While the “nickelodeon boom” began in the United States and the global film industry was standardizing certain production elements, many of the conversations for this 1905 season turned to how wide the modes of moviemaking still were, resulting in strange yet beautiful experiments. As this year’s five guests have shown, cinema in even in an apparently obscure period such as the mid-1900s can still yield up riveting viewing experiences.

Films mentioned:

• The Misadventure of a French Gentleman Without Pants at the Zandvoort Beach (1905) - Albert and Willy Mullens
• Coney Island at Night (1905) - Edwin S. Porter
• New York Subway (1905) - Billy Bitzer
• The Night Before Christmas (1905) - Edwin S. Porter
• Rescued by Rover (1905) - Cecil Hepworth and Lewin Fitzhamon
• The Miller’s Daughter (1905) - Edwin S. Porter and Wallace McCutcheon
• An Adventurous Automobile Trip (1905) - Georges Méliès
• The Palace of the Arabian Nights (1905) - Georges Méliès
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter