Personal
US 1904. PC: Biograph. D: Wallace McCutcheon. D: G.W. Bitzer. Print: LoC, 16mm, 187 ft /16 fps/ 8 min, no intertitles
How a French Nobleman Got a Wife Through The New York Herald "Personal" Column
US 1904. PC: Edison. D: Edwin S. Porter. Print: LoC, 35mm, 675 m /16 fps/ 11 min, one English title at the beginning
Meet Me at the Fountain
US 1904. PC: Lubin. Print: LoC, 35mm, 385 ft /16 fps/ 7 min, no intertitles
André Gaudreault: "As far as production is concerned, 1904 and 1905 are the years when the chase film came on the scene, a genre that would play a key role in the evolution of what we call “film form.” The critical importance of the chase film to the development of filmic expression lies in the fact that its basic storyline required the use of editing and that it encouraged filmmakers to conceive of animated views as a series of juxtaposed tableaux. Although the chase film is in some respects a fundamentally attractional genre, it is just as much an essentially narrative genre, telling a rudimentary story: what is an early chase film, in the end, if not the narration of a series of attractions? The chase film, historically speaking, was probably the ideal genre for moving from a paradigm in which attraction was the principal element around which views were conceived and produced to a paradigm in which narration took over.
In the chase film of the period an initial shot shows an event that sets the chase in motion, and the tableaux that follow almost invariably show the same action: a character (or sometimes several characters) runs toward the camera (and thus toward the viewer) and then leaves our field of vision, at which point several (rarely just one) characters appear in the background in pursuit, following the same route. This is how the most famous of these films, Personal (Biograph, 1904), unfolds.
In Personal, the chase extends over eight shots basically showing the same thing: a man running away from a group of women chasing after him. For this accumulation of shots to contribute something on the narrative level, it would have to advance the action. But here, it is not the action that advances (there are no new developments), it is the characters who advance (literally, as the chase proceeds). The filmprovides the viewer with a series of “acts,” each one as spectacular as the last. With Personal we are still closer to the tableau than we are to the shot. For there to be “shots”, there have to be “fragments”; the film has to be assembled out of bits and pieces. None of the segments here is a fragment: each is an independent tableau, containing and conveying a self-sufficient micro-narrative.
Personal also has the honor of being the film that inspired the most remakes in a brief period of several months. The first one of those is How a French Nobleman Got a Wife through the New York Herald “Personal” Columns, made by Edwin S. Porter just a few weeks after the release of the Biograph film. Some of the shots in this remake were even made in the same locations as the original film, such as Grant’s Tomb on Riverside Drive, New York, where in both versions the man meets the women responding to his ad. Porter didn’t even try to distinguish his film from the Biograph film. All the Edison company wanted to do with this film was to create a cheap copy of a competitor’s latest hit and to add it to their own sales catalogue. Not surprisingly Biograph dragged the Edison company before the courts, making it the (pur)sued in this legal chase. By initiating a court battle, Biograph was trying to convince lawmakers to regulate the practice. This” lawsuit had immediate effect: Lubin took a certain number of precautions in order to avoid legal problems. Two weeks after the release of his own version of the film, under the title A New Version of Personal, he decided to rename the film Meet Me at the Fountain and to add a supplementary scene of 75 feet in length, in order to head off possible lawsuits." – André Gaudreault. - A foundation film and two immediate remakes. It is surprising to see how close the imitations are to the model. The same chase idea was even the basis for Buster Keaton's Seven Chances.
Showing posts with label G.W. Bitzer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label G.W. Bitzer. Show all posts
Friday, October 10, 2008
BRIGHTON 30 YEARS AFTER 2: EILEEN BOWSER
The Holdup of the Rocky Mountain Express: From Leadville to Aspen
[a different title on print]. US 1906. PC: Biograph. D: ?. DP: G.W. Bitzer; orig. l: 569 ft. Print: MoMA, 223 ft /16 fps/ 10 min. No intertitles.
Eileen Bowser: "Biograph produced The Holdup of the Rocky Mountain Express for the short-lived Hale’s Tours, then in its peak summer. Produced in April and released in June, the film’s life in Hale’s Tours would be brief but the film continued to be popular in the nickelodeons. It is an exercise for the imagination, however, as one watches this film, to think what it might have been like to enter a theater built to imitate a railway car, pay a dime to the “conductor”, and hear the sounds and feel the vibrations of a train journey, as the experience unfolds. In addition to The Great Train Robbery and similar crime films, The Holdup of the Rocky Mountain Express draws on the popular phantom rides of an earlier period, in which the camera is mounted on the front of the train without the train being visible, the “unseen energy” of the film and the source of kinesthetic effects. There is an electric moment at the beginning when a man is running toward the camera to board the unseen train and the whole image slowly starts to move in the opposite direction, and, belatedly, we spectators realize we are on the train. Similarly, there is an unexpected shock when the train engineers, seen from a high angle, emerge from below the frame. The film also delights with some comic episodes, some unintentional, as when the fainting lady manages to preserve her hat." Eileen Bowser. - A mix of location footage and cardboard sets. Exciting parallel chase. Unpleasant racist element, as a black waiter is beaten.
The Silver Wedding
US 1906. PC: Biograph. D: ?. DP: F.A. Dobson. orig. l: 680 ft. Print: BFINA 478 ft /16 fps/ 8 min. No intertitles. Eileen Bowser: "(...)might have been inspired by Kaiser Wilhelm’s silver wedding anniversary celebrations in February 1906 and the gifts presented by heads of state on that occasion. Descriptions of silver wedding celebrations of the rich and famous appeared on the society pages and no doubt were studied by burglars. The crooks depicted (...) are con men who gain admittance to the party by dressing as an upper-class guest and a delivery man. When they are alone with the silver display, the shot is interrupted by a cut-in to a closer view of the burglars lifting the gifts from the table, and then returns to the long shot after a title. As far as we know from existing films, a close view inserted into the middle of a long shot, while rare, is more accepted in the Brighton period than it would be a few years later on, but we think it is used with a different purpose than in later cinema: the close view usually repeats the action of the long shot, or part of it, with the intent of lingering over the spectacle. [Here] the action seems to continue over the cut, but then slows while the burglars admire the silver and hold it up to view, at a time when one might expect them to be in a hurry. The climactic scene takes place in a sewer, with a dramatic fight between cops and robbers splashing about in the water, the participants moving from front to the rear in deep focus." Eileen Bowser. - A high contrast print. The excitement climaxes in the sewers. "Tengoku to jigoku!"
[a different title on print]. US 1906. PC: Biograph. D: ?. DP: G.W. Bitzer; orig. l: 569 ft. Print: MoMA, 223 ft /16 fps/ 10 min. No intertitles.
Eileen Bowser: "Biograph produced The Holdup of the Rocky Mountain Express for the short-lived Hale’s Tours, then in its peak summer. Produced in April and released in June, the film’s life in Hale’s Tours would be brief but the film continued to be popular in the nickelodeons. It is an exercise for the imagination, however, as one watches this film, to think what it might have been like to enter a theater built to imitate a railway car, pay a dime to the “conductor”, and hear the sounds and feel the vibrations of a train journey, as the experience unfolds. In addition to The Great Train Robbery and similar crime films, The Holdup of the Rocky Mountain Express draws on the popular phantom rides of an earlier period, in which the camera is mounted on the front of the train without the train being visible, the “unseen energy” of the film and the source of kinesthetic effects. There is an electric moment at the beginning when a man is running toward the camera to board the unseen train and the whole image slowly starts to move in the opposite direction, and, belatedly, we spectators realize we are on the train. Similarly, there is an unexpected shock when the train engineers, seen from a high angle, emerge from below the frame. The film also delights with some comic episodes, some unintentional, as when the fainting lady manages to preserve her hat." Eileen Bowser. - A mix of location footage and cardboard sets. Exciting parallel chase. Unpleasant racist element, as a black waiter is beaten.
The Silver Wedding
US 1906. PC: Biograph. D: ?. DP: F.A. Dobson. orig. l: 680 ft. Print: BFINA 478 ft /16 fps/ 8 min. No intertitles. Eileen Bowser: "(...)might have been inspired by Kaiser Wilhelm’s silver wedding anniversary celebrations in February 1906 and the gifts presented by heads of state on that occasion. Descriptions of silver wedding celebrations of the rich and famous appeared on the society pages and no doubt were studied by burglars. The crooks depicted (...) are con men who gain admittance to the party by dressing as an upper-class guest and a delivery man. When they are alone with the silver display, the shot is interrupted by a cut-in to a closer view of the burglars lifting the gifts from the table, and then returns to the long shot after a title. As far as we know from existing films, a close view inserted into the middle of a long shot, while rare, is more accepted in the Brighton period than it would be a few years later on, but we think it is used with a different purpose than in later cinema: the close view usually repeats the action of the long shot, or part of it, with the intent of lingering over the spectacle. [Here] the action seems to continue over the cut, but then slows while the burglars admire the silver and hold it up to view, at a time when one might expect them to be in a hurry. The climactic scene takes place in a sewer, with a dramatic fight between cops and robbers splashing about in the water, the participants moving from front to the rear in deep focus." Eileen Bowser. - A high contrast print. The excitement climaxes in the sewers. "Tengoku to jigoku!"
Lady of the Pavements
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| D. W. Griffith: Lady of the Pavements (US 1928). |
Sydämen laulu / Kärlekssången / Le Lys du faubourg / La Paiva (Germany) / Die Lady von der Strasse / La canzone del cuore.
US © 1928 United Artists. Released in 1929. PC: Art Cinema Corp. P: Joseph M. Schenck.
D: D. W. Griffith. SC: Gerrit J. Lloyd, Sam Taylor – based on the novel La Paiva by Karl Vollmöller. DP: Karl Struss, G. W. Bitzer. AD: William Cameron Menzies. Original song: "Where Is The Song Of Songs For Me?" (Irving Berlin).
STARRING: Lupe Velez (Nanon del Rayon), William Boyd (Count Karl von Arnim), Jetta Goudal (Countess Diane des Granges), Henry Armetta (Papa Pierre), Albert Conti (Baron Finot), George Fawcett (Baron Haussmann), Franklin Pangborn (M’sieu Dubrey, dance master), William Bakewell (a pianist).
7697 ft /22 fps/ 94 min.
US premiere: 22 Jan 1929.
Finnish premiere: 21 Oct 1929.
Print: MoMA. Original in English with Italian e-subtitles, grand piano: Donald Sosin, the original Irving Berlin song performed by Joanna Seaton.
Viewed at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, 9 September 2008.
Previous viewing: 26.4.1996 Lady of the Pavements (D. W. Griffith, US 1929) Silent Movie Theater
"Griffith was given two rising stars as his romantic leads – Lupe Velez (...) and William Boyd, an actor who would later make his mark as Hopalong Cassidy. Jetta Goudal, a dark beauty who had gained some notoriety as an exotic vamp, was cast as the vindictive countess. Karl Struss, assisted by Griffith veteran G. W. Bitzer, beautifully photographed William Cameron Menzies’ evocative sets. Gerrit J. Lloyd’s titles were well-suited to the Ruritanian flavor of the story and avoided the Victorian prose so characteristic of Griffith’s more personal films."
"The result of all this was a well-made film, one that paid tribute to the wonders of the Hollywood studio system. Like many American releases of the late silent period, Lady of the Pavements was a polished production that entertained its audiences through a deft combination of attractive onscreen talent, obvious high production values, and efficient behind-the-camera support. Without a doubt, Lady of the Pavements was a stylish entertainment, and with it Griffith revealed that he was able to suppress his natural inclination to dominate a project, disappearing into the spirit of the piece just like any other contract director. Unfortunately, Griffith also was utterly unsuited to the milieu of the Second Empire, a historical period for which he had little feel and even less interest; as a result, for all its stylishness, the film is curiously cold, without substance or wit."
"What one admires about Lady of the Pavements is its surface, not its soul. For all of the flawed and unsuccessful films he had directed during his career, never before this could Griffith have been accused of making a film lacking conviction. Here, two of his three lead actors work as if he is barely even on the set. In the case of supporting players Henry Armetta, George Fawcett, and Franklin Pangborn, Griffith gives them a great amount of latitude, allowing them to experiment with their characterizations in such a way as to suggest that he understood they would infuse his film with what little vitality it might hope to have. Jetta Goudal and William Boyd sleepwalk through their parts. Only Lupe Velez gives any indication of having worked through her character with her director, searching for the connective tissue that would explain, however tenuously, Nanon’s growth from a heedless cabaret performer to an elegant, intelligent woman deserving of love and respect. Such a wide variety of performances can make for a light-headed experience, and without a director’s careful consideration of how all the many and varied pieces should fit together, one can have the uncanny experience of watching several films at once. As well considered and clearly drawn as it is in terms of its art direction and photography, Lady of the Pavements is unfocussed in its characterizations. (...) He did attempt one bit of old-fashioned camera trickery, as a way to put some sort of personal stamp on the project. At the film’s end, when Nanon returns to the cabaret from which she was plucked, she sings a mournful song, and, while looking out at the audience, sees her husband, von Arnim, in every man in the audience. This wonderful moment was accomplished by special-effects expert Ned Mann, who filled the Smoking Dog cabaret with 13 William Boyds by exposing the camera negative 36 times. (...) Ultimately, Lady of the Pavements had its true success as a vehicle for Lupe Velez. It was released with a synchronized orchestral score, into which was interpolated at several key moments her rendition of an Irving Berlin song composed specially for the film, “Where Is the Song of Songs for Me?”." Steven Higgins [DWG Project # 621]
Steven Higgins (GCM 2008): "Schenck announced that Griffith would begin production on The Love Song, working from a script by Sam Taylor that was, in turn, based on a story by German author Karl Vollmoeller. (...) His solidly crafted shooting script for what would become Lady of the Pavements offered Schenck the hope of a box-office success."
"Griffith was given two rising stars as his romantic leads – Lupe Velez (...) and William Boyd, an actor who would later make his mark as Hopalong Cassidy. Jetta Goudal, a dark beauty who had gained some notoriety as an exotic vamp, was cast as the vindictive countess. Karl Struss, assisted by Griffith veteran G. W. Bitzer, beautifully photographed William Cameron Menzies’ evocative sets. Gerrit J. Lloyd’s titles were well-suited to the Ruritanian flavor of the story and avoided the Victorian prose so characteristic of Griffith’s more personal films."
"The result of all this was a well-made film, one that paid tribute to the wonders of the Hollywood studio system. Like many American releases of the late silent period, Lady of the Pavements was a polished production that entertained its audiences through a deft combination of attractive onscreen talent, obvious high production values, and efficient behind-the-camera support. Without a doubt, Lady of the Pavements was a stylish entertainment, and with it Griffith revealed that he was able to suppress his natural inclination to dominate a project, disappearing into the spirit of the piece just like any other contract director. Unfortunately, Griffith also was utterly unsuited to the milieu of the Second Empire, a historical period for which he had little feel and even less interest; as a result, for all its stylishness, the film is curiously cold, without substance or wit."
"What one admires about Lady of the Pavements is its surface, not its soul. For all of the flawed and unsuccessful films he had directed during his career, never before this could Griffith have been accused of making a film lacking conviction. Here, two of his three lead actors work as if he is barely even on the set. In the case of supporting players Henry Armetta, George Fawcett, and Franklin Pangborn, Griffith gives them a great amount of latitude, allowing them to experiment with their characterizations in such a way as to suggest that he understood they would infuse his film with what little vitality it might hope to have. Jetta Goudal and William Boyd sleepwalk through their parts. Only Lupe Velez gives any indication of having worked through her character with her director, searching for the connective tissue that would explain, however tenuously, Nanon’s growth from a heedless cabaret performer to an elegant, intelligent woman deserving of love and respect. Such a wide variety of performances can make for a light-headed experience, and without a director’s careful consideration of how all the many and varied pieces should fit together, one can have the uncanny experience of watching several films at once. As well considered and clearly drawn as it is in terms of its art direction and photography, Lady of the Pavements is unfocussed in its characterizations. (...) He did attempt one bit of old-fashioned camera trickery, as a way to put some sort of personal stamp on the project. At the film’s end, when Nanon returns to the cabaret from which she was plucked, she sings a mournful song, and, while looking out at the audience, sees her husband, von Arnim, in every man in the audience. This wonderful moment was accomplished by special-effects expert Ned Mann, who filled the Smoking Dog cabaret with 13 William Boyds by exposing the camera negative 36 times. (...) Ultimately, Lady of the Pavements had its true success as a vehicle for Lupe Velez. It was released with a synchronized orchestral score, into which was interpolated at several key moments her rendition of an Irving Berlin song composed specially for the film, “Where Is the Song of Songs for Me?”." Steven Higgins [DWG Project # 621]
AA: A good print with a beautiful definition of light, but there are two major passages where the original material has been decomposing.
The film is smoothly made, and has impressive camera movement.
There is an affinity in the scorned woman's revenge plot with the Denis Diderot story which Bresson filmed as Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne.
It is a pleasure to see Lupe Velez and Jetta Goudal as completely atypical Griffith women. Both have passion.
Several other actors are good. William Boyd is bland.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
The Battle of the Sexes (1928, D. W. Griffith)
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| D. W. Griffith: The Battle of the Sexes (US 1928) with Phyllis Haver (Marie Skinner) and Jean Hersholt (J. C. Judson). |
Sukupuolten taistelu.
US 1928. PC: Art Cinema Corp. P+D: D. W. Griffith. SC: Gerrit J. Lloyd - based on the story "The Single Standard" by Daniel Garson Goodman. CIN: G. W. Bitzer, Karl Struss. AD: Park French, William Cameron Menzies. Cast: Jean Hersholt (J. C. Judson), Phyllis Haver (Marie Skinner), Belle Bennett (Mrs. Judson), Don Alvarado (Babe [Jim] Winsor), Sally O’Neill (Ruth Judson), William Bakewell (Billy Judson);
7846 ft /24 fps/ 87 min,
print: GEH, original in English, with e-subtitles in Italian, grand piano: Stephen Horne.
Viewed at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, 8 October 2008.
J. B. Kaufman (GCM Catalog 2008: "Few films can offer as revealing a perspective on Griffith’s late-1920s career as his 1928 remake of The Battle of the Sexes. Remakes were a rarity in Griffith’s career anyway, but his two versions of this story were separated by a gap of 14 years – turbulent years that saw a world war, the rise of the Roaring Twenties, and vast social changes with which, we have often been told, Griffith could not keep up. In a sense The Battle of the Sexes disproves that notion, for it takes place in a world very different from that of 1914. Unfortunately only a fragment of the 1914 Battle of the Sexes is known to survive, but from that fragment and from contemporary publicity and reviews we can gather a sense of the tone Griffith took in that version. As Donald Crisp strayed from his loving wife and children to dally with an adventuress, there can be little doubt that Griffith depicted such infidelity seriously, delivering a stern warning to anyone (erring husband or adventuress) who would threaten the sanctity of the home – a warning not unlike those he had delivered more than once in his recent Biograph films."
"What a difference in 1928! The plot is the same, but the 1928 Battle of the Sexes is framed as a comedy, complete with wisecracking titles and designed almost exclusively for entertainment value. An index to the contrast between the two versions can be seen in their casts. The straying husband, played in 1914 by rock-solid Donald Crisp, is portrayed in 1928 by the short, pudgy, vulnerable, and frequently ludicrous Jean Hersholt. The temptress, as played in 1914 by a young Fay Tincher, was attractive enough but clearly a lightweight. In 1928, as played by blonde bombshell Phyllis Haver, she’s the star of the picture. Her golddigger (in updated late-1920s parlance), a voracious glamour girl with a heart of brass, is both firmly in control of the plot and thoroughly likable, quite the most entertaining thing in the film. Hersholt hasn’t a chance against her formidable charms, and his character becomes more sympathetic as a result."
"Griffith has not, of course, abandoned his value system altogether, and midway through the picture he shifts gears. The damage wrought upon the businessman’s family is clearly meant to be taken seriously. Here again, however, the film’s cast works against a severely moralistic preachment: the members of the businessman’s family, the bedrock of the original film, are played in the remake by the weakest members of the cast. Belle Bennett, fresh from notable “mother” roles in such films as Stella Dallas (...) and John Ford’s Mother Machree (...), was probably an obvious choice to play the wife/mother, but she registers little or no impression; as Variety observed, she “is inclined to be monotonous in her simplicity”. Sally O’Neill and Billy Bakewell, as the businessman’s children, are hardly a match for Lillian Gish and Bobby Harron in the original, and their disconcertingly strenuous efforts to project youth and vivacity are no help at all."
"The surviving fragment of the 1914 The Battle of the Sexes is the scene in which the businessman and his paramour are discovered at a cabaret by his family. Comparing this fragment with the corresponding sequence in the remake allows us to see how Griffith’s technique has changed in the intervening years. The 1928 version has been expanded in every way: more camera positions, more varied activity by the principals and by the other nightclub patrons (with a running gag involving a diner at a nearby table), not to mention a much larger and more glamorous nightclub – surely a reflection of how such places had changed in real life during the 1920s. This eye-popping nightclub set is the work of William Cameron Menzies (...)"
"The fluidity of the sequence, and the rest of the film, is further enhanced by occasional dolly or tracking shots. Billy Bitzer had photographed the 1914 The Battle of the Sexes (...) single-handed, but for the remake he was teamed with the distinguished cinematographer Karl Struss, whose mobile camera had recently been used to good effect in Sunrise (...) Perhaps the most striking of the moving-camera shots (...) comes as Belle Bennett, in a daze, wanders deliriously on the roof of the apartment building. As she totters dangerously near the edge, the camera, in a sudden point-of-view shot, plunges sickeningly straight down the side of the building."
"(...) released late in 1928, the key transitional year of the talking-picture revolution (...) with a synchronized score, augmented with sound effects, and in Phyllis Haver’s singing scene the sound of her voice was loosely synchronized with her singing image onscreen. This was apparently the film’s one concession to the talkies, but it was enough for Variety to classify it explicitly as a sound film. Griffith, for his part, was unhappy with the soundtrack and registered a futile complaint with United Artists over the music in the opening and closing scenes. Where Griffith had envisioned a tender arrangement of “Together” or “When You and I Were Young, Maggie” in these scenes, the score supplied up-tempo comedy music instead."
"(...) Critics were unanimously disappointed in the film, more than one comparing it unfavorably with Paramount’s The Way of All Flesh (...), which had featured a similar plot situation and Belle Bennett and Phyllis Haver in comparable roles. (...)" J. B. Kaufman [DWG Project # 619].
AA: DWG in a new mood with a moving, swinging camera, glossy surfaces, in touch with the Jazz Age. The framing scenes are the mother's birthdays. In the final birthday party the present is the father, who in between has strayed with the flapper. Fun with the middle-age father trying to get in shape with the flapper via calisthenics. This is no masterpiece, but it is interesting to see DWG succeed with the new kind woman (Phyllis Haver).
There is in the beginning the "hands, feet only" device also seen in a couple of other films of the Festival, the most famous use of which is in Strangers on a Train.
It is a comedy, but with a dimension of tragedy with the mother's suicide attempt and the daughter's murder attempt.
BEFORE THE LONELY VILLA (Pordenone 2008)
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| Le Médecin du château / The Physician of the Castle (FR 1908). A screenshot of my internet search view. |
Before The Lonely Villa: tracking down the origins of the telephone thriller and alternating editing and crosscutting / parallel editing.
E-subtitles in Italian, grand piano: Stephen Horne, viewed at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, 8 October 2008.The Lonely Villa. US 1909. PC: Biograph. D: D. W. Griffith; DP: G. W. Bitzer, Arthur Marvin; cast: David Miles (husband), Marion Leonard (wife), Mary Pickford (daughter), Gladys Egan, Adele De Garde, Owen Moore, Mack Sennett; 850 ft /16 fps/ 14 min; print: LoC. - Tom Gunning: "Mr. Cullison has responded to a false note telling him to meet his mother-in-law at the train station, and left his wife and daughters alone in their large country house. The note was sent by a gang of thieves to draw him out, and they have proceeded to burglarize the villa. The wife and daughters hear unexplained noises and discover the attempt to break into the house. At that very moment, the husband calls to say he has car trouble and learns of their plight. As he speaks to his wife, the burglars cut the telephone wires. Desperate, the husband enlists the aid of a policeman and, his car still out of commission, commandeers a gypsy wagon for a race to the rescue. Meanwhile, the burglars have broached the doorway and penetrated into the various rooms of the villa, and burst through the doors the wife has barricaded. They clear the last obstacle and are snatching the pearl necklace from Mrs. Cullison’s throat when the father arrives with the policeman and the family is saved." – Tom Gunning [DWG Project # 150]. - A brilliant image, no titles in this print.
Le Médecin du château / Der Arzt des Schlosses / The Physician of the Castle [GB] / A Narrow Escape [US]) / Врач замка. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. D: ?; 367 ft /16 fps/ 6 min; print source: BFINA / Josef Joye Collection. Deutsche Titel (in the beginning?), English titles (in the end?). - Not a top print but from a source with a good definition of light. - Henri Bousquet: "Dr. Amy is unexpectedly called to the castle by a message delivered by an unknown person. No sooner has he left than two thieves break into his house. The doctor’s wife seeks refuge in the study; from there she calls her husband by telephone. She piles some furniture against the door, well knowing that this will only briefly keep out the malefactors. But on receiving the call the doctor has leapt into his car and returns home at full speed. On the way he meets two game-keepers and takes them along with him. They arrive just as the two bandits enter the office. After a brief struggle they capture the two villains.” – Henri Bousquet (Catalogue Pathé)
Terrible angoisse. FR 1906. PC: Pathé. D: Lucien Nonguet; 78 m /16 fps/ 4 min; print: AFF/CNC. - (Pathé catalogue supplement, March 1906): “A brilliant lawyer, on holiday, is suddenly called to the Palace of Justice. During his absence, burglars break into the house and the lawyer’s wife has only time to run to the telephone to call her husband. While she is telling him about the presence of the malefactors, they leap at her throat and strangle her, together with her little son. Hearing nothing from the other end of the phone line, the unhappy lawyer guesses what is happening, and, crazed with grief, rushes home; he throws himself upon the corpses of his beloved spouse and his child.” (Pathé catalogue supplement, March 1906). - AA: a soft image in this print (digimastered?).
The Watermelon Patch. US 1905. PC: Edison. D: Edwin S. Porter, Wallace McCutcheon [Sr.? Jr.?]; cast: Florence Auer?; 35 mm, ?? ft., ?’ (16 fps); fonte copia/print source: Museum of Modern Art, New York. No intertitles. - André Gaudreault, Philippe Gauthier: "The Watermelon Patch contains one of the rare prototypes of cross-cutting (in early cinema). The film’s storyline can be summarized as follows: two whites chase a small group of blacks caught stealing watermelons from a field. The film’s action is so convoluted, and its narrative secondary to attraction to such a degree, that it is not easy to identify the alternating structure present in it. But this structure truly is present in the film, even if it is far from jumping out at us. Alternating editing is a discursive configuration whose minimal form is the recurrence of each term in two series. In other words, it is impossible to speak of alternating editing when only one of the terms recurs (A-B-A). At a minimum, it requires that each series recur (A-B-A-B). Cross-cutting, for its part, is only one of the forms of alternating editing within which series of events supposedly unfold simultaneously in the narrative universe suggested by the film. Thus, in our view, The Watermelon Patch is a true example of cross-cutting. (...) Here, then, is a film which demonstrates a degree of narrative planning and sophistication quite rare for 1905. It is the true prototype of cross-cutting, for which film historians of every generation have been searching for many years now. And it is the prototype of cross-cutting despite the fact that it is just as much a worthy representative of the paradigm of attraction." – André Gaudreault, Philippe Gauthier. - An important discovery in the research of alternating editing (montage alternant), and crosscutting or parallel editing (montage alterné) as illuminated in Gaudreault and Gauthier's essay in The Griffith Project 12 book. - Also a disturbingly racist film.
Two Daughters of Eve
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| D. W. Griffith: Two Daughters of Eve (1912) with Claire McDowell (mother), Henry B. Walthall (father) and Florence Geneva (showgirl). |
US 1912. PC: Biograph. D: D. W. Griffith; DP: G. W. Bitzer; cast: Claire McDowell (mother), Henry B. Walthall (father), Florence Geneva (showgirl), Robert Harron, D.W. Griffith, W. Christy Cabanne, Harry Carey; Betacam SP (transfer from 8 mm acetate print, 16 fps),
12’
print source: Andres Benz Collection, Neckarsulm.
Original in English with e-subtitles in Italian, grand piano: Andreas Benz.
Viewed in Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Ridotto del Verdi, 7 October 2008.
The New York Dramatic Mirror: "Deep in the breasts of most women, underneath the painted exterior of many, lie the same natural spontaneous instincts of true womanhood. This is the truth brought out in this drama dealing with love and sacrifice of two women. One possesses a husband, a child, and money, and the other is doing a song and dance in the chorus of a cheap musical show. The child becomes lost one afternoon while the parents are visiting in the neighborhood of the theater, and is found in the arms of the chorus girl. The mother snatches the child away, fearful lest it should become contaminated with such company. By a peculiar twist of fortune, in the months that follow this incident, the husband becomes enamored with the charms of the pretty chorus girl and neglects his wife so that she is forced to leave him. Soon afterward, he loses his fortune, and when the chorus girl turns against him, he is left to realize his bitter condition. The mother, unable to find employment, as a last resort applies at the theater, where she met the other woman months before. At first the girl laughs at the mother, but is afterward touched by her sorrow and destitute condition. Following the mother into the dressing-room, she gives her jewels that rightfully belong to her; jewels that the husband has squandered his money upon. It proves the mother’s temporal salvation, and the chorus girl returning home with her, is now allowed to kiss the child. The husband is forgiven and the little family of three go out to start life over again, while the chorus girl retires into the background with sad and longing eyes. It is a story of vivid contrasts.” The New York Dramatic Mirror, 25 September 1912, p.32 [DWG Project # 427].
AA: a film so laconic, it's hard to follow. Ostensibly melodramatic, it reverses expectations. The showgirl shows love and compassion to all. The mother must learn the hard way. The husband cheats them both. It's rare to see full-figured Rubensian female charms with DWG, and Florenca Geneva belongs to the Marilyn Monroe tradition of American cinema. An early appearance of Lillian Gish as an extra.
The Revenue Man and the Girl
US 1911. PC: Biograph. D: D.W. Griffith; DP: G.W. Bitzer; cast: Dorothy West (the moonshiner's daughter), Edwin August (the revenue man), Gladys Egan, Charles Hill Mailes, Charles H. West; Betacam SP (transfer from 8mm acetate print, 16 fps), 14’; print source: Andreas Benz Collection, Neckarsulm. Original in English with e-subtitles in Italian, grand piano: Andreas Benz. Viewed in Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Ridotto del Verdi, 7 October 2008. - David Mayer: "The moonshiner’s daughter is first seen caressing and kissing her pet dove. Carrying hollowed gourds to be used as “jugs” for the distilled brew, she is sent by her father to assist at the illegal still. Meanwhile, pair of revenue men sneak through the forest, intent on discovering the still. Coming upon the girl’s cabin, the revenue men arrest and disarm two moonshiners, then begin their trek to take the arrested men back to jail. Alerted to the men’s arrest by the younger daughter, the moonshiners arm themselves and track the revenuers to the point at which they are handing the arrested men to other unidentified law officers. In the gun battle between the revenue men and the moonshiners, the girl’s father and one of the revenuers are killed. The other revenue man, frightened and disoriented, runs from his pursuers, loses his rife in a fast-moving creek, and reaches a temporary hiding place exhausted and unarmed. The girl, discovering her father’s corpse and that of the slain revenuer, mourns her parent and promises vengeance against revenuers even as she abuses the revenue man’s dead body. With the father buried and mourned, the girl, armed with a rifle, joins the remaining moonshiners in pursuit of the hidden revenuer. She stalks the fugitive through the forest, spies him, and is about to take aim, when her pet dove drops from a tree directly onto the revenue man. He picks up and caresses the dove, feeds it (revenue men always carry birdseed just in case, especially when they’re on tax raids in Kentucky, where white doves tend to plummet suddenly from trees), and releases it. Observing the revenue man’s kindness to the dove and moved by his gentleness, the girl is now disposed to be kinder to the revenue man. She takes him to her cabin, hides him beneath her bed, and pretends to be asleep when the moonshiner posse comes in pursuit. Having successfully saved the revenue man, the girl sends him on his way, but he hangs back, declares his love for the girl, and, after some hesitation on her part, gets her to confess her affection for her. We last see them as, backs to the camera and her belongings in a bundle tied to a stick, they stroll from the forest onto a country road leading to town." – David Mayer [DWG Project # 361]. - AA: a naive, strong, compact drama. Print stems from the Paul Killiam edition with his introduction. Impressive brevity, strong sense of the nature.
W.K.L. DICKSON 3: "BIOGRAPHING"
Paul Spehr: "In April 1894 Dickson left Edison under a cloud. He was accused of helping a potential rival, the Latham family, develop a competing camera and projector. The extent to which he aided the Lathams is open to question – everyone, himself included, denies his involvement, but he was the most experienced of those involved, so suspicions remain. But there is no question that he aided his friends Elias B. Koopman, Harry Marvin, and Herman Casler (the KMCD group) in developing a moving image system that was soon Edison’s principal domestic competition. The American Mutoscope Co. was created at the end of 1895 (almost simultaneously with the premiere of the Lumières’ Cinématographe). The company was initially formed to exploit its peepshow machine, the Mutoscope, but the sensation caused by the Cinématographe, followed by the popularity of Edison’s Vitascope, caused them to change course and offer projection. Dickson’s skill as a filmmaker was one of the company’s chief assets. He was responsible for film production, and he elaborated the system he created for Edison. His new studio was an improved design; facilities to develop and process film were more elaborate; and the staff hired and trained included Billy Bitzer and Arthur Marvin – names familiar to Griffith enthusiasts. But by the summer of 1896, when they were ready to make films, it was clear that audiences wanted variety, and favored films taken on location, so even though the company’s camera was designed for studio work it was taken on the road. After establishing production in New York, which Dickson called “Biographing”, he moved on to London and repeated the process in England. Production facilities in France and Germany followed." Paul Spehr
ANNABELLE IN FLAG DANCE / FLAG DANCE BY ANNABELLE (American Mutoscope Co., US 1896). Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: ?; cast: Annabelle Whitford; filmed: rooftop studio, New York City, summer 1896; AMCo. Prod. No. 35; 35mm [blow-up from 16mm], 22 ft., 20” (18 fps); print: LoC. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "Sandow and Peerless Annabelle were the first performers filmed by the new American Mutoscope Co. Annabelle reprised her Butterfly Dance and several others, among them this example of American patriotism." Paul Spehr
HARD WASH (American Mutoscope Co., US 1896) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: G.W. “Billy” Bitzer; cast: “Jo-Jo” & his mother; filmed: rooftop studio, NewYork City, summer 1896; © 1896 68818 & 1903 H32079; AMCo. Prod.No. 39; 35mm [blow-up from 16mm], 22 ft., 20” (18 fps); print: LoC. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "This scene of an African-American woman vigorously scrubbing a black baby was immensely popular with early audiences, and was featured on Biograph’s programs in London and Paris, as well as various locations in the U.S. Edison’s almost identical version, A Morning Bath, was made a few weeks after this was first shown." – Paul Spehr
RIP VAN WINKLE: RIP’S TOAST (American Mutoscope Co., US 1896) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: G.W. Bitzer; cast: Joseph Jefferson; filmed: Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, late August 1896; © 1896 69095 & 1902 H25401; AMCo. Prod. No. 45; 35mm [blow-up from 16mm pos.], 33 ft., 29” (18 fps); print: LoC. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "Dickson filmed Joseph Jefferson in scenes from his most popular role, Rip Van Winkle. Seven films were made outdoors at Jefferson’s Massachusetts estate. Jefferson had commissioned Dion Boucicault’s adaptation of Washington Irving’s popular tale, and had been touring in it since 1865. Jefferson’s son Charles B. Jefferson was the producer of Sandow’s variety show, which contracted for the first public showing of the Biograph projection (in September 1896), and he probably arranged this filming. Although this is probably the first multi-part drama ever filmed, before 1900 the 7 scenes were rarely shown as a grouping. This scene, Rip’s Toast, is the one that most early audiences saw." – Paul Spehr
MCKINLEY AT HOME, CANTON, OHIO (Wm. McKinley Receiving Telegram Announcing His Election) (American Mutoscope Co., US 1896) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: G.W. Bitzer; cast: William McKinley; filmed: Canton, Ohio, 18.9.1896; © 1896, 61793; AMCo. Prod. No. 72; 35mm [blow-up from 16mm pos.], 49.5 ft., 44” (18 fps); print: LoC. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "The first political campaign film. It was staged to show the Republican presidential candidate William McKinley in a manner suiting his wellpublicized front porch campaign. The tranquil scene of McKinley and an assistant strolling from his porch to a sunny spot in front of the camera masked the hubbub of a day that was the busiest of the campaign. Trainloads of supporters streamed into Canton, Ohio, and paraded to McKinley’s house,where the candidate greeted them from a platform at the front of the yard – conveniently off-camera. This film, and 4 films of a campaign parade that same day, were undoubtedly made at the behest of McKinley’s supporters. Abner McKinley, the candidate’s brother, was a stockholder in the American Mutoscope Co., and a number of railroad executives were on the company’s board. McKinley’s campaign had strong support from railroad companies, who gave particular assistance to the events of the day by offering cheap train rides from Pittsburgh,major points in Ohio, and as far away as Chicago for groups supporting McKinley. The film was shown on 12 October 1896, at the company’s official New York premiere, to an invited audience of party officials and railroad executives, who cheered, demanded a re-run, and were embarrassed when they realized that they had shouted “Speech! Speech!” to a shadow on a screen. On 2 November 1896, Election Day, it was projected on an outside screen at the NewYorkWorld’s Pulitzer Building as part of the paper’s election coverage." – Paul Spehr
EMPIRE STATE EXPRESS NO. 1 (Empire State Express, N.Y. Central R.R.) (American Mutoscope Co., US 1896) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: G.W. Bitzer; filmed: Palatine, NY, [2].10.1896; © 1897 68807 & 1902 H30327; AMCo. Prod. No. 77; 35mm [blow-up from 16mm pos.], 21.5 ft., 19” (18 fps); print: LoC. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "Dickson, with Bitzer as his assistant, filmed the NewYork Central Railroad’s crack train, the Empire State Express, running at the record speed of 60 miles per hour. According to the Canastota Bee, 3 October 1896, the film was taken at Palatine, near Canastota,NewYork, the home of Henry Marvin and Herman Casler of the American Mutoscope Co. According to a contemporary timetable, the train was due at Palatine at 12:13 pm. This film was a sensation wherever it premiered, and was probably the initiator of the reports that early audiences fainted and ducked under their seats. Such reports appeared in papers in New York, London, and Paris following the first showing. [Note: This is a blow-up from a 16mm copy made from a Paper Print, and does not reflect the film’s original pictorial quality.]" – Paul Spehr
NIAGARA FALLS: AMERICAN FALLS FROM LUNA ISLAND + AMERICAN FALLS FROM GOAT ISLAND (American Mutoscope Co., US 1896) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: G.W. Bitzer; filmed: Niagara Falls, NY, 9.1896; © 1897 3553 & 1903 H30732 + © 1897 3560 & 1903 H30733;AMCo. Prod. No. 63 + 64; due film assieme/2 films combined, 35mm, 71 ft., 38” (30? fps); print: MoMA. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "The first movie audiences took particular delight in scenes of rushing, churning water. These scenes of Niagara Falls were taken in September 1896, while Dickson and Bitzer were filming McKinley and the Empire State Express. It is no coincidence that New Yorkers (and others) going to the Falls might travel on the Empire State Express.When Dickson and his partners, Marvin, Casler, and Koopman, created the American Mutoscope Co. their objective was advertising first; entertainment was an afterthought. Recent scholarship has compared these and similar films to 19th-century paintings of the Falls by Frederic Edwin Church,William Morris Hunt, and others (see “Experiencing Nature in Early Film,” by Katherine Manthorne, in Early Film and American Artistic Traditions, Hudson Hills Press & Williams College, 2005). Dickson was probably familiar with these paintings.He was not alone in filming the Falls.His trip to Niagara coincided with that of Alexandre Promio for Lumière, and Edison’s James White and William Heise arrived soon after." – Paul Spehr
CHARGE PAR ESCADRONS, EXÉCUTÉE PAR LE 1er RÉGT. DE CUIRASSIERS (Charge of the French Cuirassiers – Paris) (The Mutoscope & Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: ?; filmed: Bois de Boulogne, Paris; 8/9.1897;AMCo. Prod.No. 83E; 35mm, 700 frames (44 ft.), 23.5” (30? fps); print: NFM. Preservato Preserved from a 68mm original. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "After launching production in London Dickson traveled to the Continent; the first stop was Paris, where this restaging of a familiar Lumière subject was made. Dickson had undoubtedly seen the Lumières’ film, as it was one of the most popular films on the program at the Union Square Theater during the summer of 1896, and the theater was only a short walk from the American company’s New York headquarters. In an effort to intensify the effect of the assault, the horses charge the camera, passing on both sides. As described by H.L. Adam (in his article “Round the World for the Biograph”, published in The Royal Magazine, June 1901): “At another military display, in France, the photographer confesses that he himself was nearly answerable for the premature quietus of a fellow creature. It was a charge of Cuirassiers, and as they were approaching,Mr. Dickson waved his hand as a signal for them to take a slightly different direction. They answered to the signal, swerved, collided, and down went one of their number, biting the dust in curious confusion.” – Paul Spehr
A CAMP OF ZINGAREE GYPSIES (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: ?; filmed: near Budapest, 9.1897; AMCo. Prod. No. 87E; 35mm, 41 ft., 27” (30? fps); print: NFM. Preserved from a 68mm original. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "In September 1897 Dickson was in Austria-Hungary and Germany to film subjects suitable for European audiences – and those in the U.S. as well. While in Budapest he went to the countryside to film local scenes. As described in the Biograph Company’s 1902 catalogue: “The real Zingari gypsy is an exceedingly picturesque person, quite different from the wandering nomads we are accustomed to see in America.Our photographer was very fortunate in getting one of these camps by the side of a Hungarian highway, and his work was so successful that one could hardly get a better insight into the life of the strange people if he were to spend months traveling in their own country.The naked children are rolling about on the grass with the dogs, the women are smoking pipes and cooking the evening meal over an out-door fire.The mother is telling fortunes for a stranger, and the whole scene is one of animation. Photographically the view is almost perfect.”" – Paul Spehr
MILITARY EXERCISE – ALDERSHOT (A Terrible Spill) (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: ?; filmed: Aldershot, England, 18.2.1898; AMCo. Prod. No. 108E; 35mm, 896 frames (56 ft.), 29” (30? fps); print: NFM. Preserved from a 68mm original. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "Military subjects were consistent crowd-pleasers, and this film showing a near fatal accident was especially popular. As described in the company’s 1902 catalogue: “One of the best known and one of the most sensational moving pictures ever made. ... Our camera was stationed at the side of an English run-way filled with obstructions, which is used for cavalry exercises, at Aldershot. Picture to be taken was a number of hussars jumping one of the stiffest of the obstacles. The horses came over in fine form, one after another, until almost the end of the picture,when one of them slips throwing the cavalryman over his head and falling heavily on top of him.The other horsemen immediately following barely escape landing on the prostrate horse and man. The latter was severely injured. At the end of the picture several soldiers are seen running up, picking him up and carrying him away.”" – Paul Spehr
CONWAY CASTLE – PANORAMIC VIEW OF CONWAY ON THE L. & N.W. RAILWAY (Conway Castle) (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) Supv: W.K.L.Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; filmed: Conway,Wales, 2.1898; AMCo. Prod. No. 107E; 35mm, 142 ft., 2’11” (30? fps), col. (printed on colour stock, reproducing original hand-colouring?); print: NFM. Preserved from a 68mm original. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "The Irish Mail train filmed on the London & Northwest Railway at Conway, Wales. One of the most popular of the “phantom ride” films, it shows a panorama of the countryside and the castle as the train runs through the Welsh countryside." – Paul Spehr
IRISH MAIL – L. & N.W. RAILWAY – TAKING UP WATER AT FULL SPEED! (The “Jennie Dean” – Bushey) (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) Supv: W.K.L.Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; filmed: Bushey, England, 2.1898; AMCo. Prod. No. 112E; 35mm, 116 ft., 1’54” (30? fps); print: NFM. Preserved from a 68mm original. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "On the same trip promoting the Irish Mail, Dickson captured this remarkable scene, on the London & Northwest Railway, at Bushey, England. The camera is mounted on a train running parallel with the Irish Mail, pulled by an engine named the Jennie Dean. During the filming a third train passes between the two.Near the end of the shot the trains change tracks, allowing a better angle for recording the process of taking water from troughs along the track." – PAUL SPEHR
FEEDING THE PIGEONS IN ST. MARK’S SQUARE, VENICE (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; cast: W.K.L. Dickson; filmed: 5-6.1898; 35mm, 79 ft., c.50” (24 fps); print: BFI National Archive, London. Preserved from a 68mm original (Schultze Collection). No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "While in Italy to persuade Pope Leo XIII to appear on film Dickson made several side trips for filming. Most were to film supplementary religious subjects, but in Venice he filmed tourist sites. His appearance in this film, shot in front of St. Mark’s and near Quadri’s, might seem ego-driven, but it was probably to control the young girl who was featured. She had a tendency to forget the pigeons and distractedly wander off-camera, but she returned when bidden by Mr. D. The girl and the woman are unidentified." –Paul Spehr
POPE LEO XIII (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; cast: Pope Leo XIII, Count Camillo Pecci, Mons. DellaVolpe; filmed: giardini del Vaticano, Roma, 5-6.1898; 35mm, 345 ft., c.5’ (30? fps); print: NFM. Preserved from 68mm originals. No intertitles. 5 scenes:
(1) Pope Leo XIII, carried through the Vatican Loggia on his way to the Sistine Chapel
(2) Pope Leo XIII, in his carriage, passing through the Vatican Gardens with escort of noble guard commanded by Count Camillo Pecci. His Holiness is met by His Excellence, Monsignor Della Volpe
(3) Pope Leo XIII in his chair
(4) Pope Leo XIII, resting on his way to his summer villa
(5) Pope Leo XIII, walking at twilight through some favourite haunt in the Vatican Gardens
Paul Spehr: "Dickson considered the films he made of Pope Leo XIII in the Vatican to be one of the outstanding achievements of his career, and his contemporaries agreed. The Pope was rarely seen, since he continued a protest of the political status of the Papal States begun by his predecessor and refused to leave the Vatican. Because of his age (88) and frequent illnesses his advisors were reluctant to let him be filmed, but they apparently relented when persuaded that the Pope could extend his blessing to people that he could not reach otherwise.The Pope consented to pose for 6 or 7 films.The exact number taken is confused because of changes made in how they were exhibited and the different titles applied to suit the anticipated audiences.The first public exhibition was at New York’s Carnegie Hall, 14 December 1898, but by agreement the papal films were not shown on the company’s programs at variety theatres. Many people saw them on Mutoscopes or at specially arranged projections." – Paul Spehr
THE VATICAN MILITARY GUARD, CONSISTING OF A DETACHMENT OF NOBLE GUARDS, COMMANDED BY COUNT PECCI, FOLLOWED BY A PALATINE GUARD OF HONOUR, SWISS GUARD, GENDARMES, AND FIRE BRIGADE (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; filmed: Vaticano, Roma, 4-6.1898; 35mm, 77 ft., 50” (30? fps); print: NFM. Preserved from a 68mm original. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "The short lengths of film available required careful staging, with no allowance for waste, and this scene is an outstanding example of Dickson’s ability to compress visual information to create interest and clarity. Five units of Vatican militia were succinctly recorded in a film lasting less than a minute. The groups approach the camera in an “S” pattern, which allows maximum viewing of each unit. Though the camera is elevated to give perspective, the units pass close enough that faces can be clearly distinguished." – Paul Spehr
THE CORONATION OF QUEEN WILHELMINA OF HOLLAND AT AMSTERDAM (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898). Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; cast: Queen Wilhelmina, Queen Mother Emma; filmed: Amsterdam, 6.9.1898; 35mm, 399 ft., c.6’ (30? fps); print: NFM. Preserved from 68mm originals. No intertitles. /6 scenes (order may vary):
(1) Plechtige intocht van H.M. Koningin Wilhelmina in Amsterdam / Wilhelmina Vertrekt per Koets Van CS [Royal Procession of HM Queen Wilhelmina in Amsterdam / Wilhelmina Departs by Carriage from Central Station]
(2) Arrival of the Queen at the Palace, Amsterdam, Sept 6th
(3) Review of the Royal Netherland Guards in the Costumes of the Middle Ages (Coronation of Wilhelmina Guard of Honor)
(4) The Royal Procession to the Church before the Coronation Ceremony
(5) The Royal Procession from the Church after the Coronation Ceremony
(6) The Queen and the Queen Mother on the Palace Balcony Responding to the Call of the Populace (The Queen and Her People)
Paul Spehr: "Six films made in September 1898 recorded the coronation ceremonies of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands in Amsterdam. Wilhelmina had succeeded to the throne on the death of her father in 1890, but her mother, Queen Emma, had been regent untilWilhelmina reached the age of 18 in September 1898. She is shown arriving and leaving the church, reviewing guards dressed in costumes of the Middle Ages, and waving to the crowd from a balcony of the Palace.This series was filmed in segments that could be shown individually or grouped together to document the event. During the late 1890s the British and American Mutoscope companies provided timely coverage of events of the day, and audiences were intrigued by more detailed and candid views of royalty." – Paul Spehr
LAUNCH OF THE “OCEANIC” (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1899) Supv: W.K.L.Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; filmed: Belfast, Ireland, 14.1.1899; AMCo. Prod. No. 299E; 35mm, 38 ft., 20.25” (30? fps); print: MoMA. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "This stunning shot records the launch of the largest passenger vessel built up to that time.The film was rushed to London to be on the screen at the Palace Theatre within 3 days of the launch. TheWarwick Trading Co. also filmed the event, and joined the race to the screen." – Paul Spehr
KING JOHN (A Scene – “King John”, Now Playing at Her Majesty’s Theatre: The Last Moments of King John of England in the Orchard of Swinstead Abbey / Beerbohm Tree, The Great English Actor) (The British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) Supv:W.K.L.Dickson; ph: ?; cast: Herbert Beerbohm Tree (King John), members of the cast from Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, England; filmed: Thames embankment studio, London, 18.9.1899; AMCo. Prod. No. 493E; 35mm, 84 ft., 57” (24 fps); print: BFINA. Preserved from a 68mm original from the NFM. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, a leading performer of London’s theatre world, was recorded in 4 scenes from Shakespeare’s King John. It was a new role for him, and the film was made just prior to its opening. The Sketch’s H. Chance Newton reported “... [the] writer called upon Mr. Beerbohm Tree... found that popular actor-manager and his numerous adherents just passing through a most trying ordeal. In other words, Mr. Tree and the whole strength of his company were being ‘biographed’ wholesale, retail, and certainly for exportation, by that shrewd firm which supplies Animated Photographs to this or that amusement resort throughout the United Queendom… It was truly a very quaint experience to see this extensive company ... who will to-night (Wednesday) ... present... ‘King John’ ... Hurrying off clothed in more or less ‘complete steel’ – and in perfect makeup – to the vicinity of the Hotel Cecil, to be snapshotted, as it were, for pictures to be presently shown in all sorts of places in Europe, but especially at the Palace Theatre, London. For the going and coming and the to-ing and fro-ing of the latest King John and his vast retinue a new and picturesque awning had been prepared outside Her Majesty’s Theatre and several ‘Black Marias’ had been chartered for the carrying of the company .... There was also something of humour in the sight of ... hurrying back with the dark-blue-armoured King John Tree at their head, newly escaped from the clutches (and the ‘Kodaks’) of the Animated Photographers. ... the production, which, whatever its other merits may prove to be, will to-night assuredly be hailed as one of the grandest examples of mise-en-scène ever witnessed even at this theatre.”" – Paul Spehr
RIFLE HILL SIGNAL STATION NEAR FRERE CAMP (Rifle Hill Outpost) (The British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899). Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph:William Cox? John Seward?; filmed: Camp Frere, South Africa, 7.12.1899; AMCo. Prod. No. 568E; 35mm, 46 ft., c.30” (24 fps); print: BFINA, London. Preserved from a 68mm original (Schultze Collection). No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "In the fall of 1899 Dickson was in South Africa filming the campaign to relieve the besieged British at Ladysmith during the Boer War. The huge and very visible camera made it difficult to get near combat, but Dickson seized opportunities to record actions that reflected the activities he and his associates were seeing. As Dickson described this scene in his book The Biograph in Battle: “We again visited the outposts, and managed, not without extreme difficulty, to haul our machine, &c., to the top of Rifle Hill signal station, just in time to catch a message from Colonel Kitchener [Author’s Note: not the General], which was flagged to picket No. 8, the operators kindly waiting until we got the machine in position before they sent the message. The men were watching the enemy below while the signalling was in progress, Captain Bartram being in command of signal and picket.This is a splendid scene, and one of which we are very proud, for we nearly killed ourselves and our horses in our endeavour to get planted in time. .... This is the message which was sent to O.C. No. 8 picket: ‘Have your picket under arms and send out patrol. Kitchener, December 7th.’ It was sent in plain flag, Morse, not code, so that any one who knew Morse could read this message.”" – Paul Spehr
BATTLE OF SPION KOP: AMBULANCE CORPS CROSSING THE TUGELA RIVER (Operations of Red Cross Ambulances after Spion Kop / Battle of the Upper Tugela) (The British Mutoscope and Biograph Company,GB 1899). Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: William Cox? John Seward?; filmed: Spion Kop, South Africa, 25.1.1900; AMCo. Prod. No. 591E; 35mm, 3 scenes, 37 ft. + 45 ft. + 47 ft., c.2’ (24 fps); print: BFINA, London. Preserved from 68mm originals (Schultze Collection). No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "A dramatic panorama of the valley of the Tugela River, with the British troops trailing home dejectedly after failing to take Spion Kop. The camera is behind a squad of British soldiers in a trench covering the retreat. The 1902 catalogue had this to say: “This is probably as near an actual scene of battle as a camera will ever get in modern warfare. It was taken from the second line of intrenchments [sic] during the battle of the Upper Tugela, in which the British, under General Buller met with defeat at the hands of the Boers. The British lost about 500 men in this engagement, and our picture, taken at the rear of the British fighting line, shows the wounded being brought in on litters, and in ambulances. The scope of the view is very broad, taking in the Tugela with its temporary pontoon bridge, and the reserve force on the opposite bank of the river, and the distant mountains where the Boers are stationed. Spion Kop is prominent among the peaks. Photographically the subject is sharp and clear.” Dickson, in his book The Biograph in Battle: “The battle rages on with unabated fury; the slaughter on both sides is obliged to be terrible. .... By morning three thousand of our braves had captured the mountain and driven the Boers off. This would have been a triumphant success had they been able to withstand the deadly cross-fire of the enemy ... they soon had to abandon or be utterly annihilated. Some... bitter disappointment. “We were not long in following with our Cape cart, and ... succeeded in getting a good picture of the Ambulance Corps crossing the Tugela River over a hurriedly spanned pontoon bridge. .... “The picture has an additional value that in the back-ground is part of the battlefield whereWarren’s men fought so gallantly as they advanced towards and up Spion Kop to the right. ... twenty minutes of valuable time had to be sacrificed in order to prove that General Buller’s permission covered our movements. ....” – Paul Spehr
GORDON HIGHLANDERS IN LADYSMITH (Ladysmith – Gordon Highlanders Marching Out to Meet Relief Column / Relief of Ladysmith) (The British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB, 1899). Supv:W.K.L.Dickson; ph: [W.K.L.Dickson]; filmed: Ladysmith, South Africa, 2-3.3.1900; AMCo. Prod. No. 613E; 35mm, 51 ft., 32” (24 fps); print: BFINA, London. Preserved from a 68mm original (Schultze Collection). No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "Dickson recorded the formal ceremonies for the relief of Ladysmith, where the Gordon Highlanders had been under siege by the Boers since 1 November 1899. (General Buller made an informal entry on the day before.) Dickson was filming under some handicap, as both of his assistants, Cox and Seward, were ill and had been taken back to Durban. An inexperienced assistant had been hired, but Dickson was also succumbing to enteric fever. Dickson (The Biograph in Battle): “...a busy day for all. By 10 a.m. we have secured a Biograph and other pictures of the beleaguered Gordon Highlanders en route from camp to welcome the entrance of the relief column, headed by General Buller and Staff. This is our next picture, but regretfully we must face the sun to secure it. Every facility has been given us by Colonel Scott, in command of the Highlanders, who, with other regiments, line the streets on both sides – our cart be conspicuously a nuisance, from the back of which we took the Bios.The cart had to displace the soldiers, the back reaching out into the street as we had no tripod … this we found impossible to drag over the mountain, and so had left it behind. ... I found standing at my side Winston Churchill. ....”" – Paul Spehr. - AA comments: a magnificent show. The Monkeyshines (1889) are to the cinema like the Lennart Nilsson photographs of an emergent baby in the mother's womb. These are some of the most valuable images of the history of the cinema, making sense in a new way in this programme. W.K.L. Dickson often favoured high speeds (30 fps or more, even 40-50 fps?), from his early Edison days to his latest Biograph wide image specials. Many films were shown much too slowly.
ANNABELLE IN FLAG DANCE / FLAG DANCE BY ANNABELLE (American Mutoscope Co., US 1896). Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: ?; cast: Annabelle Whitford; filmed: rooftop studio, New York City, summer 1896; AMCo. Prod. No. 35; 35mm [blow-up from 16mm], 22 ft., 20” (18 fps); print: LoC. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "Sandow and Peerless Annabelle were the first performers filmed by the new American Mutoscope Co. Annabelle reprised her Butterfly Dance and several others, among them this example of American patriotism." Paul Spehr
HARD WASH (American Mutoscope Co., US 1896) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: G.W. “Billy” Bitzer; cast: “Jo-Jo” & his mother; filmed: rooftop studio, NewYork City, summer 1896; © 1896 68818 & 1903 H32079; AMCo. Prod.No. 39; 35mm [blow-up from 16mm], 22 ft., 20” (18 fps); print: LoC. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "This scene of an African-American woman vigorously scrubbing a black baby was immensely popular with early audiences, and was featured on Biograph’s programs in London and Paris, as well as various locations in the U.S. Edison’s almost identical version, A Morning Bath, was made a few weeks after this was first shown." – Paul Spehr
RIP VAN WINKLE: RIP’S TOAST (American Mutoscope Co., US 1896) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: G.W. Bitzer; cast: Joseph Jefferson; filmed: Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, late August 1896; © 1896 69095 & 1902 H25401; AMCo. Prod. No. 45; 35mm [blow-up from 16mm pos.], 33 ft., 29” (18 fps); print: LoC. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "Dickson filmed Joseph Jefferson in scenes from his most popular role, Rip Van Winkle. Seven films were made outdoors at Jefferson’s Massachusetts estate. Jefferson had commissioned Dion Boucicault’s adaptation of Washington Irving’s popular tale, and had been touring in it since 1865. Jefferson’s son Charles B. Jefferson was the producer of Sandow’s variety show, which contracted for the first public showing of the Biograph projection (in September 1896), and he probably arranged this filming. Although this is probably the first multi-part drama ever filmed, before 1900 the 7 scenes were rarely shown as a grouping. This scene, Rip’s Toast, is the one that most early audiences saw." – Paul Spehr
MCKINLEY AT HOME, CANTON, OHIO (Wm. McKinley Receiving Telegram Announcing His Election) (American Mutoscope Co., US 1896) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: G.W. Bitzer; cast: William McKinley; filmed: Canton, Ohio, 18.9.1896; © 1896, 61793; AMCo. Prod. No. 72; 35mm [blow-up from 16mm pos.], 49.5 ft., 44” (18 fps); print: LoC. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "The first political campaign film. It was staged to show the Republican presidential candidate William McKinley in a manner suiting his wellpublicized front porch campaign. The tranquil scene of McKinley and an assistant strolling from his porch to a sunny spot in front of the camera masked the hubbub of a day that was the busiest of the campaign. Trainloads of supporters streamed into Canton, Ohio, and paraded to McKinley’s house,where the candidate greeted them from a platform at the front of the yard – conveniently off-camera. This film, and 4 films of a campaign parade that same day, were undoubtedly made at the behest of McKinley’s supporters. Abner McKinley, the candidate’s brother, was a stockholder in the American Mutoscope Co., and a number of railroad executives were on the company’s board. McKinley’s campaign had strong support from railroad companies, who gave particular assistance to the events of the day by offering cheap train rides from Pittsburgh,major points in Ohio, and as far away as Chicago for groups supporting McKinley. The film was shown on 12 October 1896, at the company’s official New York premiere, to an invited audience of party officials and railroad executives, who cheered, demanded a re-run, and were embarrassed when they realized that they had shouted “Speech! Speech!” to a shadow on a screen. On 2 November 1896, Election Day, it was projected on an outside screen at the NewYorkWorld’s Pulitzer Building as part of the paper’s election coverage." – Paul Spehr
EMPIRE STATE EXPRESS NO. 1 (Empire State Express, N.Y. Central R.R.) (American Mutoscope Co., US 1896) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: G.W. Bitzer; filmed: Palatine, NY, [2].10.1896; © 1897 68807 & 1902 H30327; AMCo. Prod. No. 77; 35mm [blow-up from 16mm pos.], 21.5 ft., 19” (18 fps); print: LoC. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "Dickson, with Bitzer as his assistant, filmed the NewYork Central Railroad’s crack train, the Empire State Express, running at the record speed of 60 miles per hour. According to the Canastota Bee, 3 October 1896, the film was taken at Palatine, near Canastota,NewYork, the home of Henry Marvin and Herman Casler of the American Mutoscope Co. According to a contemporary timetable, the train was due at Palatine at 12:13 pm. This film was a sensation wherever it premiered, and was probably the initiator of the reports that early audiences fainted and ducked under their seats. Such reports appeared in papers in New York, London, and Paris following the first showing. [Note: This is a blow-up from a 16mm copy made from a Paper Print, and does not reflect the film’s original pictorial quality.]" – Paul Spehr
NIAGARA FALLS: AMERICAN FALLS FROM LUNA ISLAND + AMERICAN FALLS FROM GOAT ISLAND (American Mutoscope Co., US 1896) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: G.W. Bitzer; filmed: Niagara Falls, NY, 9.1896; © 1897 3553 & 1903 H30732 + © 1897 3560 & 1903 H30733;AMCo. Prod. No. 63 + 64; due film assieme/2 films combined, 35mm, 71 ft., 38” (30? fps); print: MoMA. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "The first movie audiences took particular delight in scenes of rushing, churning water. These scenes of Niagara Falls were taken in September 1896, while Dickson and Bitzer were filming McKinley and the Empire State Express. It is no coincidence that New Yorkers (and others) going to the Falls might travel on the Empire State Express.When Dickson and his partners, Marvin, Casler, and Koopman, created the American Mutoscope Co. their objective was advertising first; entertainment was an afterthought. Recent scholarship has compared these and similar films to 19th-century paintings of the Falls by Frederic Edwin Church,William Morris Hunt, and others (see “Experiencing Nature in Early Film,” by Katherine Manthorne, in Early Film and American Artistic Traditions, Hudson Hills Press & Williams College, 2005). Dickson was probably familiar with these paintings.He was not alone in filming the Falls.His trip to Niagara coincided with that of Alexandre Promio for Lumière, and Edison’s James White and William Heise arrived soon after." – Paul Spehr
CHARGE PAR ESCADRONS, EXÉCUTÉE PAR LE 1er RÉGT. DE CUIRASSIERS (Charge of the French Cuirassiers – Paris) (The Mutoscope & Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: ?; filmed: Bois de Boulogne, Paris; 8/9.1897;AMCo. Prod.No. 83E; 35mm, 700 frames (44 ft.), 23.5” (30? fps); print: NFM. Preservato Preserved from a 68mm original. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "After launching production in London Dickson traveled to the Continent; the first stop was Paris, where this restaging of a familiar Lumière subject was made. Dickson had undoubtedly seen the Lumières’ film, as it was one of the most popular films on the program at the Union Square Theater during the summer of 1896, and the theater was only a short walk from the American company’s New York headquarters. In an effort to intensify the effect of the assault, the horses charge the camera, passing on both sides. As described by H.L. Adam (in his article “Round the World for the Biograph”, published in The Royal Magazine, June 1901): “At another military display, in France, the photographer confesses that he himself was nearly answerable for the premature quietus of a fellow creature. It was a charge of Cuirassiers, and as they were approaching,Mr. Dickson waved his hand as a signal for them to take a slightly different direction. They answered to the signal, swerved, collided, and down went one of their number, biting the dust in curious confusion.” – Paul Spehr
A CAMP OF ZINGAREE GYPSIES (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: ?; filmed: near Budapest, 9.1897; AMCo. Prod. No. 87E; 35mm, 41 ft., 27” (30? fps); print: NFM. Preserved from a 68mm original. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "In September 1897 Dickson was in Austria-Hungary and Germany to film subjects suitable for European audiences – and those in the U.S. as well. While in Budapest he went to the countryside to film local scenes. As described in the Biograph Company’s 1902 catalogue: “The real Zingari gypsy is an exceedingly picturesque person, quite different from the wandering nomads we are accustomed to see in America.Our photographer was very fortunate in getting one of these camps by the side of a Hungarian highway, and his work was so successful that one could hardly get a better insight into the life of the strange people if he were to spend months traveling in their own country.The naked children are rolling about on the grass with the dogs, the women are smoking pipes and cooking the evening meal over an out-door fire.The mother is telling fortunes for a stranger, and the whole scene is one of animation. Photographically the view is almost perfect.”" – Paul Spehr
MILITARY EXERCISE – ALDERSHOT (A Terrible Spill) (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: ?; filmed: Aldershot, England, 18.2.1898; AMCo. Prod. No. 108E; 35mm, 896 frames (56 ft.), 29” (30? fps); print: NFM. Preserved from a 68mm original. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "Military subjects were consistent crowd-pleasers, and this film showing a near fatal accident was especially popular. As described in the company’s 1902 catalogue: “One of the best known and one of the most sensational moving pictures ever made. ... Our camera was stationed at the side of an English run-way filled with obstructions, which is used for cavalry exercises, at Aldershot. Picture to be taken was a number of hussars jumping one of the stiffest of the obstacles. The horses came over in fine form, one after another, until almost the end of the picture,when one of them slips throwing the cavalryman over his head and falling heavily on top of him.The other horsemen immediately following barely escape landing on the prostrate horse and man. The latter was severely injured. At the end of the picture several soldiers are seen running up, picking him up and carrying him away.”" – Paul Spehr
CONWAY CASTLE – PANORAMIC VIEW OF CONWAY ON THE L. & N.W. RAILWAY (Conway Castle) (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) Supv: W.K.L.Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; filmed: Conway,Wales, 2.1898; AMCo. Prod. No. 107E; 35mm, 142 ft., 2’11” (30? fps), col. (printed on colour stock, reproducing original hand-colouring?); print: NFM. Preserved from a 68mm original. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "The Irish Mail train filmed on the London & Northwest Railway at Conway, Wales. One of the most popular of the “phantom ride” films, it shows a panorama of the countryside and the castle as the train runs through the Welsh countryside." – Paul Spehr
IRISH MAIL – L. & N.W. RAILWAY – TAKING UP WATER AT FULL SPEED! (The “Jennie Dean” – Bushey) (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) Supv: W.K.L.Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; filmed: Bushey, England, 2.1898; AMCo. Prod. No. 112E; 35mm, 116 ft., 1’54” (30? fps); print: NFM. Preserved from a 68mm original. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "On the same trip promoting the Irish Mail, Dickson captured this remarkable scene, on the London & Northwest Railway, at Bushey, England. The camera is mounted on a train running parallel with the Irish Mail, pulled by an engine named the Jennie Dean. During the filming a third train passes between the two.Near the end of the shot the trains change tracks, allowing a better angle for recording the process of taking water from troughs along the track." – PAUL SPEHR
FEEDING THE PIGEONS IN ST. MARK’S SQUARE, VENICE (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; cast: W.K.L. Dickson; filmed: 5-6.1898; 35mm, 79 ft., c.50” (24 fps); print: BFI National Archive, London. Preserved from a 68mm original (Schultze Collection). No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "While in Italy to persuade Pope Leo XIII to appear on film Dickson made several side trips for filming. Most were to film supplementary religious subjects, but in Venice he filmed tourist sites. His appearance in this film, shot in front of St. Mark’s and near Quadri’s, might seem ego-driven, but it was probably to control the young girl who was featured. She had a tendency to forget the pigeons and distractedly wander off-camera, but she returned when bidden by Mr. D. The girl and the woman are unidentified." –Paul Spehr
POPE LEO XIII (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; cast: Pope Leo XIII, Count Camillo Pecci, Mons. DellaVolpe; filmed: giardini del Vaticano, Roma, 5-6.1898; 35mm, 345 ft., c.5’ (30? fps); print: NFM. Preserved from 68mm originals. No intertitles. 5 scenes:
(1) Pope Leo XIII, carried through the Vatican Loggia on his way to the Sistine Chapel
(2) Pope Leo XIII, in his carriage, passing through the Vatican Gardens with escort of noble guard commanded by Count Camillo Pecci. His Holiness is met by His Excellence, Monsignor Della Volpe
(3) Pope Leo XIII in his chair
(4) Pope Leo XIII, resting on his way to his summer villa
(5) Pope Leo XIII, walking at twilight through some favourite haunt in the Vatican Gardens
Paul Spehr: "Dickson considered the films he made of Pope Leo XIII in the Vatican to be one of the outstanding achievements of his career, and his contemporaries agreed. The Pope was rarely seen, since he continued a protest of the political status of the Papal States begun by his predecessor and refused to leave the Vatican. Because of his age (88) and frequent illnesses his advisors were reluctant to let him be filmed, but they apparently relented when persuaded that the Pope could extend his blessing to people that he could not reach otherwise.The Pope consented to pose for 6 or 7 films.The exact number taken is confused because of changes made in how they were exhibited and the different titles applied to suit the anticipated audiences.The first public exhibition was at New York’s Carnegie Hall, 14 December 1898, but by agreement the papal films were not shown on the company’s programs at variety theatres. Many people saw them on Mutoscopes or at specially arranged projections." – Paul Spehr
