In Youth, Beside the Lonely Sea (1925)

This short (5 minutes) film consists of three screens standing side by side, forming a continual image, just as it were a single wide frame. Above and below every frame are two verses of the homonymous poem by American poet Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907); the verses are replaced by new ones as the film advances. The film (and poem) tell the story a man from his youth when he was full of dreams and hopes up to when he is old and despondent. He is haunted by visions of nymphs by the sea and in the woods (in his youth) and of fairies in his lonely room (in his old age). This is an acutely moving film, and the special effects are impressive. The fact that its maker is unknown only adds to its mystical aura.
(I saw this film on November 25, 2006, as part of the DVD Unseen Cinema: The Mechanized Eye.)