Oscar Wilde film adaptations are, as a rule, done in by actors arching their eyebrows and pausing for applause after delivering some of the wittier lines.

Maybe that's why I love the 1925 silent LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN so much. Lubitsch captured the spirit without overplaying his hand.

I'm sorry, I cannot be bothered to tell your talking pictures apart. Seems to me a huge hassle.

And if anyone objects to tossing all the talkies in one box, I would argue that a Pre-Code film has more in common with Avatar than Roundhay Garden Scene has with Metropolis but everyone is fine putting all the silents in one box

This varies by person and I may change my mind from day to day but how I divide eras of American film:

Lascaux Cave-1895= Pre-Cinema
1895-1904-ish= Early Film
1904/1905-1912/1913= Nickelodeon Era
1912-1919= Early Feature Era
1920-1927= Studio Feature Era
1927-Present= Talkies

Now that I have your attention, I would just like to say, I think we can all agree, Ivan Mosjoukine.

THE WISHING RING (1914) is an adorable romantic comedy about a runaway heir posing as a gardener who falls for the vicar's kleptomaniac daughter.

The French liked westerns so much that they produced their own in the Camargue marshes prior to WWI. Oui!

Alice Guy made a comedy about a visibly pregnant woman on a crime spree because she has the munchies.

Alice does not need your help or consolation prizes.

You gotta forgive me. I big everyday irritation with silent movies is people arguing with me when they have not actually seen the movies they are arguing about. (Not all of them are lost and a great many are online for free.)

Or when they argue with me about the content of a film based on a GIF.

And it's always phrased as "If you disagree with me, you hate women!"

I'm women! I also like to get stuff right and don't want to be pandered to with faked firsts. Alice Guy is plenty amazing all on her own without being fluffed up by phony firsts. Have we learned nothing?

I personally argue for THE SPRINKLER SPRINKLED as an earlier example of a narrative film but THE EXECUTION OF MARY STUART (both 1895) is also a contender. Some people also argue for BLACKSMITHING SCENE (1893).

Choose your poison, really.

Disclaimer Because Both AI and Factoid Grrl Power TikTok Have Been Spreading This:

This is a remake of an earlier film that Alice Guy also directed. The 1896 version is sometimes erroneously described as the first movie with a plot or first narrative film. It is not.

The fairy gently sets the new baby on the ground (thunk!) in THE CABBAGE PATCH FAIRY (1900)

Screen DW Griffith in class and you get a bunch of racist propaganda.

Screen Alice Guy pictures and you get a larcenous poodle with his purloined sausages.

The choice is yours.