← Schools
1890s – 1920s

Early and Pioneering Cinema

The first generation of filmmakers invented the basic techniques of cinema: trick effects, editing, the feature film and the epic.

Cinema began as a fairground novelty and became an art in about thirty years. The Lumière brothers filmed everyday life in 1895, Georges Méliès turned the camera into a magician's tool, and Edwin S. Porter and D.W. Griffith worked out continuity editing, cross-cutting and the close-up that let a story be told through images alone. Alice Guy-Blaché and Lois Weber were among the first to direct fiction, and Louis Feuillade made serials that audiences followed week after week. By the 1920s the epic, the comedy and the feature film were all established, and Hollywood was becoming the industry's centre.

Where
France, the United States, with early work in Britain, Italy and Japan
When
1895 to the late 1920s
Key figures
Lumière brothers, Georges Méliès, Edwin S. Porter, D.W. Griffith, Alice Guy-Blaché, Lois Weber, Louis Feuillade
Landmark films
A Trip to the Moon (1902), The Great Train Robbery (1903), The Birth of a Nation (1915), Les Vampires (1915)
Legacy
Invented the grammar of editing, framing and storytelling that all later cinema still uses

What to look for

  • Trick effects, stage-like sets and painted backdrops
  • Single-reel shorts growing into feature-length epics
  • Acting and storytelling carried entirely by image and gesture

Famous Directors

Georges MélièsFranceD.W. GriffithUSAAbel GanceFranceLouis LumièreFranceEdwin S. PorterUSAAlice Guy-BlachéFrance / USACecil B. DeMilleUSATeinosuke KinugasaJapanLouis FeuilladeFranceWalter RuttmannGermanyLois WeberUSAOscar MicheauxUSA

Top films · 63 films

  1. Napoléon 1927 · Abel Gance · IMDb 8.2
  2. A Trip to the Moon 1902 · Georges Méliès · IMDb 8.1
  3. The Ten Commandments 1956 · Cecil B. DeMille · IMDb 7.9
  4. J'accuse 1919 · Abel Gance · IMDb 7.7
  5. The Homesteader 1919 · Oscar Micheaux · IMDb 7.7
  6. Intolerance 1916 · D.W. Griffith · IMDb 7.6
  7. Barrabas 1920 · Louis Feuillade · IMDb 7.6
  8. The Impossible Voyage 1904 · Georges Méliès · IMDb 7.4
  9. La Roue 1923 · Abel Gance · IMDb 7.4
  10. Suspense 1913 · Lois Weber · IMDb 7.4
  11. Way Down East 1920 · D.W. Griffith · IMDb 7.3
  12. Orphans of the Storm 1921 · D.W. Griffith · IMDb 7.3
  13. Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat 1896 · Louis Lumière · IMDb 7.3
  14. The King of Kings 1927 · Cecil B. DeMille · IMDb 7.3
  15. A Page of Madness 1926 · Teinosuke Kinugasa · IMDb 7.3
  16. Les Vampires 1915 · Louis Feuillade · IMDb 7.3
  17. Broken Blossoms 1919 · D.W. Griffith · IMDb 7.2
  18. The Great Train Robbery 1903 · Edwin S. Porter · IMDb 7.2
  19. Judex 1916 · Louis Feuillade · IMDb 7.2
  20. Crossroads 1928 · Teinosuke Kinugasa · IMDb 7.1
  21. Gate of Hell 1953 · Teinosuke Kinugasa · IMDb 7.1
  22. Tih Minh 1918 · Louis Feuillade · IMDb 7.1
  23. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City 1927 · Walter Ruttmann · IMDb 7.1
  24. True Heart Susie 1919 · D.W. Griffith · IMDb 6.9
  25. Isn't Life Wonderful 1924 · D.W. Griffith · IMDb 6.9
  26. Melody of the World 1929 · Walter Ruttmann · IMDb 6.9
  27. Shoes 1916 · Lois Weber · IMDb 6.9
  28. The Ten Commandments (1923) 1923 · Cecil B. DeMille · IMDb 6.8
  29. Un grand amour de Beethoven 1936 · Abel Gance · IMDb 6.7
  30. The Consequences of Feminism 1906 · Alice Guy-Blaché · IMDb 6.7
  31. The Musketeers of Pig Alley 1912 · D.W. Griffith · IMDb 6.6
  32. Falling Leaves 1912 · Alice Guy-Blaché · IMDb 6.6
  33. The Blot 1921 · Lois Weber · IMDb 6.6
  34. Cinderella 1899 · Georges Méliès · IMDb 6.5
  35. Hearts of the World 1918 · D.W. Griffith · IMDb 6.5
  36. The Greatest Show on Earth 1952 · Cecil B. DeMille · IMDb 6.5
  37. Life of an American Fireman 1903 · Edwin S. Porter · IMDb 6.4
  38. Hypocrites 1915 · Lois Weber · IMDb 6.4
  39. Within Our Gates 1920 · Oscar Micheaux · IMDb 6.4
  40. Mater Dolorosa 1917 · Abel Gance · IMDb 6.2
  41. Austerlitz 1960 · Abel Gance · IMDb 6.2
  42. Judith of Bethulia 1914 · D.W. Griffith · IMDb 6.2
  43. The Sprinkler Sprinkled 1895 · Louis Lumière · IMDb 6.2
  44. Where Are My Children? 1916 · Lois Weber · IMDb 6.2
  45. Body and Soul 1925 · Oscar Micheaux · IMDb 6.2
  46. The Vanishing Lady 1896 · Georges Méliès · IMDb 6.0
  47. Lucrezia Borgia 1935 · Abel Gance · IMDb 6.0
  48. The Birth of a Nation 1915 · D.W. Griffith · IMDb 6.0
  49. The "Teddy" Bears 1907 · Edwin S. Porter · IMDb 6.0
  50. Weekend (1930) 1930 · Walter Ruttmann · IMDb 6.0
  51. Baby's Meal 1895 · Louis Lumière · IMDb 5.9
  52. The Haunted Castle 1896 · Georges Méliès · IMDb 5.7
  53. Abraham Lincoln 1930 · D.W. Griffith · IMDb 5.7
  54. Algie the Miner 1912 · Alice Guy-Blaché · IMDb 5.7
  55. The Kleptomaniac 1905 · Edwin S. Porter · IMDb 5.6
  56. The Squaw Man 1914 · Cecil B. DeMille · IMDb 5.6
  57. Fantômas 1913 · Louis Feuillade
  58. The Orphan Girl 1921 · Louis Feuillade
  59. Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory 1895 · Louis Lumière
  60. Lichtspiel: Opus I 1921 · Walter Ruttmann
  61. The House Behind the Cedars 1927 · Oscar Micheaux
  62. Yukinojo's Revenge 1935 · Teinosuke Kinugasa
  63. The Cabbage Fairy 1896 · Alice Guy-Blaché