A list of science fiction films released before the 1920s. These films include core elements of science fiction and are widely available with reviews by reputable critics or film historians.
| Title | Director | Cast | Country | Subgenre/Notes |
| 1895 |
| La Charcuterie mécanique | Lumière Brothers | No casts included | France | Short film[1] |
| 1897 |
| Gugusse et l'Automate | Georges Méliès | Georges Méliès | France | Short film,[2] lost |
| The X-Rays | George Albert Smith | | United Kingdom | Short film | |
| 1898 |
| Les rayons Röntgen | Georges Méliès | | France | lost film |
| The Astronomer's Dream | Georges Méliès | | France | |
| 1902 |
| A Trip to the Moon | Georges Méliès | Georges Méliès | France | Short film |
| 1904 |
The Impossible Voyage
Le Voyage à travers l'impossible | Georges Méliès | Georges Méliès, Fernande Albany, Jehanne d'Alcy | France | Short film |
| 1907 |
Under the Seas
AKA Deux Cents Milles sous les mers ou le Cauchemar du pêcheur
AKA 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | Georges Méliès | Georges Méliès | France | Short film |
| The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and the Moon | Georges Méliès | Georges Méliès | France | |
| 1908 |
| El hotel eléctrico | Segundo de Chomón | Segundo de Chomón | Spain | Short film[3][4] |
| 1909 |
| Airship Destroyer | Walter R. Booth | | United Kingdom | Short film[5] |
| Viaje al planeta Júpiter | Segundo de Chomón | Segundo de Chomón | Spain | Short film[3][4] |
| 1910 |
| Frankenstein | J. Searle Dawley | Augustus Phillips, Charles Stanton Ogle, Mary Fuller | United States | Short film |
| Viaje al centro de la tierra | Segundo de Chomón | Segundo de Chomón | Spain | Short film[3][4] |
| 1911 |
| The Aerial Anarchists | Walter R. Booth | | United Kingdom | Short film, lost film |
| Little Moritz enlève Rosalie | Henri Gambard | | France | Short film |
| 1912 |
| Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | Lucius J. Henderson | James Cruze, Florence La Badie | United States | Short film | |
| The Conquest of the Pole | George Melies | George Melies | France | Short film |
| 1913 |
| Amerika – Europa im Luftschiff | Alfred Lind | | Germany | |
| Le avventure straordinarissime di Saturnino Farandola | Marcel Fabre | | Italy | |
| A Message from Mars | J. Wallett Waller | | United Kingdom | |
| 1915 |
| Der Kraftmeier | Ernst Lubitsch | Ernst Lubitsch | Germany | |
| Der Tunnel a.k.a The Tunnel | William Wauer | Friedrich Kayssler, Fritzi Massary, Hermann Vallentin, Felix Basch | Germany | |
| William Voss | Rudolf Meinert | | Germany | |
| 1916 |
| 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | Stuart Paton | Leviticus Jones, Allen Holubar | United States | |
| Homunculus | Otto Rippert | Olaf Fønss, Friedrich Kuehne | Germany | Serial film[6] |
| Tales of Hoffmann | Richard Oswald | Erich Kaiser-Titz, Werner Krauss | Germany | |
| Titanenkampf | Joseph Delmont | Erich Kaiser-Titz | Germany | |
| Verdens Undergang | August Blom | Alf Blütecher, Olaf Fønss, Johanne Fritz-Petersen | Denmark | [7] |
| 1917 |
| Himmelskibet | Holger-Madsen | Ole Olsen | Denmark | |
| 1918 |
| Alraune | Michael Curtiz, Edmund Fritz | Géza Erdélyi, Gyula Gál | Hungary | |
| Alraune, die Henkerstochter, genannt die rote Hanne | Eugen Illés, Joseph Klein | Max Auzinger, Joseph Klein | Germany | |
| The Master Mystery | Burton King | Harry Houdini, Ruth Stonehouse, William Pike, Floyd Buckley | United States | Serial film[8][9] |
| The Star Prince | Madeline Brandeis | Zoe Rae, Dorphia Brown | United States |
A Trip to Mars
AKA Himmelskibet | Holger-Madsen | Gunnar Tolnæs, Zanny Petersen, Nicolai Neiiendam | Denmark | | |
| 1919 |
| Die Arche | Richard Oswald | Leo Connard, Eva Speyer | Germany | |
| The First Men in the Moon | Bruce Gordon, J.L.V. Leigh | Bruce Gordon, Heather Thatcher, Lionel d'Aragon | United Kingdom | lost film |
| The Mistress of the World | Joe May | Mia May, Michael Bohnen, Hans Mierendorff | Germany | |
See also
References
- ^ Hardy, Phil (1994). The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction. Overlook Press. p. 19. ISBN 0-87951-626-7.
- ^ Benson, Michael (2002). Fighting Robots: A Guide to Radio-controlled Combatants. Citadel Press. p. 15. ISBN 0-8065-2372-7.
- ^ a b c Jiménez, Jesús (18 February 2012). "La ciencia ficción, un género tan raro en el cine español como estimulante". rtve (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 February 2016.
- ^ a b c Merelo, Alfonso (14 December 2004). "Ecine de ciencia ficción en españa: Una aproximación". Ciencia-ficcion.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 February 2016.
- ^ Paris, Michael (1995). From the Wright brothers to Top gun: aviation, nationalism, and popular cinema. Manchester University Press. p. 16. ISBN 0-7190-4074-4.
- ^ Prince, Stephen (2004). The Horror Film. Rutgers University Press. p. 22. ISBN 0-8135-3363-5.
- ^ Mitry, Jean (1965). Filmographie Universelle (in French). Vol. 5. Paris, France: Institut des hautes études cinématographiques. p. 155.
- ^ Wollstein, Hans J. (2009). "The Master Mystery (1918)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-06-29. Retrieved 2009-06-19.
- ^ Telotte, J. P. (1999). A Distant Technology: Science Fiction Film and the Machine Age. Wesleyan University Press. p. 100. ISBN 0-8195-6346-3.
External links
