1897. Cinema anno due [10]: Il Diamond Jubilee della Regina Vittoria (22 giugno 1897) e i progetti dei nuovi grandi formati / 1897. Year Two of Cinemathography [10]: Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (June 22nd 1897) and New Large Format Projects

Queen Victoria arrives at St Paul's Cathedral for her Diamond Jubilee celebrations. (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images). www.history.com

1897. Cinema anno due [10]: Il Diamond Jubilee della Regina Vittoria (22 giugno 1897) e i progetti dei nuovi grandi formati
1897. Year Two of Cinemathography [10]: Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (June 22nd 1897) and New Large Format Projects

From: BFI National Archive.
Screening format: PowerPoint.
Introduce: Bryony Dixon (BFI).
Grand piano: Neil Brand.
No intertitles.
Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna.
Sala Mastroianni, 29 June 2017.

Bryony Dixon (Il Cinema Ritrovato): "It was the first great gathering of filmmakers in the world and forty cameramen from many different companies competed for viewpoints from which to take moving pictures of a great international spectacle; the procession of Queen Victoria on the occasion of her diamond jubilee after sixty years on the throne.

Bringing pictures of this era-defining event to an audience was money in the bank for nascent (and some hastily formed) companies.

Three million people descended on the capital to join the celebrations in the streets of London and they, and many more in Britain and across the world would pay to see the films as part of a range of souvenir products of the Jubilee.

The event was designed specifically to focus on Britain’s imperial status; where the Golden Jubilee had invited the ‘crowned heads’ of Europe, the Diamond Jubilee was formed of heads of state and a parade of representative troops from all nations of the British Empire.

This spectacle, was designed to look impressive, so that a message of cohesion could be carried far and wide. Beautifully uniformed troops from the four nations, Africa, Asia and many island territories dazzled the cheering crowds, a sea of red, white and blue rosettes and flags. Not all those members of the crowd were signed up to the imperial project but accounts of the occasion show that reactions were as nuanced then, as they are today, to great national events and everyone showed up.

At any event the filmmakers were there to faithfully record the carefully choreographed parade and here are the surviving fragments from the BFI – National Archive."

"The bonus track presents a sneak preview of highlights and discoveries made as we progress the ongoing BFI project to restore all of our Victorian large format films and uncopied nitrate prints." Bryony Dixon (Il Cinema Ritrovato)

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – Apsley House. Director: Gustave Colley. Year: 1897. Country: Gran Bretagna. PowerPoint from DCP. Prod.: John Le Couteur per Gaumont. Taken at the start of the parade near Hyde Park.

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – British Cinématographe. Year: 1897. Country: Gran Bretagna. PowerPoint from DCP. Filmed at the corner of Piccadilly and St James‘s Street using a Joly-Normandin camera.

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – St Paul’s North. Director: Henry Hunt. Year: 1897. Country: Gran Bretagna. PowerPoint from DCP. Prod: R. W. Paul.

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – St Paul’s South. Director: R. W. Paul. Year: 1897. Country: Gran Bretagna. PowerPoint from DCP. Filmed at the cathedral.

Unidentified Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – Queen In Carriage. Year: 1897. Country: Gran Bretagna. PowerPoint from DCP. Unknown company. Filmed in King Williams Street near the Bank of England.

La Reine arrivant de Windsor. Lumière: Vue N° 488. La reine Victoria arrive dans un défilé de voitures escortées par des cavaliers, au milieu d’une foule exubérante. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Grande-Bretagne, Londres. Personnes: Dans la voiture, sous une ombrelle, la reine Victoria. Projections: Programmée le 27 juin 1897 à Lyon (France) sous le titre Le Jubilé de la reine d'Angleterre: la reine Victoria revenant de Windsor (Lyon républicain du 27 juin 1897). Technique: Plongée. Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière - 2 copies Lumière. Pays: Grande-Bretagne. Ville: Londres. Lieu: parc. Personnes identifiées: la reine Victoria. Genre: événement officiel. Sujet: personnalité. Objet: voiture hippomobile. Séries: info-five-80, Second séjour d'Alexandre Promio (1897). – Probably not from the film viewed.

Fêtes du Jubilé de la Reine d'Angleterre – Lumière. Year: 1897. Country: Gran Bretagna. PowerPoint from DCP. Filmed along the route south of the river in Borough.

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – Paul York Road. Year: 1897. Country: Gran Bretagna. PowerPoint from DCP. Prod.: R. W. Paul. One of several Films showing the front of the procession.

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – Prestwich. Director: E. P. Prestwich. Year: 1897. Country: Gran Bretagna. PowerPoint from DCP. Filmed near the end of the procession in Westminster.

H. M. The Queen‘s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace (1897). Year: 1897. Country: Gran Bretagna. PowerPoint from DCP. The Queen’s duties kept her busy before and after the Jubilee day itself. She was filmed at this garden party in her pony trap. by the Velograph Syndicate on June 28th.

AA: Bryony Dixon gave us a wonderful edited and commented presentation based on a virtual map of London where we could observe the stations of the world's top cinematographers covering Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and saw the films station by station.

Bryony's magnificent bonus was six appetizing samples of BFI's Victorian 68 mm prints that are being copied directly from 68 mm nitrate to 8K digital:

1. Me and My Dog Friends.

2. Launching of a Rescue Boat.

3. Warships at Sunset.

4. The Boer War.

5. W. K.-L. Dickson in Venice.

6. Pompey. Women dancing the tarantella.

These appetizers did possess the authentic 68 mm frisson - especially the stunning Boer War footage in deep focus showing us war action on several fields of depth, including very far in the distance.