Cecil M. Hepworth

An Essec sailor helps a girl save an heir from his crooked uncle.

A tramp persuades another tramp to let him have a coat off a scarecrow by persuading him it's haunted.

A jealous girl breaks up a friend's engagement with a fake wedding announcement.

An ex-nun weds an amnesia victim and is framed for killing her usurping uncle who posed as her father.

An ex-nun weds an amnesia victim and is framed for killing her usurping uncle who posed as her father.

Anson Dyer's animation made for Hepworth Picture.

An early example of film nostalgia. This lengthy programme put together by filmmaker Cecil Hepworth, largely from films in his own collection, is a look back at history as recorded by the cinematograph. In the industry's early days, films were treated as commodities that were used until their disintegration. If a film was particularly popular it might well be re-staged and re-shot, rather than duplicated. The standardisation of copyrighting practices early in the 20th century stemmed this practice, and gave rise to the primacy of the original film. Compilations such as this sometimes prove to be the means by which otherwise lost films manage to survive. This is the case with Hepworth's 'Musical Ride by Ladies' (1899), which features early in the first reel but did not survive in any other form.

A troupe of gypsies takes a traveler along with them on their day trip.

'Devon. Farming brothers give home to orphan shepherdess evicted for suspected immorality.' (British Film Catalogue)

HELEN OF FOUR GATES was made in Hebden Bridge in 1920 by silent film pioneer Cecil M. Hepworth, based on a popular novel of the same name. Reportedly highly successful when it first opened, the film would later fall into obscurity, with all copies believed to be destroyed. In 2007, a print was discovered in a vault in Canada.

HELEN OF FOUR GATES was made in Hebden Bridge in 1920 by silent film pioneer Cecil M. Hepworth, based on a popular novel of the same name. Reportedly highly successful when it first opened, the film would later fall into obscurity, with all copies believed to be destroyed. In 2007, a print was discovered in a vault in Canada.

A soldier's tunic button, made from Aladdin's lamp, grants his wishes.

Two identical sisters are able to switch places, leading to a series of unfortunate incidents.

Two identical sisters are able to switch places, leading to a series of unfortunate incidents.

'Lady introduces wounded cobbler to Minister of Pensions, who makes him gift from King's Fund.' (British Film Catalogue)

British propaganda piece warning against buying German goods after the war, summer 1918.

A Scottish Laird weds a peasant's niece who falls in love with his nephew.....

A Scottish Laird weds a peasant's niece who falls in love with his nephew.....

A girl wins her rival's fiancé with a fake marriage announcement.

A housekeeper's daughter loves a toper's affianced friend.

A Prussian lieutenant rapes a girl in 1870. He is killed by their son in 1914.

A working knowledge of Morse code and the foresight to pick a train driver for a sweetheart come in handy in this ‘race to the rescue’ thriller. When the wealthy Mr Harvey has to go away on a train journey, a couple of sharp-eyed crooks take the opportunity to burgle his home. Only the live-in maid stands between them and Harvey’s safe. Can our plucky heroine save the day?

A mesmerist, obsessed with putting a beautiful woman under his power, hypnotizes her to try to force her to kill her fiancé. His plans are altered with the appearance of a deadly serpent.

A mesmerist, obsessed with putting a beautiful woman under his power, hypnotizes her to try to force her to kill her fiancé. His plans are altered with the appearance of a deadly serpent.

A mesmerist, obsessed with putting a beautiful woman under his power, hypnotizes her to try to force her to kill her fiancé. His plans are altered with the appearance of a deadly serpent.

A boy uses a professor's liquid to make objects transparent.

A cashier gambles and robs a bank, but returns the money for his mother's sake.

Scenes from the coronation of George V. Included on the BFI DVD "A Royal Occasion".

Scenes from the coronation of George V. Included on the BFI DVD "A Royal Occasion".

Cecil Hepworth’s Vivaphone film features Hay Plumb singing George Robins’ optimistic 1906 ditty concerning the mischievous responses of a poor family to regular visits from the bailiffs.

This is the first film of Burnham Beeches, famous beauty spot and ultimate film location. Cecil Hepworth's 1909 film is the first of many taken in this tract of ancient woodland. The proximity to film studios - Pinewood, Shepperton and Bray - make this a favoured spot for filming. But before the studios were there, the Hepworth Company produced this extraordinary 'stereo scenic' - intended as a filmic equivalent of Victorian stereo cards. This is one of a series of tourist attractions filmed by Gaston Quiribet in a long panning shot from a car, to suggest the glorious photography and aesthetic experience of stereoscopy. -BFI

Dog Rover, from Rescued by Rover fame, chases a kidnapper's car and while he is in a pub, drives it safely home and thus saves the baby.

A boy breaks his sister's doll and it mends, grows, tears him up and eats him.

A boy breaks his sister's doll and it mends, grows, tears him up and eats him.

A dog leads its master to his kidnapped baby.

