Early Cinema Gateway
Dead Sites
None of these sites is active any longer, but some may be traced through the archives of the Wayback Machine.
- Aaron Marshall's Interactive Webplace ("Selling the West")
An essay on the use of film by the Canadian Pacific Railway in the marketing of Canada to potential emigrants in the 1890s and 1900s, including reference to the Living Canada series made by the Charles Urban Trading Company. - Anima
Charl Lucassen's remarkable site includes some hypnotic animations of the work of 19th century sequence photographers, or chronophotographers, such as Eadweard Muybridge (a wide selection available), E-J. Marey and Albert Londe, in a section entitled Chronophotographical Projections. There are other sections showing animations of the proto-cinema work of Wordsworth Donisthorpe and Louis Le Prince, and optical toys. In Dutch and English. - Attilio Porcari
Extensively illustrated site of a collector of still and motion picture cameras, including early cameras such as the Lumière Cinématographe and the Demeny Chronophotographe. Text mainly in Italian. - The Bioscope
Family history site devoted to the Studts and Wadbrook Bioscope showmen, who operated at travelling fairs in South Wales at the turn of the century. - Bizarre Stuff
This site on 'classic home science experiments' includes two pages on optical toys, including the Phenakistiscope, the Thaumatrope and the Zoetrope, with instructions on how to build your own. - The Chaplin Society
Formed in 1999, the Chaplin Society aims to be a focus for all those with a general and scholarly interest in Chaplin worldwide. The site gives the society's general aims, news of events and screenings, and links to numerous other Chaplin sites. - The Eadweard Muybridge Bequest
"The Father of the Motion Picture" was born in Kingston-upon-Thames, and this plain but practical site gives details of the Kingston Museum's considerable Muybridge collection and is very much geared towards those with study interests in Muybridge. The site supercedes the earlier Eadweard Muybridge of Kingston Upon Thames, which is nevertheless still up and a good introduction to Muybridge's work. - Ernest Ouimet - un moment dans la vie culturelle des Montréalais
Basic account of Canadian film pioneer Ouimet, with contemporary news reports. In French. - The Human Motor
Part of a site, Building Better Humans, on a scientific project to map the human body, which has good information on the chronophotography of Marey and Muybridge. - Lanternists and Lantern Showmen
Some detailed and entertaining accounts of magic lantern operators in mid-19th century Australia, taken from local press reports. - Lillian Gish Homepage
Gushing fan site with too little material of interest. - POP Digital Film
Digital effects film company with a section on its site devoted to the history of visual effects, including a good basic account of colour photography and cinematography, including a page on Kinemacolor. - Questions Regarding the Genesis of Nonfiction Film
A stimulating essay on early non-fiction filmmaking, its essence, problems of definition, and neglect by film scholars, by Japanese scholar Komatsu Hiroshi. - A Trip to the Moon
A simple, engaging site dedicated to Georges Méliès' Voyage Dans La Lune, with an essay on the film, Méliés' own outline and commentary for the film, film stills, and extracts from the associated imaginative literature of Wells, Verne, Poe and others.