THE VATICAN MILITARY GUARD, CONSISTING OF A DETACHMENT OF NOBLE GUARDS, COMMANDED BY COUNT PECCI, FOLLOWED BY A PALATINE GUARD OF HONOUR, SWISS GUARD, GENDARMES, AND FIRE BRIGADE (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; filmed: Vaticano, Roma, 4-6.1898; 35mm, 77 ft., 50” (30? fps); print: NFM. Preserved from a 68mm original. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "The short lengths of film available required careful staging, with no allowance for waste, and this scene is an outstanding example of Dickson’s ability to compress visual information to create interest and clarity. Five units of Vatican militia were succinctly recorded in a film lasting less than a minute. The groups approach the camera in an “S” pattern, which allows maximum viewing of each unit. Though the camera is elevated to give perspective, the units pass close enough that faces can be clearly distinguished." – Paul Spehr
THE CORONATION OF QUEEN WILHELMINA OF HOLLAND AT AMSTERDAM (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898). Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; cast: Queen Wilhelmina, Queen Mother Emma; filmed: Amsterdam, 6.9.1898; 35mm, 399 ft., c.6’ (30? fps); print: NFM. Preserved from 68mm originals. No intertitles. /6 scenes (order may vary):
(1) Plechtige intocht van H.M. Koningin Wilhelmina in Amsterdam / Wilhelmina Vertrekt per Koets Van CS [Royal Procession of HM Queen Wilhelmina in Amsterdam / Wilhelmina Departs by Carriage from Central Station]
(2) Arrival of the Queen at the Palace, Amsterdam, Sept 6th
(3) Review of the Royal Netherland Guards in the Costumes of the Middle Ages (Coronation of Wilhelmina Guard of Honor)
(4) The Royal Procession to the Church before the Coronation Ceremony
(5) The Royal Procession from the Church after the Coronation Ceremony
(6) The Queen and the Queen Mother on the Palace Balcony Responding to the Call of the Populace (The Queen and Her People)
Paul Spehr: "Six films made in September 1898 recorded the coronation ceremonies of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands in Amsterdam. Wilhelmina had succeeded to the throne on the death of her father in 1890, but her mother, Queen Emma, had been regent untilWilhelmina reached the age of 18 in September 1898. She is shown arriving and leaving the church, reviewing guards dressed in costumes of the Middle Ages, and waving to the crowd from a balcony of the Palace.This series was filmed in segments that could be shown individually or grouped together to document the event. During the late 1890s the British and American Mutoscope companies provided timely coverage of events of the day, and audiences were intrigued by more detailed and candid views of royalty." – Paul Spehr
LAUNCH OF THE “OCEANIC” (The Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1899) Supv: W.K.L.Dickson; ph: Emile Lauste; filmed: Belfast, Ireland, 14.1.1899; AMCo. Prod. No. 299E; 35mm, 38 ft., 20.25” (30? fps); print: MoMA. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "This stunning shot records the launch of the largest passenger vessel built up to that time.The film was rushed to London to be on the screen at the Palace Theatre within 3 days of the launch. TheWarwick Trading Co. also filmed the event, and joined the race to the screen." – Paul Spehr
KING JOHN (A Scene – “King John”, Now Playing at Her Majesty’s Theatre: The Last Moments of King John of England in the Orchard of Swinstead Abbey / Beerbohm Tree, The Great English Actor) (The British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) Supv:W.K.L.Dickson; ph: ?; cast: Herbert Beerbohm Tree (King John), members of the cast from Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, England; filmed: Thames embankment studio, London, 18.9.1899; AMCo. Prod. No. 493E; 35mm, 84 ft., 57” (24 fps); print: BFINA. Preserved from a 68mm original from the NFM. No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, a leading performer of London’s theatre world, was recorded in 4 scenes from Shakespeare’s King John. It was a new role for him, and the film was made just prior to its opening. The Sketch’s H. Chance Newton reported “... [the] writer called upon Mr. Beerbohm Tree... found that popular actor-manager and his numerous adherents just passing through a most trying ordeal. In other words, Mr. Tree and the whole strength of his company were being ‘biographed’ wholesale, retail, and certainly for exportation, by that shrewd firm which supplies Animated Photographs to this or that amusement resort throughout the United Queendom… It was truly a very quaint experience to see this extensive company ... who will to-night (Wednesday) ... present... ‘King John’ ... Hurrying off clothed in more or less ‘complete steel’ – and in perfect makeup – to the vicinity of the Hotel Cecil, to be snapshotted, as it were, for pictures to be presently shown in all sorts of places in Europe, but especially at the Palace Theatre, London. For the going and coming and the to-ing and fro-ing of the latest King John and his vast retinue a new and picturesque awning had been prepared outside Her Majesty’s Theatre and several ‘Black Marias’ had been chartered for the carrying of the company .... There was also something of humour in the sight of ... hurrying back with the dark-blue-armoured King John Tree at their head, newly escaped from the clutches (and the ‘Kodaks’) of the Animated Photographers. ... the production, which, whatever its other merits may prove to be, will to-night assuredly be hailed as one of the grandest examples of mise-en-scène ever witnessed even at this theatre.”" – Paul Spehr
RIFLE HILL SIGNAL STATION NEAR FRERE CAMP (Rifle Hill Outpost) (The British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899). Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph:William Cox? John Seward?; filmed: Camp Frere, South Africa, 7.12.1899; AMCo. Prod. No. 568E; 35mm, 46 ft., c.30” (24 fps); print: BFINA, London. Preserved from a 68mm original (Schultze Collection). No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "In the fall of 1899 Dickson was in South Africa filming the campaign to relieve the besieged British at Ladysmith during the Boer War. The huge and very visible camera made it difficult to get near combat, but Dickson seized opportunities to record actions that reflected the activities he and his associates were seeing. As Dickson described this scene in his book The Biograph in Battle: “We again visited the outposts, and managed, not without extreme difficulty, to haul our machine, &c., to the top of Rifle Hill signal station, just in time to catch a message from Colonel Kitchener [Author’s Note: not the General], which was flagged to picket No. 8, the operators kindly waiting until we got the machine in position before they sent the message. The men were watching the enemy below while the signalling was in progress, Captain Bartram being in command of signal and picket.This is a splendid scene, and one of which we are very proud, for we nearly killed ourselves and our horses in our endeavour to get planted in time. .... This is the message which was sent to O.C. No. 8 picket: ‘Have your picket under arms and send out patrol. Kitchener, December 7th.’ It was sent in plain flag, Morse, not code, so that any one who knew Morse could read this message.”" – Paul Spehr
BATTLE OF SPION KOP: AMBULANCE CORPS CROSSING THE TUGELA RIVER (Operations of Red Cross Ambulances after Spion Kop / Battle of the Upper Tugela) (The British Mutoscope and Biograph Company,GB 1899). Supv: W.K.L. Dickson; ph: William Cox? John Seward?; filmed: Spion Kop, South Africa, 25.1.1900; AMCo. Prod. No. 591E; 35mm, 3 scenes, 37 ft. + 45 ft. + 47 ft., c.2’ (24 fps); print: BFINA, London. Preserved from 68mm originals (Schultze Collection). No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "A dramatic panorama of the valley of the Tugela River, with the British troops trailing home dejectedly after failing to take Spion Kop. The camera is behind a squad of British soldiers in a trench covering the retreat. The 1902 catalogue had this to say: “This is probably as near an actual scene of battle as a camera will ever get in modern warfare. It was taken from the second line of intrenchments [sic] during the battle of the Upper Tugela, in which the British, under General Buller met with defeat at the hands of the Boers. The British lost about 500 men in this engagement, and our picture, taken at the rear of the British fighting line, shows the wounded being brought in on litters, and in ambulances. The scope of the view is very broad, taking in the Tugela with its temporary pontoon bridge, and the reserve force on the opposite bank of the river, and the distant mountains where the Boers are stationed. Spion Kop is prominent among the peaks. Photographically the subject is sharp and clear.” Dickson, in his book The Biograph in Battle: “The battle rages on with unabated fury; the slaughter on both sides is obliged to be terrible. .... By morning three thousand of our braves had captured the mountain and driven the Boers off. This would have been a triumphant success had they been able to withstand the deadly cross-fire of the enemy ... they soon had to abandon or be utterly annihilated. Some... bitter disappointment. “We were not long in following with our Cape cart, and ... succeeded in getting a good picture of the Ambulance Corps crossing the Tugela River over a hurriedly spanned pontoon bridge. .... “The picture has an additional value that in the back-ground is part of the battlefield whereWarren’s men fought so gallantly as they advanced towards and up Spion Kop to the right. ... twenty minutes of valuable time had to be sacrificed in order to prove that General Buller’s permission covered our movements. ....” – Paul Spehr
GORDON HIGHLANDERS IN LADYSMITH (Ladysmith – Gordon Highlanders Marching Out to Meet Relief Column / Relief of Ladysmith) (The British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB, 1899). Supv:W.K.L.Dickson; ph: [W.K.L.Dickson]; filmed: Ladysmith, South Africa, 2-3.3.1900; AMCo. Prod. No. 613E; 35mm, 51 ft., 32” (24 fps); print: BFINA, London. Preserved from a 68mm original (Schultze Collection). No intertitles. Paul Spehr: "Dickson recorded the formal ceremonies for the relief of Ladysmith, where the Gordon Highlanders had been under siege by the Boers since 1 November 1899. (General Buller made an informal entry on the day before.) Dickson was filming under some handicap, as both of his assistants, Cox and Seward, were ill and had been taken back to Durban. An inexperienced assistant had been hired, but Dickson was also succumbing to enteric fever. Dickson (The Biograph in Battle): “...a busy day for all. By 10 a.m. we have secured a Biograph and other pictures of the beleaguered Gordon Highlanders en route from camp to welcome the entrance of the relief column, headed by General Buller and Staff. This is our next picture, but regretfully we must face the sun to secure it. Every facility has been given us by Colonel Scott, in command of the Highlanders, who, with other regiments, line the streets on both sides – our cart be conspicuously a nuisance, from the back of which we took the Bios.The cart had to displace the soldiers, the back reaching out into the street as we had no tripod … this we found impossible to drag over the mountain, and so had left it behind. ... I found standing at my side Winston Churchill. ....”" – Paul Spehr. - AA comments: a magnificent show. The Monkeyshines (1889) are to the cinema like the Lennart Nilsson photographs of an emergent baby in the mother's womb. These are some of the most valuable images of the history of the cinema, making sense in a new way in this programme. W.K.L. Dickson often favoured high speeds (30 fps or more, even 40-50 fps?), from his early Edison days to his latest Biograph wide image specials. Many films were shown much too slowly.
The Drums of Love
Kahden veljen rakkaus. US 1928. PC: United Artists. P+D: D.W. Griffith. SC: Gerrit J. Lloyd.DP: G.W. Bitzer, Harry Jackson, Karl Struss. AD: William Cameron Menzies, cast: Mary Philbin (Emanuella), Lionel Barrymore (Duke Cathos de Alvia), Don Alvarado (Count Leonardo de Alvia), Tully Marshall (Bopi), William Austin (Raymond of Boston), Eugenie Besserer (Duchess de Alvia), Charles Hill Mailes (Duke de Granada); 16mm, 3318 ft /20 fps/ 111 min [including alternate ending 178 ft /20 fps/ 6 min]; print: LoC, original in English with e-subtitles in Italian, grand piano: Gabriel Thibaudeau. Viewed at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Ridotto dal Verdi, 7 October 2008. - A bad 16mm print, I watched just a sample. - Scott Simmon: "From the time of his first Biograph films, D.W. Griffith was always seducible by solemn “art”. Presented with art director William Cameron Menzies (...) and cinematographer Karl Struss (...), Griffith came up with a story inspired by doomed lovers Paolo and Francesca for a film that is beautifully crafted but off-balance in structure and slow in pace. Variety’s positive review (“a sweet comeback for Griffith”) nevertheless recognized that it would be a hard sell to the mass audience: “Drums of Love is a loge section film. The art centers will love it. That’s sure. Its basic appeal is to the playgoer who thoroughly enjoys the Theatre Guild.” The most telling initial notice was from the New York Telegram: “Reviewing a Griffith picture is like nothing else in the experience of an American picture fan. For, after all, D.W. has been our first and foremost, our best beloved, our pet genius whom we could always count on when the great lords from overseas – the Murnaus, the Lubitsches and the Stillers – arrived with their great bag of tricks to show us how it is done. And that’s why it’s so tarnation sad when the Grand Old Man turns out a Drums of Love.”
Were it not such an extraordinarily dark tale, it would be easier to see this strangely titled film (“drums” of love are nowhere to be found in it) as Griffith’s first “Hollywood” movie. When he had last directed in Los Angeles in 1919, he had still been his own producer. Now he was back with an excellent employee’s contract for what turned out to be the first of four features produced by Joseph Schenck (initially at his appealingly named Art Cinema Corporation) for release through United Artists, of which Schenck was also president. These films would essentially put an end to Griffith’s career.
The structure and style of The Drums of Love are unconventional, and not without interest. After a static scene of the Alvia brothers swearing eternal love for each other at their father’s deathbed, shot with Karl Struss’ recognizably misty diffusion, the perspective switches to a sequence more characteristic of Griffith. The brothers lead troops to victory in a large-scale battle against the Duke of Granada’s forces. It’s the sort of scene, however, that would usually climax a Griffith film, and here it’s tossed off perfunctorily. Most of the rest of the film will rely for spectacle on unconvincing glass-shot effects. Unusual for Griffith too is the fluid mobility of the camera in early scenes, especially of carefree Emanuella at her father’s home. The tone of the rest of the film seems also to weigh down the camera.
