All but one of the picks from Lawrence Napper, senior lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College London, come from the huge trove of discovered Mitchell & Kenyon films. These fascinating records of everyday life in Victorian and Edwardian England and the United Kingdom lead to an array of exciting tangents, while Lawrence also uses his one fictional choice to make a resonant comparison between repeat film viewing and traditional religious ceremonies.

Lawrence’s publications include The Great War in Popular British Cinema: Before Journey’s End (2015) and Silent Cinema: Before the Pictures Got Small (2017). He is a regular on the KinoQuickies podcast and occasionally blogs at https://atthepictures.photo.blog/. Currently he is developing a book length study of The Opening of the Benton New Bank Tram Route (1913). Lawrence also hosts the annual British Silent Film Festival Symposium each spring at King’s College London.

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

Films and resources mentioned:

• Ride on the Tramcar through Belfast (1901) - unknown
• Panoramic View of the Morecambe Sea Front (1901) - unknown
• Manchester Band of Hope Procession (1901) - unknown
• Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost (1901) - Walter R. Booth
• Bailey’s Royal Buxton Punch and Judy Show in Halifax (1901) - unknown
• Rescued by Rover (1905) - Cecil Hepworth
• A Daring Daylight Burglary (1903) - Frank Mottershaw
• Mary Jane's Mishap (1903) - George Albert Smith
• Buy Your Own Cherries (1904) - Robert W. Paul
• The Big Swallow (1901) - James Williamson
• The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) - Brian Henson
• Megalopolis (2024) - Francis Ford Coppola
• La Chienne (1931) - Jean Renoir
• Tram Ride into Halifax (1902) - unknown
• Movies under the Influence (2024) - Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece