When you can’t find it on Google.

10 Years 10 Films

10 Years 10 Films (10Y10F) is a project to display embedded YouTube selections of world cinema. This series aims to give the audience a quick time-lapse view of how movie technology and style has developed throughout the world – one clip each year – from 1888 through 2017, starting with the foundations to see how filmmakers build upon or deconstruct them. This is not meant to be a “best of” collection (which can be found in abundance from other sources, especially after 1914). Instead, this is a showcase of the frontiers of cinema, aiming to serve as a starting point for the viewer to explore and discover their own favorites.

Great care has been taken to find the most accurate dates for each film and the highest quality videos on YouTube. A more permanent and reliable site (but not as easy to use and navigate through) is Archive.org.* Please comment (with sources) if you have any corrections.

Below is a list of every film highlighted in the series. Click on a header for a detailed post (still photos, world events, embedded YouTube playlist, and cinematic milestones) of that decade.** Currently up to 1957. I’m releasing a couple of decades per year.

This list is also maintained on Letterboxd.com.

Contents:
I 1888-1897,
II 1898-1907,
III 1908-1917,
IV 1918-1927,
V 1928-1937,
VI 1938-1947,
VII 1948-1957

Part 1: 1888-1897

World cinema 1888-1897

  • 1888 – Roundhay Garden Scene (Le Prince; France; 2sec)
  • 1889? Monkeyshines, No. 1 (Dickson & Heise; New Jersey; 30sec)
  • 1905? MISATTRIBUTEDFly (Marey; France; 7sec)
  • 1890 – London’s Trafalgar Square (Crofts & Donisthorpe; England; 1sec)
  • 1891 – Dickson Greeting (Dickson; New Jersey; 3sec)
  • 1892 – Poor Pete (Reynaud; France; 4min)
  • 1893 – Blacksmith Scene (Dickson, New Jersey; 27sec)
  • 1894? Dickson Experimental Sound Film (Dickson; New Jersey; 17sec)
  • 1894 – Falling Cat (Marey; France; 5sec)
  • 1895 – Workers Leaving the Factory [1] (Lumière; France; 45sec)▲1080
  • 1895 – Wintergartenprogramm (Skladanowsky; Germany; 5min)720
  • (1896) 1900 – The Cabbage Fairy (Guy; France; 1min)
  • 1896? House of the Devil / Manoir du diable (Méliès; France; 3min)4K
  • 1897 – The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight (Rector; USA; 20min)720, ▲ portion
  • 1897 – Devil’s Castle / Château hanté (Méliès; France; 40sec)
  • 1897 – The X-Ray Fiend (Smith; England; 44sec)

Part 2: 1898-1907

World cinema 1888-1897

  • 1898 – Santa Claus (Smith; England; 77sec)
  • 1898 – Four Heads Are Better Than One (Méliès; France; 1min)720
  • 1899 – Maple Leaf Viewing (Shibata; Japan; 5min)4K
  • 1899 – Somersaults / Les krémos: Sauts perilleux (Lumière; France; 40sec)720
  • 1900 – The Enchanted Drawing (Blackton; New Jersey; 2min)
  • 1900 – Soldiers of the Cross (Booth; Australia; 22min)
  • 1901? The Maasbrug in Rotterdam (Nöggerath? Netherlands; 85sec)▲1080
  • 1901 – McKinley’s speech at the Exposition (Edison Films; New York; 80sec)
  • 1901 – Star Theatre (Armitage; New York; 70sec)1080
  • 1902 – A Trip to the Moon (Méliès; France; 16min)720
  • 1902 – Miss Dundee and Her Performing Dogs (Guy; France; 3min)
  • 1903 – The Great Train Robbery (Porter; New Jersey; 13min)▲1080
  • 1903 – Alice in Wonderland (Hepworth & Stow; England; 9min)▲1080
  • 1904 – Westinghouse Works (Bitzer; New Jersey; 70min)720
  • 1904 – An Interesting Story (Williamson; England; 4min)720
  • 1905 – The Misadventure… (Mullens; Netherlands; 5min)
  • 1905 – Rescued by Rover (Fitzhamon & Hepworth; England; 7min)720
  • 1906 – The Story of the Kelly Gang (Tait; Australia; 60min?)▲720
  • 1906 – Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (Blackton; New York; 7min)720
  • 1906 – A Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire (Miles; San Francisco; 13min)1080
  • 1907? Dranem Performs ‘The True Jiu-Jitsu’ (Guy; France; 2min)
  • 1907 – The House of Ghosts / La maison ensorcelée (de Chomón; France; 6min)720
  • 1907 – Life and Passion of Christ / La passion… (Nonguet & Zecca; France; 44min)480