The performances are so varied in expressiveness as to lead to a disastrous imbalance in the film as a whole. Top-billed was Mary Philbin, a pleasant-enough actress who was developing an odd career repeatedly playing the lovely consort of deeply deformed but good-hearted men (...) Dolled up in a Goldilocks wig and “recently home from the convent”, she is here paired with Don Alvarado, one of the low-rent Latin Lover replacements after Valentino’s death. His acting range appears so extremely limited that, by the climax of The Drums of Love, his character’s passion and guilt register as a Kuleshov test – an identical expression distinguished only by whether it is edited next to Emanuella or a portrait of his brother: “Sometimes there is a lethargy about his actions,” in the New York Times’s understatement. The human interest in the film arises from the convincing and even endearing performance of Lionel Barrymore as Duke Cathos; it was “this actor’s outstanding camera achievement to date,” in Variety’s verdict. When Emanuella first sees Cathos, he’s shadowed in Expressionist darkness that emphasizes his heavy brow, broad mustache, and hairy hands, but he’s also immediately rather winning in mocking his own hump and letting her know that she’s quite free to withdraw from the marriage “and none will be the worse”. (It’s her father who again forces the union.) Barrymore provides the rare flashes of wit in a film too weighed down by intertitles penned by Griffith with his former publicist Gerrit J. Lloyd; “it would … have been far more satisfactory to include in the captions phrases that were less hard and contained an element of charm,” noted the New York Times. As the un-comic jester, Tully Marshall skulks around melodramatically, as if testing out the character he will use to drool on Gloria Swanson later that year in Erich von Stroheim’s Queen Kelly (1928). It becomes evident that Griffith’s rooting interest in all this court intrigue is entirely with Barrymore’s sad, lonely, deformed duke, and we too become increasingly impatient with pampered Emanuella for preferring the dim, handsome brother. The Drums of Love comes close to being a fascinating film – if we weren’t forced to spend so much time with the two lovers.
The difficulty that Griffith and Schenck had in marketing the film is evident in the survival of two different last reels. The plot description above recounts the film’s original story as seen at the Los Angeles and New York premieres. After Cathos is informed by the jester of the liaison between his brother and his wife, they enact a long, heavy finale of guilt, honor, sacrifice, and murder. Emanuella declares “I must die”. Cathos kisses and stabs her, then even more regretfully must stab his brother: “Death before a stain on our honor.” Anticipating another Lionel Barrymore film, Duel in the Sun (...), the two dying lovers crawl toward each other, even while they beg Cathos’ forgiveness, and Struss’ photography gets even mistier. In a strikingly composed and dark coda, Cathos kisses the hands of the two bodies on a bier and walks slowly off, tormented and more hunched than ever. “The closing incident” might be a problem, the New York Times hinted. Variety elaborated that “doubts have been expressed as to whether the beauty values here can overcome the tragic double killing at the finish,” but noted that “Greta [Garbo] passes on in both Flesh and the Devil and Love …”. However, MGM had come around to revising the end of Love (Edmund Goulding, 1927) – an adaptation of Anna Karenina – so that Anna and Vronsky live happily ever after, a version released widely earlier in January 1928. Griffith and Schenck apparently decided to try the same thing. In the revised final reel of The Drums of Love put into general release by late February 1928, the brothers again fight and Emanuella again recognizes “I must die”. However, this time Cathos stabs the ever-intrusive jester, and is mortally wounded in return. There is no record that the revised ending improved the film’s box-office appeal." – Scott Simmon [DWG Project # 618]. - With a film interesting mostly because of its beauty values, it was a pity that only such a bad 16mm print was available. I did not stay and am looking forward to a good print!
Were it not such an extraordinarily dark tale, it would be easier to see this strangely titled film (“drums” of love are nowhere to be found in it) as Griffith’s first “Hollywood” movie. When he had last directed in Los Angeles in 1919, he had still been his own producer. Now he was back with an excellent employee’s contract for what turned out to be the first of four features produced by Joseph Schenck (initially at his appealingly named Art Cinema Corporation) for release through United Artists, of which Schenck was also president. These films would essentially put an end to Griffith’s career.
The structure and style of The Drums of Love are unconventional, and not without interest. After a static scene of the Alvia brothers swearing eternal love for each other at their father’s deathbed, shot with Karl Struss’ recognizably misty diffusion, the perspective switches to a sequence more characteristic of Griffith. The brothers lead troops to victory in a large-scale battle against the Duke of Granada’s forces. It’s the sort of scene, however, that would usually climax a Griffith film, and here it’s tossed off perfunctorily. Most of the rest of the film will rely for spectacle on unconvincing glass-shot effects. Unusual for Griffith too is the fluid mobility of the camera in early scenes, especially of carefree Emanuella at her father’s home. The tone of the rest of the film seems also to weigh down the camera.
The performances are so varied in expressiveness as to lead to a disastrous imbalance in the film as a whole. Top-billed was Mary Philbin, a pleasant-enough actress who was developing an odd career repeatedly playing the lovely consort of deeply deformed but good-hearted men (...) Dolled up in a Goldilocks wig and “recently home from the convent”, she is here paired with Don Alvarado, one of the low-rent Latin Lover replacements after Valentino’s death. His acting range appears so extremely limited that, by the climax of The Drums of Love, his character’s passion and guilt register as a Kuleshov test – an identical expression distinguished only by whether it is edited next to Emanuella or a portrait of his brother: “Sometimes there is a lethargy about his actions,” in the New York Times’s understatement. The human interest in the film arises from the convincing and even endearing performance of Lionel Barrymore as Duke Cathos; it was “this actor’s outstanding camera achievement to date,” in Variety’s verdict. When Emanuella first sees Cathos, he’s shadowed in Expressionist darkness that emphasizes his heavy brow, broad mustache, and hairy hands, but he’s also immediately rather winning in mocking his own hump and letting her know that she’s quite free to withdraw from the marriage “and none will be the worse”. (It’s her father who again forces the union.) Barrymore provides the rare flashes of wit in a film too weighed down by intertitles penned by Griffith with his former publicist Gerrit J. Lloyd; “it would … have been far more satisfactory to include in the captions phrases that were less hard and contained an element of charm,” noted the New York Times. As the un-comic jester, Tully Marshall skulks around melodramatically, as if testing out the character he will use to drool on Gloria Swanson later that year in Erich von Stroheim’s Queen Kelly (1928). It becomes evident that Griffith’s rooting interest in all this court intrigue is entirely with Barrymore’s sad, lonely, deformed duke, and we too become increasingly impatient with pampered Emanuella for preferring the dim, handsome brother. The Drums of Love comes close to being a fascinating film – if we weren’t forced to spend so much time with the two lovers.
The difficulty that Griffith and Schenck had in marketing the film is evident in the survival of two different last reels. The plot description above recounts the film’s original story as seen at the Los Angeles and New York premieres. After Cathos is informed by the jester of the liaison between his brother and his wife, they enact a long, heavy finale of guilt, honor, sacrifice, and murder. Emanuella declares “I must die”. Cathos kisses and stabs her, then even more regretfully must stab his brother: “Death before a stain on our honor.” Anticipating another Lionel Barrymore film, Duel in the Sun (...), the two dying lovers crawl toward each other, even while they beg Cathos’ forgiveness, and Struss’ photography gets even mistier. In a strikingly composed and dark coda, Cathos kisses the hands of the two bodies on a bier and walks slowly off, tormented and more hunched than ever. “The closing incident” might be a problem, the New York Times hinted. Variety elaborated that “doubts have been expressed as to whether the beauty values here can overcome the tragic double killing at the finish,” but noted that “Greta [Garbo] passes on in both Flesh and the Devil and Love …”. However, MGM had come around to revising the end of Love (Edmund Goulding, 1927) – an adaptation of Anna Karenina – so that Anna and Vronsky live happily ever after, a version released widely earlier in January 1928. Griffith and Schenck apparently decided to try the same thing. In the revised final reel of The Drums of Love put into general release by late February 1928, the brothers again fight and Emanuella again recognizes “I must die”. However, this time Cathos stabs the ever-intrusive jester, and is mortally wounded in return. There is no record that the revised ending improved the film’s box-office appeal." – Scott Simmon [DWG Project # 618]. - With a film interesting mostly because of its beauty values, it was a pity that only such a bad 16mm print was available. I did not stay and am looking forward to a good print!
Monday, October 06, 2008
THE CORRICK COLLECTION 1
THE CORRICK COLLECTION 1. Viewed at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, 6 October 2008. Grand piano: Gabriel Thibaudeau, e-subtitles in Italian.
[Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra]
GB 1902. 257 ft /16 fps/ .4’30”, (printed on colour stock, reproducing original hand-colouring); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #88), no intertitles. - Good print.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "The Corrick Family often opened their shows with a film depicting the reigning British monarchs, of which they had several in their collection. After a performance in India, one reviewer noted how these patriotic images, “At once aroused the loyal feelings of the whole assembly as they stood up while ‘the King’ was sung by the Corricks. The feelings thus aroused put the audience, particularly the Military element, in the best of humour and spirits which were maintained throughout the evening.” This three-shot film of the coronation parade of Edward VII and Alexandra, which took place on 9 August 1902, is undoubtedly one of the more spectacular views of the Royals shown during these concerts. The first shot shows the carriage passing by, attended by members of the nobility and soldiers of the realm. The next is a long shot of the procession as it makes its way through Whitehall, the background dominated by Canada’s contribution to the festivities, a large archway that proudly declares, “Canada – Britain’s Granary in War and Peace – God Bless Our King and Queen”. At first, the third shot seems similar to the first – soldiers and dignitaries passing by – but the camera is positioned closer to the action rather than above the crowd, and the expressions on the faces of spectators are more clearly visible as they look down the street in anticipation. When the royal carriage comes into view, it brings with it a treat: in the last few seconds of the film, the royal carriage, horses, flags, and guards have been hand-painted – bright orange and blue, vibrant red and yellow – a pleasing detail unexpected in a newsreel-style film such as this." – Leslie Anne Lewis
The Lost Child
US 1904. PC: Biograph. D: Wallace McCutcheon; DP: G.W. Bitzer; cast: Kathryn Osterman; 479 ft /16 fps/ 8 min, print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #66), no intertitles. - OK print
Leslie Anne Lewis: "A child left alone to play in the front yard crawls into the doghouse for a nap. His mother panics when she discovers he is missing, and begins searching frantically for the child. Spying a passer-by with a large basket, she assumes he has kidnapped the baby and so sets off in hot pursuit. In typical chase-comedy fashion, the hapless man is pursued across the countryside by a mob which swells with each passing shot – adding, among others, a policeman, a man being pushed in a wheelchair, a one-legged boy, and an entire family of farmers. After finally catching the man, the crowd watches the policeman reach into the man’s basket and pull out... a large guinea pig. Meanwhile, blissfully unaware of the trouble he’s caused, the child awakens from his afternoon slumber. Biograph advertisements claimed that The Lost Child was based on a recent event in Brooklyn, New York. Though details of that case remain shrouded in mystery, one would assume that the guinea pig was purely a construct of the filmmaker’s imagination." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A wild escalation.
Marie-Antoinette
FR 1903. PC: Pathé. 516 ft /16 fps/ 8’30” (printed on colour stock, reproducing original tinting); fonte copia/print source: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #41). English intertitles. - A fine print, effective colour.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Depictions of the lives of historical figures could provide a dash of legitimacy to a programme often filled with chase comedies and trick films. This 9-part tableau-style historical drama features scenes in the life of the ill-fated Marie Antoinette, from lavish parties at Versailles to her trial and imprisonment, and finally the slow march to the guillotine. Missing is the coup de grâce, the execution of the Queen by Revolutionaries; however, a shot showing the prisoner being taunted by a severed head on a pole stuck through her cell window adds a bit of gruesome zip to this film touted as “educational” by both the Corricks and reviewers." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - An impressive history lesson with some blunt cuts: from the merry frolick to the taking of the Bastille.
Toto exploite la curiosité
Ralph Benefits by People’s Curiosity. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 274 ft /16 fps/ 5 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original stencil-colour); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #93), no intertitles. - A beautiful print. - Leslie Anne Lewis: "Toto (or Ralph, in this English-titled version) uses a kaleidoscope to supplement his family’s meagre income by charging passers-by for a peek into the optical toy. The narrative, however, is chiefly an excuse to feature the brilliantly colored geometric designs of the kaleidoscope as they shift from one hue to the next. The precisely stenciled blues, greens, reds, and yellows seen in the Corricks’ print are bright and vivid, the dyes seemingly unfaded in the century since their application at the Pathé factory. Only briefly glimpsed in this print, the Pathé logo included with this film is unusual and specific to the subject: a kaleidoscopic view of Pathé’s trademark rooster shown in varying shades of red." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A beautiful film bordering on the experimental with its kaleidoscope effects. Lively street scenes.
La Vie indigène au Soudan égyptien
Native Life in Egyptian Sudan. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 404 ft /16 fps/ 7 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original tinting); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #75), no intertitles. - Suffering from decomposition of the nitrate original, yet with beautiful definition of light wherever the image is intact.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Rather than repeating the typical views of ancient pyramids, temples, and the Sphinx that had traditionally defined “Egypt” in the minds of Westerners, this documentary-style film highlights aspects of the everyday lives of modern Egyptians. Given the West’s long-standing fascination with the culture, it isn’t surprising that Egypt was one of the first places early producers sent their cameramen. As cinema is a medium that embraces movement and life, the modern inhabitants of the region and their daily lives provided a pleasing contrast to the static backdrop formed by the familiar relics of ancient Egypt, and soon more films along this vein began to find their way to audiences throughout the world. By focusing on the lives of modern Egyptians, films such as this presented a view of Egypt essentially hidden from Western audiences before the turn of the 20thcentury. Scenes include maize flour preparation, the drawing of water from a well, ‘Native Home Industries’, children reading from the Koran, ‘The Pasha Feeding the Poor’, and – as nitrate decomposition worsens – a number of women moving past the camera." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - I agree with LL, this is an interesting view of Sudan / Egypt about the everyday life.
