Cinema a century ago was a new, exciting and highly democratic form of entertainment. Picture houses nationwide offered a sociable, lively environment in which to relax and escape from the daily grind. With feature films still rare, the programme was an entertaining, ever-changing roster of short items with live musical accompaniment. 100 years on, this special compilation from the BFI National Archive recreates the glorious miscellany of comedies, dramas, travelogues and newsreels which would have constituted a typical night out in 1914. Our selection includes a comic short about a face-pulling competition, a sensational episode of The Perils of Pauline, scenes of Allied troops celebrating Christmas at the Front, and an early sighting of one of cinema’s greatest icons.

An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s.

Terreur (Terror) is historically significant as Pearl White's last film.

Various groups of people, both well-intentioned and otherwise, search for a buried treasure that is buried underneath a skyscraper.

Silent film comedy drama..

Desperate because a wealthy man has reduced her father to thievery, Rhoda agrees to rob the poor box of the church, although she finds the act abhorrent.

A beautiful young woman is a daring master thief. She meets the young millionaire Thomas Babbington Norton, while fleeing from the scene of her latest theft.

Adventures of an American Secret Service-girl in search of an important German secret during the war.

A young heiress of an American gun factory is threatened by a masked man after her father was murdered. This criminal might be a member of her family or a German agent, who wants to get information about the factory's products, perhaps his mystery has a combined solution - we will probably never know...

A silent movie serial directed by George B. Seitz.

In this tale of the South in the mid-1800s, Annabel Lee and Warner Richmond get married, but they keep the wedding a secret so that Warner can inherit the fortune of his misogynist grandfather. But after the grandfather's death, Warner dumps Annabel for an opera singer. Warner destroys the evidence of his first marriage so he can wed the singer, who then takes his money and leaves him.

Only Episode 7, "The Hooded Helper," of this 20-Episode Serial is known to survive. All other episodes are believed to be lost.

The story tells of the adventures of an unusual young duke, whose father, the old Grand Duke of Kiev, coveted the wife of Count Dardinilis, his colonel of Huzzars; of the old Grand Duke's plot to get her for himself; of her accidental death at the hands of his Cossacks, and of the colonel's escape with his little daughter to America. The young Grand Duke, now an orphan, comes to America to complete his education.

A 1916 movie serial.

The heroine had little time for romancing newspaper reporter Walter Jameson, what with Doctor X, alias Marcus Del Mar, threatening American democracy in general and master detective Craig Kennedy's designs for a new torpedo in particular. Whenever Doctor X has Elaine or Jameson in his grasp, they are inevitably saved in the nick of time by a mystery figure garbed in black.

A silent action movie serial.

Elaine Dodge is the beautiful young daughter of Taylor Dodge, president of the Consolidated Insurance Company. When Mr Dodge is murdered by a mysterious cloaked figure known only as the Clutching Hand, Elaine enlists the aid of Craig Kennedy to unmask the killer

The Perils of Pauline is a motion picture serial shown in weekly installments featuring the actress Pearl White playing the title character. Pauline has often been cited as a famous example of a damsel-in-distress, although viewers will find her character more resourceful and less helpless than the classic 'damsel' stereotype. Nine episodes (from a condensed 1916 re-release) survive to this day.

Though Mr. and Mrs. Gray are supposed to be in comfortable circumstances, the husband has met business reverses and has been declared a bankrupt. It is after the wife has just completed a lavish social that he tells her. Disgruntled, she goes with him to live at a cheap apartment house. Pearl White starred in the Crystal FILMS short THE RING in 1914, just months before starting work at the Pathe studio on her break-out hit serial THE PERILS OF PAULINE.

Pearl White as a sleepwalking jewel thief.

Pearl White & Chester Barnett want to go on a date and have nothing to wear, so they borrow some clothes....

Pearl mistakes a janitor for a member of the Black Hand.

Chester is Pearl's sweetheart. Her father dislikes Chester. He reads in a book of the great superiority of mind over matter, by the proper exercise of the will and determines to try it on Chester. This he does and wills that Chester leave his house. In the middle of a conversation with Pearl, Chester suddenly rushes from the room. This state of affairs continues on and off, until Pearl by accident came across the book and understands her beau's strange actions. The next time Chester calls, Pa again wills that he go, but Pearl wills that he remain and Chester is kept running in and out of the house until Pearl's superior and stronger will wins and he remains. Pa sinks exhausted and consents to allowing Chester's attentions to Pearl

Released as a split reel along with the comedy Almost a Winner (1913)

A maid and butler take advantage of their employers' absence and have a party.

A young woman calls in a plumber to fix her radiator, igniting a string of romantic complications.

Short directed by Joseph A. Golden.

A man is captured by Indians after swearing off all women.

Esoomgit tries to stop Red Doe from sacrificing herself for their tribe.