBerlin: Symphony of a Metropolis (1927) - Walter RuttmannThe “Teddy” Bears (1907) - Wallace McCutcheon and Edwin S. PorterSpirited Away (2001) - Hayao MiyazakiSunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) - F.W. Murnau

Scott Curtis, associate professor of radio/film/television and communication at Northwestern University, has published extensively on the use of moving images in scientific and medical research, education, and communication. That particular interest certainly informs most of his picks, but the conversation also includes the spectacle of sound and fantasy.Scott is the author of The Shape of Spectatorship: Art, Science, and Early Cinema in Germany. He is the former president of Domitor, the international society for the study of early cinema.Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five of 1905!Films and resources mentioned:New York Subway (1905) - Billy BitzerConey Island at Night (1905) - Edwin S. PorterFive O’Clock Tea (1905) - Alice Guy-BlachéThe Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship (1905) - Georges MélièsEpileptic Seizure nos. 1-9 (1905) - Walter G. ChaseElectrocuting an Elephant (1903) - Edwin S. PorterA Crazy Composer (1905) - Georges MélièsThe Infernal Cake Walk (1903) - Georges MélièsThe One-Man Band (1900) - Georges MélièsThe Dirigible ‘Homeland’ (1907) - Alice Guy-BlachéSurgical Operation (1905) - unknownUp-to-date Surgery (1902) - Georges MélièsTurn-of-the-Century Surgery (1900) - Alice Guy-BlachéA Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges MélièsThe Impossible Voyage (1904) - Georges MélièsSilent Film Sound - Rick AltmanScreening the Body: Tracing Medicine’s Visual Culture - Lisa Cartwright

Shawn Hall brings his love of silent films to new audiences through his Shawn Toks Silents TikTok account, where he is currently working his way through reviewing each movie on Silent Era’s Top 100 Silent Movies List. He stretches back a little bit further than most silent film enthusiasts, however, by exploring 1905 through films of “serious” topics and advancing forms of comedy and feel-good stories.Shawn also writes his long-form thoughts on silent cinema and early Hollywood at his blog The Everyday Cinephile.Films and resources mentioned:The Misadventure of a French Gentleman Without Pants at the Zandvoort Beach (1905) - Albert and Willy MullensRevolution in Russia (1905) - Lucien NonguetA Trip to Salt Lake City (1905) - Billy BitzerThe Night Before Christmas (1905) - Edwin S. PorterThe Nihilist (1905) - Wallace McCutcheon Sr.Greed (1924) - Erich von StroheimMetropolis (1927) - Fritz LangKid Auto Races at Venice (1914) - Henry LehrmanBattleship Potemkin (1925) - Sergei EisensteinA Night at the Opera (1935) - Sam WoodSanta Claus (1898) - George Albert SmithWhite Christmas (1954) - Michael CurtizThe Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. PorterJack and the Beanstalk (1902) - Edwin S. PorterPersonal (1904) - Wallace McCutcheon Sr.The Suburbanite (1904) - Wallace McCutcheon Sr.The Red Rooster Scare - Richard AbelThe Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907 - Charles Musser

Dan Willard’s interest in film was fostered by a viewing of Eraserhead in 1977 and a number of UCLA film classes. In more recent years and reflecting the depths of his cinephilia, that has manifested in his extensive Films by the Year site and YouTube channel, which have been linked to many times in this very show’s notes (in this case, ranging from comedy and the féerie to “message films” and naturalism).Dan is also a professional musician, composer, producer, and teacher and is currently working on an online History of Western Art Music.Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five of 1905!Films and resources mentioned:First Night Out (1905) - Louis J. GasnierRescued by Rover (1905) - Cecil Hepworth and Lewin FitzhamonThe Kleptomaniac (1905) - Edwin S. PorterThe Palace of the Arabian Knights (1905) - Georges MélièsDown in the Coal Mines (1905) - Ferdinand Zecca and Lucien NonguetEraserhead (1977) - David LynchThe Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. PorterThe Ex-Convict (1904) - Edwin S. PorterThe Little Train Robbery (1905) - Edwin S. PorterThe Barber of Seville (1904) - Georges MélièsA Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges MélièsThe Kingdom of the Fairies (1903) - Georges MélièsThe Impossible Voyage (1904) - Georges MélièsConey Island at Night (1905) - Edwin S. PorterThe Strike (1904) - Ferdinand ZeccaGerminal (1913) - Albert Capellani

