Le Cinéma des origines dans la Collection Will Day

William Friese-Greene: Hyde Park, London (GB ca 1890). Original format 65 mm, ca 1,9 meters.

The Origins of the Cinema in the Will Day Collection / Varhainen elokuva Will Dayn kokoelmassa

1890-1912. Compilation: FR 1997. Archives Françaises du Film / Centre National de la Cinématographie. 35 mm, 230 m /20 fps/ 10 min. Titres français / English titles
Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 3 Nov 2009 (History of the Cinema / AFF 40th Anniversary)

Hyde Park, London
GB ca 1890. P+D: William Friese-Greene. Original format 65 mm, ca 1,9 m
Kings Road, Chelsea, London
GB ca 1890. P+D: William Friese-Greene. Original format 60 mm, ca 2 m
Stereoscopic Film: Hyde Park
GB ca 1890. P+D: William Friese-Greene. Original format 166 mm, 4,55 m
Station Ménilmontant, Chemin de fer de ceinture
FR 1896. P: Gaumont-Demenÿ, Comptoir Générale de Photographie. D: Georges Demenÿ. Original format 58 mm
Dancing Girl No. 2
FR 1896. P: Gaumont-Demenÿ, Comptoir Générale de Photographie. D: Georges Demenÿ. Original format 58 mm
Debarcadère du bateau à vapeur Wilhelm Tell
FR 1896. P: Gaumont-Demenÿ. D: Georges Demenÿ. Original format 58 mm
Dispute espagnole
FR 1896. P: Gaumont-Demenÿ, Comptoir Générale de Photographie. D: Georges Demenÿ. Original format 58 mm
[Halle au vin, No 1]
?FR ?GB 1897. PC: Mutoscope and Biograph Company. Original format 68 mm
[Halle au vin, No 2]
?FR ?GB 1897. PC: Mutoscope and Biograph Company. Original format 68 mm
[La Cachette]
?FR ?GB 1897. PC: Mutoscope and Biograph Company. Original format 68 mm
Bain de mer No. 1
GB 1898. Filmed on Biokam camera, 17,5 mm
Bain de mer No. 2
GB 1898. Filmed on Biokam camera, 17,5 mm
The Rival Clothiers
GB 1900. PC: Warwick. D: G. Aubrey Smith. Filmed on Biokam camera, 17,5 mm
[Trichrome Experimental Film]
GB 1903. PC: Jumeaux-Davidson. D: Benjamin Jumeaux, William Norman Lascelles Davidson. Original format 82 mm
[Posters on Hoarding]
GB 1912. PC: Friese-Greene-Lascelles-Davidson. D: William Friese-Greene
Engineer's Shop at Nelson Dock
GB 1896. ?Robert William Paul?. 15 m
Westminster
GB 1896. Robert William Paul. 13 m
Blackfriars Bridge
GB 1896. Robert William Paul. 15 m
Troops Passing Over Mooder River
GB 1899. PC: Warwick. D: John Bennett-Stanford. 20 m
Children Paddling
GB 1896. D: Esme Collings. 20 m
Arrival of Train-Load of Visitors at Henley Station
GB 1899. PC: Hepworth Manufacturing Company. D: Cecil Hepworth. 12 m

This group includes the greatest treasures of the Will Day film collection. The fragments of the films made by William Friese-Greene with his cameras of 1889 and 1890 probably represent the world's first films on celluloid and certainly the first perforated films and the first films shot on out-side locations. In addition there are fine groups of large-format films made by Georges Demenÿ and by the Mutoscope and Biograph Company in 1896-1897, and small-format films shot with the Bio-kam, the earliest home movie device. Also natural colour films made by the 1903 Jumeaux-Lascelles Davidson Trichrome process in 1903, and by the William Friese-Greene and Norman Lascelles Davidson process in 1912; and finally a group of hitherto unknown films from the first days of British cinema, shot by Robert William Paul, Esme Collings, Cecil Hepworth, and the Warwick Company. (David Robinson, Pordenone 1997)

Revisited: the most precious of the Will Day programmes... at least some of the films have been digitally restored, and they look like it, but still it's one of the most marvellous film historical presentations, with excellent editing and introduction work.