The genesis of the motion picture medium is vividly recreated in this unprecedented collection of the cinema's formative works. More than crucial historical artifacts, these films reveal the foundation from which the styles and stories of the contemporary cinema would later arise. An animated rendering of Eadweard Muybridge's primitive motion studies (1877-85) begins the program, immediately defining the compound appeal of cinema as both a scientific...

It's November of 1962, and Bruce Reynolds is gathering a group of men together with the intent of robbing a Royal Mail train bound for London from Glasgow. The gang holds a practice robbery in the London Heathrow Airport to see if they're ready, and then, on August 8, 1963, they rob the train of over Đ2.6 million. Six of Scotland Yard's finest police officers are called in to investigate the case, determined to not only recover the stolen money,...

"To an outlaw like Joel Kelly, a fat payroll would be irresistible. So the railroad detectives baited their ambush carefully. Sacks bulging with gold were loaded on the train. Then the news was ⁰́₋leaked⁰́₊ so Kelly would hear it. But, in addition to the bullion, armed agents disguised as passengers were planted in the cars. This time, Joel Kelly -- the West's most notorious buccaneer -- would be cut down in a murderous crossfire of singing...

"In 1923 Shanghai, native and foreign travelers alike are enthralled by the establishment of a new railway line to distant Peking. With this new line comes the Peking Express, a luxurious express train on the cutting edge of China's continental transportation. Among those drawn to the train are oil heiress Lucy Aldrich, journalist John Benjamin Powell, and vacationing Army Majors Roland Pinger and Scott Allen, wives and children in tow. These errant...

"In the boomtown of Dover Station, Montana, tracks have been laid and everyone's looking to make a fortune, lawfully or not. And the law has something to say about it--one bullet at a time . . .DOVER STATION--WHERE DEATH RIDES FASTER THAN THE WIND. A rash of deadly train robberies has the chief investor of Dover Station feeling itchier than a quick draw without a target. And he wants Sheriff Aaron Mackey to scratch that itch with every bullet his...

It begins with a spectacular train robbery--a brilliantly planned, brutally executed heist masterminded by a shadowy gang of conspirators with far deadlier motives than money or gold. Their mission: to steal the train's shipment of powerful explosives. Their goal: to assassinate Mexico's legendary resistance leader Benito Juarez. As a lifelong patriot himself, Joe O'Malley understands the struggle for freedom. As a proud Texan, he knows the importance...

"Sam Bass was just a farm boy from Indiana, but he wound up in Texas and became one of the most notorious outlaws in the history of the Old West. Texas history has often referred to Bass as "Texas' Beloved Bandit" or "Robin Hood on a Fast Horse." Jerry Guin's historical novel The Bandit takes an unflinching look at the life and times of Sam Bass, from his almost accidental incursion into a life of lawlessness to his ill-fated end, and provides a vivid...

In vibrant historical detail, American Eclipse animates the fierce jockeying that came to dominate late nineteenth-century American astronomy, bringing to life the challenges faced by three of the most determined eclipse chasers who participated in this adventure. With memorable accounts of train robberies and Indian skirmishes, David Baron's page-turning drama refracts nineteenth-century science through the mythologized age of the Wild West, revealing...