St. Croix (US 1918)

Clyde E. Elliott: St. Croix. Post Travel Film No. 2 (US 1918). Photo: Nasjonalbiblioteket, Oslo/Mo i Rana. Photomontage: GCM Catalogue 2023. Please click on the images to make better sense of them.

ST. CROIX. Post Travel Film No. 2 (St. Croix, Jomfruøyene) (US 1918) dir, prod: Clyde E. Elliott. prod: Post Pictures Corporation. dist: Pathé Exchange. rel: 23.6.1918. copy: DCP, 12'48", col. (orig. 234 m, imbibito/tinted); titles: NOR. source: Nasjonalbiblioteket, Oslo/Mo i Rana.

    Grand piano: Maud Nelissen.

    Teatro Verdi, Pordenone, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): Hans Berge Travelogue, 11 Oct 2023

Michelle A. Tisdel (GCM 2023): " St. Croix, released in 1918, depicts scenes from the daily life of the former Danish-Norwegian colony, which had only recently become the U.S. Virgin Islands. This historic document shows the aftermath of European colonialism and U.S. imperialism on this Caribbean island less than one year after Denmark had sold its former territory to the United States in April 1917. Clyde E. Elliott was a globe-trotting director whose Post Travel Series began releasing one-reel travelogues through Pathé Exchange beginning in June 1918. The first series focused on the Virgin Islands, British Guyana, and Venezuela, with St. Croix being the second release of this initial series, following St. Thomas. In last year’s programme we presented another film in the Post Travel Series, Japan of Today, which was made sometime after Elliott’s Caribbean tour and released in December of the same year. "

" The film captures a unique period of transition, continuity, and change in Black, Caribbean, and colonial history. The documentation-style reportage depicts scenes in the former Danish colonial capital Christiansted, built on the proceeds from Danish-Norwegian participation in the transatlantic slave trade and based on an entanglement of broader global political and economic processes. Depictions of local populations of African heritage, aspects of everyday life, and activities of the new imperial/colonial power on the island comprise an important historical record. Principal elements, such as the sequence at a U.S. military base and the archaic language and descriptions of the populations and historical events, give the form and content of the work ethnographic and metahistorical relevance. "

" Berge traveled extensively in both North and South America, and there are strong indications he also visited Central America. It is not unlikely he visited the Caribbean, which perhaps made the acquisition of Elliott’s St. Croix especially attractive. His company’s logo also appears at the end of the film. The Norwegian title on the film, St. Croix, Jomfruøyene, translates as “St. Croix, Virgin Islands”. " – Michelle A. Tisdel

AA: A travelogue from St. Croix, and a piece of colonial cinema. I become curious to learn more about the slave rebellions of the island. In the intertitles there are references to crushing "a malicious revolt" in Haiti and US Marines "ready to take action against any kind of riot".

Until 1917 St. Croix was known as Dansk Vestindien, De Vestindiske Øer or De Danske Jomfruøer.  The names of the cities are still Danish. The capital, Charlotte Amalie, is on St. Thomas. St. Croix is also known as "twin cities" because of the two towns Christiansted and Frederiksted.

There is a beautiful slow panoramic shot from aboard a ship to Christiansted. Pastoral idylls are intercut with appearances of police force. Nature does not like modern machines. The sun sets in the Caribbean.