Film historian Ian Christie rewires Tristan’s brain a bit in this episode, as Ian draws parallels between the early film “adaptation” and the tableaux painting, both of which benefit from contemporary shared pathos. During the discussion of his five picks, among other things, he also provides insight into the Anglo-Boer War and the actuality genre’s dominance in 1901 even as trick films still draw our contemporary eyes.

Ian is an author and Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London. Among his many works are the book Robert Paul and the Origins of British Cinema (2019) and the TV production The Last Machine (1995), both of which are discussed in this episode.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1901!

Films and resources mentioned:

• Panorama of Ealing from a Moving Tram (1901) - William K.L. Dickson
• The Man with the Rubber Head (1901) - Georges Méliès
• The Big Swallow (1901) - James Williamson
• The Death of Poor Joe (1901) - George Albert Smith
• The Waif and the Wizard (1901) - Walter R. Booth
• Leaving Jerusalem by Railway (1897) - Alexandre Promio
• Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost (1901) - Walter R. Booth
• Santa Claus (1898) - George Albert Smith
• Hugo (2011) - Martin Scorsese
• The Launch of H.M.S. Albion (1898) - Robert Paul