Part 3: 1908-1917

World cinema 1908-1917

  • 1908 – Wilbur Wright flying in France (British Pathé; 4min)720
  • 1908 – A Fantasy / Fantasmagorie (Cohl; France; 84sec)4K
  • 1908 – The Assassination of the Duke of Guise / La Mort du duc de Guise (Calmettes & Le Bargy; France; 18min)720
  • 1909 – Moscow Clad in Snow (Mundwiller; Russia; 7min)
  • 1909 – Mark Twain at Stormfield (USA; 3min)
  • 1909 – The Red Man’s View (Griffith; USA; 14min)
  • 1910 – White Fawn’s Devotion (Young Deer; USA; 11min)
  • 1910 – Slippery Jim (Zecca; France; 9min)
  • 1910 – The Abyss / The Woman Always Pays / Afgrunden (Gad; Denmark; 37min)
  • 1910 – Frankenstein (Dawley; New York; 16min)▲1080
  • 1911 – Dante’s Inferno (Bertolini et al; Italy; 68min)
  • 1911 – Banks of the Nile (Urban; England; 6min)
  • 1911 – Tweedledum, Aviator / Robinet aviatore (Perez; Italy; 10min)
  • 1912 – The Cameraman’s Revenge / Mest kinematograficheskogo operatora (Starewicz; Russia; 12min)
  • 1912 – In Night and Ice (Misu; Germany; 34min)
  • 1912 – The Games of the V Olympiad Stockholm (Sweden; 170min)▲1080, clips only
  • 1913 – Fantômas, trailer only (Feuillade; France; 311min)
  • 1913 – Suspense (Weber & Smalley; USA; 10min)
  • 1913 – Raja Harishchandra (Phalke; India; 11min)
  • 1914 – Mabel’s Strange Predicament (Normand; USA; 17min)720
  • 1914 – Gertie the Dinosaur (McCay; USA; 9min)1080
  • 1914 – The Hazards of Helen “Episode 13: The Escape on the Fast Freight” (McGowan; USA; 13min)
  • 1915 – Two Knights of Vaudeville (Ebony Film; USA; 11min)720
  • 1915 – The Cheat (DeMille; USA; 59min)
  • 1916 – Intolerance (Griffith; USA; 163min)720
  • 1916 – The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (Emerson; USA; 25min)
  • 1916 – The Battle of the Somme (Malins; England; 73min)
  • 1916 – A Natural Born Gambler (Williams; USA; 23min)
  • 1917 – A Man There Was / Terje Vigen (Sjöström; Sweden; 56min)
  • 1917 – Coney Island (Arbuckle; USA; 25min)
  • 1917 – The Poor Little Rich Girl (Tournier; USA; 77min)

Part 4: 1918-1927

World cinema 1918-1927

  • 1918 – I Don’t Want to Be a Man (Lubitsch; Germany; 45min)
  • 1918 – A Trip to Mars / Himmelskibet (Holger-Madsen; Denmark; 80min)
  • 1919 – Feline Follies (Messmer; USA; 4min)
  • 1919 – The Tantalizing Fly (Fleischer; USA; 4min)
  • 1919 – The Grey Automobile (Rosas; Mexico; 105min)
  • 1920 – Within Our Gates (Micheaux; USA; 80min)
  • 1920 – The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene; Germany; 75min)
  • 1920 – The Daughter of Dawn (Myles; USA; 76min)
  • 1921 – The Phantom Carriage (Sjöström; Sweden; 106min)
  • 1921 – The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Ingram; USA; 132min)
  • 1922 – Nanook of the North (Flaherty; USA; 78min)
  • 1922 – Nosferatu (Murnau; Germany; 93min)
  • 1922 – Laboror’s Love / Romance of a Fruit Peddler (Shichuan; China; 22min)
  • 1923 – The Smiling Madame Beudet (Dulac; France; 38min)
  • 1923 – Safety Last! (Newmeyer & Taylor; USA; 73min)
  • 1924 – Sherlock Jr. (Keaton; USA; 44min)
  • 1924 – The Epic of Everest [trailer] (Noel; England; 87min)
  • 1924 – The Saga of Gösta Berling (Stiller; Sweden; 183min)
  • 1925 – The Gold Rush (Chaplin; USA; 87min)720
  • 1925 – Battleship Potemkin / Bronenosets Potyomkin (Eisenstein; USSR; 71min)
  • 1925 – The Light of Asia / Prem Sanyas (Osten & Rai; India; 95min)
  • 1925 – The Red Kimono [clip] / The Red Kimona (Lang & Davenport; USA; 78min)
  • 1925 – The Phantom of the Opera (Julian; USA; 105min)
  • 1926 – A Page of Madness / Kurutta Ichipeiji (Kinugasa; Japan; 70min)
  • 1926 – The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Reiniger; Germany; 66min)
  • 1926 – Don Juan [clip] (Crosland; USA; 112min)
  • 1926 – The Black Pirate (Parker; USA; 95min)
  • 1927 – Metropolis (Lang; Germany; 147min)
  • 1927 – Hyas and Stenorrynchus [clip] (Painlevé; France; 9min)
  • 1927 – Women of Ryazan / Baby ryazanskie / The Peasant Women of Riazan (Preobrazhenskaya; USSR; 88min)

