• Air date: 30 Sep '95 6 episodes
      The origin of European cinema, from its infancy as a novelty created by French inventors Auguste and Louis Lumière to its flourishing as the pinnacle of film-making in the silent era and as a serious commercial contender against America.
  • List of Episodes (6)
    • 1. Where It All Began

      01 Oct '95
      Highlighting the world's first public presentation of films in Paris, the comedies by Max Linder, Abel Gance's J'Accuse and the onset of World War I.
    • 2. Art's Promised Land

      08 Oct '95
      Including Ingeborg Holm by Victor Sjostrom and Greta Garbo's star-making performance opposite Lars Hanson in Gosta Berling's Saga. Directed by Michael Winterbottom.
    • 3. The Unchained Camera

      15 Oct '95
      Featuring The Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein, Metropolis by Fritz Lang, Joyless Street starring Greta Garbo, The White Hell of Pitz Palu featuring Leni Riefenstahl and Louise Brooks becomes a star in Pandora's Box.
    • 4. The Music of Light

      22 Oct '95
      Highlighting Abel Gance's masterpiece, Napoleon.
    • 5. Opportunity Lost

      29 Oct '95
      Exploring the early career of Alfred Hitchcock.
    • 6. End of an Era

      05 Nov '95
      Focusing on the arrival of sound films, The Jazz Singer and the onslaught of World War II.