It's a real shame that "The Hoop" by Émile Cohl is so degraded. It's a very good film but the ravages of time on nitrate stock have made much of the film impossible to see clearly. Still, despite this it's a great film to see because it's one of Cohl's best early films. And, it shows a VERY strong influence by the work of Georges Méliès--one of the greatest early French filmmakers.
The film begins with a little girl and an older man in the park. He makes a hoop appear and then repeatedly makes it magically become bigger. This is VERY similar to Georges Méliès' films because it uses stop-motion to make things appear and disappear EXCEPT that it's filmed outdoors--something the other filmmaker just didn't do. Then, the hoop begins having a sort of cartoon show appear within it--but so much of this is degraded. It's a shame, as up until then it was quite captivating and excellent for such an early film.