The year 1905 pops up early in many film histories to address the start of the "nickelodeon era." As past seasons have shown, the Harris brothers' Pittsburgh storefront wasn't truly the first space dedicated to showing movies, but it and others shifted the needle in forming the activity of moviegoing. This season and its guests address the unification of the global "trade" of filmmaking and the changing aesthetics that supported that.Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1905!

This season’s conversations about film in 1904 often turned to the “awkwardness” of finding standout titles and defining the most representative developments in the art, business, and reception of cinema. Nevertheless, this year’s five guests presented exciting threads of potential futures that, in many ways, were resolved into the narrative model one expects a few years later.Films mentioned:Court Ladies Bathing (1904) - unknownHow a French Nobleman Got a Wife through the New York Herald Personal Column (1904) - Edwin S. PorterA Butterfly’s Metamorphosis (1904) - Gaston VelleDog Factory (1904) - Edwin S. PorterThe Impossible Voyage (1904) - Georges MélièsThe Suburbanite (1904) - Wallace McCutcheonBarcelona Park at Twilight (1904) - Segundo de ChomónBurglars at Work (1904) - Gaston VelleThe Christmas Angel (1904) - Georges MélièsA Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges MélièsPersonal (1904) - Wallace McCutcheon

Film preservationist Céline Ruivo brings an eye for color and pre-cinema to her five early cinema picks for 1904. From scientific intent to fantasy, and industrialism and modernity in between, she demonstrates how an apparently unmemorable year like 1904 can still provide great insight into the art and technology of cinema at the time.Céline holds a doctorate in cinema and teaches film preservation at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). She is currently in charge of film restoration projects with two European cinémathèques and also directed the documentary Cinégraphies, les femmes de la tempête (2023).Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1904!Films and resources mentioned:Panorama of Machine Co. Aisle (1904) - Billy BitzerThe Flight of a Crane Fly (1904) - Lucien BullThe Impossible Voyage (1904) - Georges MélièsA Butterfly’s Metamorphosis (1904) - Gaston VelleThe Strike (1904) - Ferdinand ZeccaA Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges MélièsThe Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. PorterWorkers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895) - Louis LumièreAlcohol and its Victims (1902) - Ferdinand ZeccaDown in the Coal Mines (1905) - Ferdinand ZeccaLe cinématographe des magiciens: 1896-1906, un cycle magique - Frédéric Tabet

Martin L. Johnson, film historian and Associate Professor in English and Comparative Literature at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has literally written the book on local films in the United States. While most of his picks fit into that definition, he also brings comic chases and early filmic nudity into the conversation.Martin is also co-president of Domitor, the international society for the study of early cinema. He is currently completing a monograph on the history of the advertising film and co-editing, with Liz Clarke, a forthcoming collection on silent cinema that features films that expand, complicate, and deepen our understanding of silent era film.Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1904!Films and resources mentioned:Girls Winding Armatures (1904) - Billy BitzerThe Heir of Pruna House (1904) - Segundo de ChomónAnnual Baby Parade, 1904, Asbury Park, N.J. (1904) - Alfred C. AbadieOpening Ceremonies, New York Subway, October 27, 1904 (1904) - Edwin S. PorterCourt Ladies Bathing (1904) - unknownA Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges MélièsThe Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. PorterHow a French Nobleman Got a Wife Through the New York Herald Personal Columns (1904) - Edwin S. PorterPersonal (1904) - Wallace McCutcheonWhat Happened in the Tunnel (1903) - Edwin S. PorterNew York Subway (1905) - Billy BitzerEl Satario (1907) - unknownMain Street Movies: The History of Local Films in the United States - Martin L. Johnson