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 Bitzer
• The Heir of Pruna House (1904) - Segundo de Chomón
• Annual Baby Parade, 1904, Asbury Park, N.J. (1904) - Alfred C. Abadie
• Opening Ceremonies, New York Subway, October 27, 1904 (1904) - Edwin S. Porter
• Court Ladies Bathing (1904) - unknown
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• How a French Nobleman Got a Wife Through the New York Herald Personal Columns (1904) - Edwin S. Porter
• Personal (1904) - Wallace McCutcheon
• What Happened in the Tunnel (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• New York Subway (1905) - Billy Bitzer
• El Satario (1907) - unknown
• Main Street Movies: The History of Local Films in the United States - Martin L. Johnson