Bryony Dixon is the curator of silent film at the BFI National Archive and her picks for the 1800s reflect that expertise. Bryony discusses five British films that are emblematic of key developments in the earliest days of film, which align with the end of the Victorian era that she details in her book The Story of Victorian Film.

Bryony is also the author of 100 Silent Films and has written numerous articles and book chapters on silent cinema and archiving. She is co-director of the British Silent Film Festival and has programmed films for many international festivals. She has been lead curator on a number of the BFI’s recent film restorations, including Underground (1928), Shooting Stars (1927), Epic of Everest (1924), The Great White Silence (1924), all nine surviving Hitchcock silent films, and the BFI’s large format Victorian films. Her Twitter is @bryonydixon.

Visit https://www.the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own five favorites of the 1800s for a final tally in the season finale!

Films and resources mentioned:

• Children Dancing with Barrel Organ (1898) - Charles Goodwin Norton
• Santa Claus (1898) - George Albert Smith
• Panoramic View of the Vegetable Market at Venice (1898) - William K.L. Dickson
• The Miller and the Sweep (1897) - George Albert Smith
• Launch of H.M.S. Albion (1898) - Robert W. Paul
• Launch of H.M.S. Albion at Blackwall (1898) - E.P. Prestwich
• The Battle of Midway (1942) - John Ford
• History of the Kinetograph, Kinetoscope and Kinetophonograph - William K.L. Dickson and Antonia Dickson