Part 5: 1928-1937

World cinema 1928-1937

  • 1928 – The Passion of Joan of Arc / La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc [trailer] (Dreyer; France; 82-110min)▲1080
  • 1928 – Street Angel (Borzage; USA; 102min)1080 $
  • 1928 – Shiraz [trailer] (Osten; India; 105min)▲1080
  • 1929 – Un chien andalou / An Andalusian Dog [trailer] (Dalí & Buñuel; France; 17min)
  • 1929 – The Hollywood Revue of 1929 [clip] (Reisner; USA; 118min)
  • 1930 – Earth Zemlya (Dovzhenko; Soviet Ukraine; 78min)
  • 1930 – The Blue Angel [trailer] (von Sternberg; Germany; 108min)▲1080
  • 1930 – The Hell-Bound Train / Hellbound Train [clip] (Gist; USA; 50min)1080
  • 1931 – Frankenstein (Whale; USA; 71min)480 $
  • 1931 – Mädchen in Uniform / Girls in Uniform [clips] (Sagan; Germany; 88min)▲720
  • 1932 – Merrily We Go to Hell [clips] (Arzner; USA; 78min)720
  • 1932 – Grand Hotel (Goulding; USA; 112min)480 $
  • 1933 – A Night on Bald Mountain / Une nuit sur le mont chauve (Parker & Alexeieff; France; 8min)
  • 1933 – King Kong (Cooper & Schoedsack; USA; 100min)480 $
  • 1934 – Goddess / Shen nu (Wu; China; 78min)
  • 1934 – Belle of the Nineties [clip] (McCarey; USA; 73min)
  • 1935 – Symphony in Black (Waller; USA; 9min)▲720
  • 1935 – A Night at the Opera (Wood; USA; 91min)480 $
  • 1935 – Top Hat (Sandrich; USA; 99min)360 $
  • 1936 – Devdas (Barua; India; 131min)
  • 1936 – Sisters of the Gion / Gion no kyōdai / Gion no shamai (Mizoguchi; Japan; 69min)
  • 1936 – Reefer Madness (Gasnier; USA; 66min)
  • 1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Hand; USA; 83min)▲1080 $
  • 1937 – Heidi [clip] (Dwan; USA; 88min)480 $

Part 6: 1938-1947

World cinema 1938-1947

  • 1938 – Olympia [clip] (Riefenstahl; Germany; 331min)▲1080 $
  • 1938 – Dangerous to Know (Florey; USA; 70min)
  • 1938 – Bringing Up Baby [trailer] (Hawks; USA; 102min)$
  • 1939 – The Wizard of Oz [trailer] (Fleming/Vidor/Thorpe; USA; 101min)▲4K $
  • 1939 – Gulliver’s Travels (Fleischer; USA; 76min)▲720
  • 1940 – You’re Missing the Point / Ahí está el detalle (Bustillo Oro; Mexico; 109min)▲720
  • 1940 – Fantasia [clip] (Disney; USA; 124min)▲1080 $
  • 1940 – The Great Dictator [trailer] (Chaplin; USA; 125min)
  • 1941 – Citizen Kane [opening scene] (Welles; USA; 119min)▲4K $
  • 1941 – Sullivan’s Travels [trailer] (Sturges; USA; 90min)$
  • 1941 – Homeless Angel [clip] / Angels on the Street or Jibeopneun cheonsa (Choi; Korea; 73min)
  • 1942 – Aniki Bóbó [clip] (Oliveira; Portugal; 71min)
  • 1942 – Casablanca [clip] (Curtiz; USA; 102min)
  • 1942 – The Gaucho War (Demare; Argentina; 90min)
  • 1943 – Meshes of the Afternoon (Deren; USA; 14min)
  • 1943 – Stormy Weather [clip] (Stone; USA; 78min)
  • 1943 – This is the Army (Curtiz. USA. 121min)▲1080
  • 1944 – The Uninvited [trailer] (Allen; USA; 99min)
  • 1944 – María Candelaria / Xochimilco (Fernández. Mexico; 97min)
  • 1945 – Rome, Open City [trailer] (Rossellini; Italy; 103min)▲720 $
  • 1945 – Brief Encounter [trailer] (Lean; England; 86min)
  • 1945 – The Battle of San Pietro [public domain] (Huston; USA; 32min)▲1080
  • 1946 – The Lady’s Puppet [clip] (Sameh; Egypt; 100min)
  • 1946 – Neecha Nagar / Lowly City (Anand; India; 122min)
  • 1947 – It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra; USA; 130min) $
  • 1947 – The Spring River Flows East / Tears of the Yang-Tse (Cai & Zheng; China; 192min)
  • 1947 – Fireworks [incomplete version] (Anger; USA; 20min)
  • 1947 – Black Narcissus [trailer] (Powell & Pressburger; England; 100min)

Part 7: 1948-1957

World cinema 1948-1957

  • 1948 – The Red Shoes [screenshots] (Powell & Pressburger; England; 133min)$
  • 1948 – Bicycle Thieves (De Sica; Italy; 89min)
  • 1948 – Strange Victory (Hurwitz; USA; 64min)
  • 1949 – Death is a Caress (Carlmar; Norway; 89min)
  • 1949 – The Emperor’s Nightingale (Trnka & Makovec; Czechoslovakia; 64min)
  • 1950 – Rashomon [trailer] (Kurosawa; Japan; 109min)
  • 1950 – A Song of Love (Genet; France; 25min)
  • 1950 – Sunset Boulevard [clip] (Wilder; Hollywood; 110min)
  • 1951 – Awaara (Kapoor; India; 165min)
  • 1951 – A Streetcar Named Desire [clip] (Kazan; Hollywood; 124min)
  • 1951 – Olivia / The Pit of Loneliness [trailer] (Audry; France; 95min)
  • 1952 – Singin’ in the Rain [clip] (Donen & Kelly; Hollywood; 102min)▲1080 $
  • 1952 – The Happy Family / Mr. Lord Says No (Box; England; 81min)
  • 1953 – The Bigamist (Lupino; Hollywood; 80min)▲4K
  • 1953 – Tokyo Story [trailer] (Ozu; Japan; 136min)
  • 1954 – Carmen Jones [clip] (Preminger; Hollywood; 104min)$
  • 1954 – Godzilla (Honda; Japan; 96min)
  • 1955 – Rio, 40 Degrees C. / Rio, 40 Graus (Pereira dos Santos; Brazil; 91min)
  • 1955 – Rebel Without a Cause [clip] (Ray; Hollywood; 111min)
  • 1956 – A Man Escaped [trailer] (Bresson; France; 101min)
  • 1956 – The Searchers [clip] (Ford; Hollywood; 118min)
  • 1957 – 12 Angry Men [trailer] (Lumet; USA; 96min)▲1080 $
  • 1957 – The Seventh Seal [trailer] (Bergman; Sweden; 96min)
  • 1957 – The Cranes are Flying [trailer] (Kalatozov; USSR; 96min)

Notes

$ Available to buy or rent on YouTube.
4K YouTube video posted in ultra high definition (UHD) 4K.
1080 Full high definition (HD) 1080p.
720 Standard HD.
High quality transfer. (Noting these is a work in progress.)

* The Internet Archive (Archive.org) is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. When YouTube links die, this is a good place to search for similar videos (e.g. this list of Over 100 Silent Films (1878-1922) – silentfilmhouse).

** Film copyrights in the United States are 95 years from publication, so as of 2021, anything before 1926 is considered public domain – although audio recordings are disputable.

Contents:
I 1888-1897,
II 1898-1907,
III 1908-1917,
IV 1918-1927,
V 1928-1937,
VI 1938-1947,
VII 1948-1957

Comments

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