All Recommendations
Turn-of-the-Century Surgery
George Mélies made a version of this a few years later, often titled Une Indigestion, but Guy-Blaché’s earlier film Chirurgie Fin de Siecle (1900) is more widely available. And it’s not one to watch the night before an operation. In this clinic, a sign pleads “On est prie de ne pas crier/Please do not cry”, and the doctors set about the patient with saws, cheerily hacking off limbs, and then slopping them into a bucket, all the while arguing ferociously with each other. They then reattach arms and legs from a bucket of “exchange pieces” (using glue) before re-animating their victim, I mean patient, with bellows. (from http://silentlondon.co.uk/2015/01/23/10-disgusting-moments-in-silent-cinema/)
Eccentric Dance
"Danse excentrique" (Gaumont #587) is part of the "Miss Lina Esbrard. Danseuse cosmopolite et serpentine" series of 4 films, and should not be confused with "Danse serpentine" (Gaumont #588, the only extant film in the series), "Danse fantaisiste" (Gaumont #589) or "La Gigue" (Gaumont #590).
Kitchen
A simple depiction of the work in the kitchen of a restaurant. Eric M. Nilsson and cinematographer Åke Åstrand attempt to get as close as possible to reality, without any commentary.
Stournara 288
Through the narration of a tenant of a block of flats on 288 Stournara street, we watch the everyday stories of people living in the city, their problems, their comic situations and their love affairs.
Sacred Earth
A healing journey through the most beautiful and sacred places in the American Southwest.
Home
A tormented woman believes a rare planetary alignment is actually a cosmic message from her distant interstellar home.
The Naked Runner
Sam Laker is an American industrialist, working in Britain, who has just been awarded an international award for industrial design. He is planning to travel to East Germany to attend a trade show and show off his invention, taking his 10 year old son with him for a holiday. Meanwhile a British Intelligence officer who served with Laker in the Second World War decides to use the opportunity of Laker's trip and his lack of an intelligence profile to coerce him into carrying out an assassination.
Sales images
"The problem is the filming of unstylized reality in such a way that the result does have a style." Part of the tradition of radical cinema the energetic collage of "Sales images" is organized sonic and visual chaos that - citing Magritte ("This is not a pipe") - addresses the issue of representation and illusion.
Gypsies
This film shows the gipsies' life in Hungary, the prejudices they are faced with when adapting themselves to society and the gipsies' ancient customs which often defy adaptation.
Alì Babà e i pirati
Director Zlata Potancokova Belli is behind this engaging, colorful animated tale. The story follows young Ali Baba who, with his little sister, embarks on a seafaring journey in search of his missing father and brother. Aboard a huge ship owned by the Sultan, they are hit by a tremendous and violent storm, and end up shipwrecked on a desert island.
Mallory
After his protégé is killed during an unauthorized intervention, Major Mallory has now only one goal: to find his killers. However, he will have to compromise with the young Captain Lindberg sent from Paris to supervise the investigation.
The Distant Relative
The distant relative is a scheming woman who installs herself as the guardian of the two orphan girls and then tries to gain possession of their ranch. Cowboy friends of the orphan girls expose the schemer and her accomplice.
Flow
A turbulent day in a life, painted by air.
Manon Lescaut
"Manon", wrote Puccini to his publisher Giulio Ricordi in 1889, "is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot fail to win the heart of the public." This turned out to be a truly prophetic statement since none of Puccinis other world successes were received on their first nights as rapturously as Manon Lescaut. The popularity of Puccinis great masterpiece has never waned and the highly acclaimed Götz Friedrich production at Covent Garden was hailed as an operatic milestone. Two of the worlds leading stars--Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo--head a strong cast conducted by the brilliant Italian conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli.