A man attempts to shave with a blunt razor.

An old man gets progressively livelier - and drunker - as he downs his bottle of beer. Finally, he cocks a snook - and doesn't bother to uncock it as he continues to drink.

Possibly the first film to utilize the technique of focus pulling. A man kisses a beautiful and lively woman, then the image blurs and dissolves into a clear image of the man waking up to his nagging wife.

Compilation of 7 short scenes: ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’; ‘Old Mother Hubbard’; ‘Little Miss Muffet’; ‘Goosey Gander’; ‘Jack and Jill’; ‘Old Woman in a Shoe’; ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’. Only the last one is known to have survived and to be available to watch.

Lovers are comically interrupted

A conversation between two gents perks up when the see a picture in a magazine. A 'facial' comedy by GA Smith.

A romantic couple are transformed into skeletons via X-Rays. The film combines two very recent innovations: Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895, and Georges Méliès' accidental realisation of the special-effects potential of the jump-cut in 1896.

A scene from Charles Dickens' Bleak House.

A man shaves, back to the camera, face reflected in a mirror.

A man comes in for a shave in this film of a popular stage act.