The Cavalier's Dream (1898) Online

A man in the costume of the ancien regime is dozing at a table in a bare room. A hood woman enters, gestures, and he wakes to find the table laden with food; but soon demons appear to torment him.

This forty-six-second film from Vitagraph was released in December. It is listed as Edwin S. Porter's first directorial effort. Since his first credit as a cinematographer was previous month, I think it fair to say that whoever differentiated the roles considers this one staged, while the earlier efforts were thought of as actualities -- although in truth, few films of the latter category were not carefully blocked and planned.

It is also clearly a primitive film, with simple staging, although the trick camerawork, the in-camera cuts and dissolves for transformations were clearly borrowed from other workers in the field, most probably Georges Melies, who had been doing trick films since 1896. Clearly Vitagraph had set its eye not only on competing with Edison, but with the field's leaders in France.

This is a very early and very primitive short film. It's only about a minute long and you can tell it's from another time. Interesting story though, for what it is, and worth watching as a curiosity. Porter's first film as a director.