A dog leads its master to his kidnapped baby.

A man preparing for a trip encounters a series of mysterious problems.

Documentary on the process of hay-making, from the cutting of the grass to the stacking of the hay.

Six scenes: A child knocks clothes into fire; alarm at station; engines emerge; engines rush down street; arrival; fireman breaks through wall and saves child.

This is the first movie version of the famous story. Alice dozes in a garden, awakened by a dithering white rabbit in waistcoat with pocket watch. She follows him down a hole and finds herself in a hall of many doors.

This is the first movie version of the famous story. Alice dozes in a garden, awakened by a dithering white rabbit in waistcoat with pocket watch. She follows him down a hole and finds herself in a hall of many doors.

This is the first movie version of the famous story. Alice dozes in a garden, awakened by a dithering white rabbit in waistcoat with pocket watch. She follows him down a hole and finds herself in a hall of many doors.

This is the first movie version of the famous story. Alice dozes in a garden, awakened by a dithering white rabbit in waistcoat with pocket watch. She follows him down a hole and finds herself in a hall of many doors.

This is the first movie version of the famous story. Alice dozes in a garden, awakened by a dithering white rabbit in waistcoat with pocket watch. She follows him down a hole and finds herself in a hall of many doors.

A professor eating his lunch at his work table becomes suspicious of the taste of his cheese. He puts a slice under the nearby microscope. But the crawling creatures thus revealed aren't quite what one might expect.

A professor eating his lunch at his work table becomes suspicious of the taste of his cheese. He puts a slice under the nearby microscope. But the crawling creatures thus revealed aren't quite what one might expect.

Survey of the Boer war with reconstructions and actualities.

King of Iran, travel to Europe.

King of Iran, travel to Europe.

A policeman is run over by an automobile

A legless beggar with a sign around his neck saying "cripple" pushes himself slowly and laboriously on a trolley along the pavement, soliciting alms from sympathetic passers-by. A policeman gradually approaches from the distance. Feeling suspicious, he taps the beggar on the shoulder, whereupon the beggar leaps up in a panic and runs away on his perfectly functional legs. The policeman trips over the trolley before recovering his footing and setting off in pursuit.

TRICK. Two bathers arrive at a river, disrobe at the water's edge and dive in. The action is then reversed and the men are seen leaving the water feet first and their clothes fly back on their bodies.

TRICK. Two bathers arrive at a river, disrobe at the water's edge and dive in. The action is then reversed and the men are seen leaving the water feet first and their clothes fly back on their bodies.

TRICK. Two bathers arrive at a river, disrobe at the water's edge and dive in. The action is then reversed and the men are seen leaving the water feet first and their clothes fly back on their bodies.

An early trick film where a car explodes and body parts fall from the sky. A policeman witnesses and attempts to piece the remains back together.

An early trick film where a car explodes and body parts fall from the sky. A policeman witnesses and attempts to piece the remains back together.

As the camera looks down an open road, a horse and carriage approaches, and passes by to one side of the field of view. Soon afterwards, an automobile comes up the road, straight towards the camera. As it gets nearer, the occupants start to wave frantically, but can a collision be avoided?

As the camera looks down an open road, a horse and carriage approaches, and passes by to one side of the field of view. Soon afterwards, an automobile comes up the road, straight towards the camera. As it gets nearer, the occupants start to wave frantically, but can a collision be avoided?

Directed by Cecil M. Hepworth.

A Victorian vaudeville routine is given the big screen treatment with camera tricks galore.Three characters straight off the vaudeville stage - the mischievous tramp, the anarchic clown and the hapless bobby - duke it out here in a sketch involving an exploding gunpowder barrel. Plenty of camera tricks help the characters appear and disappear at just the right moments. Made by Hepworth & Co., this film was presumably a welcome relief to audiences tiring of bad news from the Boer War; Hepworth’s own catalogue for 1900 contained a great deal of footage from South Africa.

Filmed from the front of a steam launch in a late Victorian summer, this film offers a glimpse of our 19th century ancestors enjoying their leisure time. The River Thames is crowded with pleasure boats as we glide under Henley Bridge. Ladies in white lace dresses recline under parasols as gentlemen with impressive moustaches take the oars. But even in this antiquated idyllic scene, advertising hoardings on the riverbank try to persuade the moneyed classes to part with their cash. The technique of placing the camera on a moving vehicle, here a boat, was one of the most popular film effects in the very early cinema period. The waterside panorama method employed here was particularly popular for travelogues. Cecil Hepworth, who made this film, was convinced at the time that the cinema would prove to be used mostly for news reporting, but said that work such as this "showed some slight perception of scenic value". That makes this almost an early art film. -BFI

This is a ladies cycling display by the Catford Cycling Club in the summer of 1899 in London, England.

This is a ladies cycling display by the Catford Cycling Club in the summer of 1899 in London, England.

Early footage of Queen Victoria’s funeral.