Le Chapeau
My Hat. FR 1906. PC: Pathé. 231 ft /16 fps/ 5 min; print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #74), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Comedy ensues when two men accidentally swap hats at the barber’s. After discovering the mix-up, the first man to leave returns to the shop to correct the mistake. Furious when he finds that the other customer has disappeared with his hat, the man storms through the city demanding to inspect the headgear of every man he meets." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A funny comedy. Too small a hat leads to a revenge to the world.
Miracle de Noël
Christmas Miracle. FR 1905. PC: Pathé. 266 ft /16 fps/ 5 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original tinting); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #21), no intertitles. - Beautiful colour.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "After unsuccessfully begging from parishioners as they leave a Christmas service, a child slips into the church for warmth and collapses on the altar. A stained-glass image of a saint comes to life and scoops up the boy, who then assists the saint as he delivers toys to the homes of sleeping children. Though not screened as a part of Leonard’s Beautiful Pictures’ “Trip Round the World” programme, in the eyes of at least one reviewer (in The Ceylon Morning Leader, December 1907) Miracle de Noël was similarly enlightening, allowing viewers to experience distant lands in ways impossible before the development of motion pictures: “The subjects of the pictures were carefully chosen, and, besides being interesting, were of considerable educational value to the majority of the audience. For instance, in the course of the pretty story of Santa Claus, the snow falling on Christmas Eve was depicted in a way which brought home to Eastern minds a detail of the English climate in a vivid and living way which no amount of reading could ever do.” This five-shot film combines optical effects with studio settings reminiscent of a children’s pantomime. Starting with a child desperately begging for coins in cold weather, the film warms to a more joyous mood of wish-fulfillment fantasy." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A moving story belonging to the tradition of A Little Match Girl.
A Canadian Winter Carnival
US 1909. PC: Edison. 659 ft /16 fps/ 11 min; print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #24), original English intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "According to Harper’s Bazaar (8 March 1884), the Montreal Winter Carnival was founded as a means of promoting tourism to the country, aiming “to show that life in Canada may be not only endurable during the winter months, but enjoyable.” During the annual celebration, thousands of tourists would journey to Quebec to experience the charms of the Canadian winter through various snow sports, parades, races, and masquerade balls. Twenty-five years after the festival began, A Canadian Winter Carnival helped extend the reach of the founders’ efforts by transporting a glimpse of these attractions to the far corners of the globe. Included are views of the ski-jumping, tobogganing, and snowshoeing, along with a parade of sleighs. The festival’s featured attraction was the Ice Palace, a massive structure illuminated each evening by electric lamps, which at the end of the season would be destroyed in a mock battle by snowshoers with torches and fireworks. The Edison film shows workers along the St. Lawrence River harvesting of some of the thousands of ice blocks needed to construct the palace." Leslie Anne Lewis.
The Hand of the Artist
GB 1906. PC: R.W. Paul. D: Walter R. Booth; 191 ft /16 fps/ 3 min; print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #54), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Walter R. Booth, magician and stop-motion animation pioneer, began his career as one of the first British animators with The Hand of the Artist. Like the vengeful artist in later animated classics such as Duck Amuck (...), Booth’s film features subjects that inhabit a world controlled by their mercurial creator. The photographic images are composed and brought to life on a whim, and then just as quickly transformed or reduced to immobility by the Hand of the Artist. After each animated sequence, the Hand crumples the paper and disposes of it in a shower of confetti. (...) one of several films in the Corrick Collection that make use of the stop-motion technique (...)" Leslie Anne Lewis.
Les grandes eaux de Versailles
Big Fountains at Versailles. FR 1904. PC: Pathé. 183 ft /16 fps/3 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original hand-colouring); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #43), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Another highlight of the “Trip Round the World” programme, these images taken at Versailles were billed as “Gorgeously colored, the most beautiful fountains in the world”. Les Grandes Eaux de Versailles takes the viewer on a tour of the grounds of the historic French palace. The last section of the film shows off the famous fountains with a hand-painted, multi-coloured sequence." Leslie Anne Lewis
Les Invisibles
The Invisible Men. FR 1906. PC: Pathé. D: Gaston Velle; FX: Segundo de Chomón; 655 ft /16 fps/ 11 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original stencil-colour); fonte copia/print source: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #59), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "In this remarkable film, an alchemist discovers a potion that renders the drinker invisible. After he and his assistant leave the lab, two thieves break in and steal the potion. Enjoying their new-found power, the thieves wreak havoc throughout the city, finally framing the alchemist and his assistant for their crimes. Eventually the thieves are caught and brought before the court.
Under the direction of Gaston Velle, special-effects wizard Segundo de Chomón takes full advantage of the possibilities afforded by the premise of Les Invisibles, using the fantastic nature of the story as a canvas for a series of elaborate effects. In a richly detailed laboratory surrounded by all the essential accoutrements of a proper mad scientist – including a skeleton in the closet and a giant stuffed crocodile – the great effort of the alchemist’s thinking is realized when his brain literally explodes. Surprisingly quick to recover, he then sets the stage for a series of amusing disappearing and reappearing tricks that continue throughout the film. One of the most striking scenes comes after the thieves knock out a light while making their escape. What follows is a chase scene through the city shown in silhouette, recalling the intricate shadow puppets that provided optical entertainment in previous centuries. The finale is peculiar, but right in line with the film’s other surreal imagery: the courtroom suddenly disappears and the prisoners and court officers are transformed into giant vegetables, complete with detailed stencil-colouring. These also fade away, leaving the professor and his assistant to exit the now-empty black screen." Leslie Anne Lewis. - A marvellous fantasy film of miraculous transformations.
[Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra]
GB 1902. 257 ft /16 fps/ .4’30”, (printed on colour stock, reproducing original hand-colouring); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #88), no intertitles. - Good print.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "The Corrick Family often opened their shows with a film depicting the reigning British monarchs, of which they had several in their collection. After a performance in India, one reviewer noted how these patriotic images, “At once aroused the loyal feelings of the whole assembly as they stood up while ‘the King’ was sung by the Corricks. The feelings thus aroused put the audience, particularly the Military element, in the best of humour and spirits which were maintained throughout the evening.” This three-shot film of the coronation parade of Edward VII and Alexandra, which took place on 9 August 1902, is undoubtedly one of the more spectacular views of the Royals shown during these concerts. The first shot shows the carriage passing by, attended by members of the nobility and soldiers of the realm. The next is a long shot of the procession as it makes its way through Whitehall, the background dominated by Canada’s contribution to the festivities, a large archway that proudly declares, “Canada – Britain’s Granary in War and Peace – God Bless Our King and Queen”. At first, the third shot seems similar to the first – soldiers and dignitaries passing by – but the camera is positioned closer to the action rather than above the crowd, and the expressions on the faces of spectators are more clearly visible as they look down the street in anticipation. When the royal carriage comes into view, it brings with it a treat: in the last few seconds of the film, the royal carriage, horses, flags, and guards have been hand-painted – bright orange and blue, vibrant red and yellow – a pleasing detail unexpected in a newsreel-style film such as this." – Leslie Anne Lewis
The Lost Child
US 1904. PC: Biograph. D: Wallace McCutcheon; DP: G.W. Bitzer; cast: Kathryn Osterman; 479 ft /16 fps/ 8 min, print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #66), no intertitles. - OK print
Leslie Anne Lewis: "A child left alone to play in the front yard crawls into the doghouse for a nap. His mother panics when she discovers he is missing, and begins searching frantically for the child. Spying a passer-by with a large basket, she assumes he has kidnapped the baby and so sets off in hot pursuit. In typical chase-comedy fashion, the hapless man is pursued across the countryside by a mob which swells with each passing shot – adding, among others, a policeman, a man being pushed in a wheelchair, a one-legged boy, and an entire family of farmers. After finally catching the man, the crowd watches the policeman reach into the man’s basket and pull out... a large guinea pig. Meanwhile, blissfully unaware of the trouble he’s caused, the child awakens from his afternoon slumber. Biograph advertisements claimed that The Lost Child was based on a recent event in Brooklyn, New York. Though details of that case remain shrouded in mystery, one would assume that the guinea pig was purely a construct of the filmmaker’s imagination." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A wild escalation.
Marie-Antoinette
FR 1903. PC: Pathé. 516 ft /16 fps/ 8’30” (printed on colour stock, reproducing original tinting); fonte copia/print source: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #41). English intertitles. - A fine print, effective colour.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Depictions of the lives of historical figures could provide a dash of legitimacy to a programme often filled with chase comedies and trick films. This 9-part tableau-style historical drama features scenes in the life of the ill-fated Marie Antoinette, from lavish parties at Versailles to her trial and imprisonment, and finally the slow march to the guillotine. Missing is the coup de grâce, the execution of the Queen by Revolutionaries; however, a shot showing the prisoner being taunted by a severed head on a pole stuck through her cell window adds a bit of gruesome zip to this film touted as “educational” by both the Corricks and reviewers." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - An impressive history lesson with some blunt cuts: from the merry frolick to the taking of the Bastille.
Toto exploite la curiosité
Ralph Benefits by People’s Curiosity. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 274 ft /16 fps/ 5 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original stencil-colour); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #93), no intertitles. - A beautiful print. - Leslie Anne Lewis: "Toto (or Ralph, in this English-titled version) uses a kaleidoscope to supplement his family’s meagre income by charging passers-by for a peek into the optical toy. The narrative, however, is chiefly an excuse to feature the brilliantly colored geometric designs of the kaleidoscope as they shift from one hue to the next. The precisely stenciled blues, greens, reds, and yellows seen in the Corricks’ print are bright and vivid, the dyes seemingly unfaded in the century since their application at the Pathé factory. Only briefly glimpsed in this print, the Pathé logo included with this film is unusual and specific to the subject: a kaleidoscopic view of Pathé’s trademark rooster shown in varying shades of red." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A beautiful film bordering on the experimental with its kaleidoscope effects. Lively street scenes.
La Vie indigène au Soudan égyptien
Native Life in Egyptian Sudan. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 404 ft /16 fps/ 7 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original tinting); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #75), no intertitles. - Suffering from decomposition of the nitrate original, yet with beautiful definition of light wherever the image is intact.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Rather than repeating the typical views of ancient pyramids, temples, and the Sphinx that had traditionally defined “Egypt” in the minds of Westerners, this documentary-style film highlights aspects of the everyday lives of modern Egyptians. Given the West’s long-standing fascination with the culture, it isn’t surprising that Egypt was one of the first places early producers sent their cameramen. As cinema is a medium that embraces movement and life, the modern inhabitants of the region and their daily lives provided a pleasing contrast to the static backdrop formed by the familiar relics of ancient Egypt, and soon more films along this vein began to find their way to audiences throughout the world. By focusing on the lives of modern Egyptians, films such as this presented a view of Egypt essentially hidden from Western audiences before the turn of the 20thcentury. Scenes include maize flour preparation, the drawing of water from a well, ‘Native Home Industries’, children reading from the Koran, ‘The Pasha Feeding the Poor’, and – as nitrate decomposition worsens – a number of women moving past the camera." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - I agree with LL, this is an interesting view of Sudan / Egypt about the everyday life.
Le Chapeau
My Hat. FR 1906. PC: Pathé. 231 ft /16 fps/ 5 min; print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #74), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Comedy ensues when two men accidentally swap hats at the barber’s. After discovering the mix-up, the first man to leave returns to the shop to correct the mistake. Furious when he finds that the other customer has disappeared with his hat, the man storms through the city demanding to inspect the headgear of every man he meets." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A funny comedy. Too small a hat leads to a revenge to the world.
Miracle de Noël
Christmas Miracle. FR 1905. PC: Pathé. 266 ft /16 fps/ 5 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original tinting); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #21), no intertitles. - Beautiful colour.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "After unsuccessfully begging from parishioners as they leave a Christmas service, a child slips into the church for warmth and collapses on the altar. A stained-glass image of a saint comes to life and scoops up the boy, who then assists the saint as he delivers toys to the homes of sleeping children. Though not screened as a part of Leonard’s Beautiful Pictures’ “Trip Round the World” programme, in the eyes of at least one reviewer (in The Ceylon Morning Leader, December 1907) Miracle de Noël was similarly enlightening, allowing viewers to experience distant lands in ways impossible before the development of motion pictures: “The subjects of the pictures were carefully chosen, and, besides being interesting, were of considerable educational value to the majority of the audience. For instance, in the course of the pretty story of Santa Claus, the snow falling on Christmas Eve was depicted in a way which brought home to Eastern minds a detail of the English climate in a vivid and living way which no amount of reading could ever do.” This five-shot film combines optical effects with studio settings reminiscent of a children’s pantomime. Starting with a child desperately begging for coins in cold weather, the film warms to a more joyous mood of wish-fulfillment fantasy." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A moving story belonging to the tradition of A Little Match Girl.
A Canadian Winter Carnival
US 1909. PC: Edison. 659 ft /16 fps/ 11 min; print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #24), original English intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "According to Harper’s Bazaar (8 March 1884), the Montreal Winter Carnival was founded as a means of promoting tourism to the country, aiming “to show that life in Canada may be not only endurable during the winter months, but enjoyable.” During the annual celebration, thousands of tourists would journey to Quebec to experience the charms of the Canadian winter through various snow sports, parades, races, and masquerade balls. Twenty-five years after the festival began, A Canadian Winter Carnival helped extend the reach of the founders’ efforts by transporting a glimpse of these attractions to the far corners of the globe. Included are views of the ski-jumping, tobogganing, and snowshoeing, along with a parade of sleighs. The festival’s featured attraction was the Ice Palace, a massive structure illuminated each evening by electric lamps, which at the end of the season would be destroyed in a mock battle by snowshoers with torches and fireworks. The Edison film shows workers along the St. Lawrence River harvesting of some of the thousands of ice blocks needed to construct the palace." Leslie Anne Lewis.
The Hand of the Artist
GB 1906. PC: R.W. Paul. D: Walter R. Booth; 191 ft /16 fps/ 3 min; print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #54), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Walter R. Booth, magician and stop-motion animation pioneer, began his career as one of the first British animators with The Hand of the Artist. Like the vengeful artist in later animated classics such as Duck Amuck (...), Booth’s film features subjects that inhabit a world controlled by their mercurial creator. The photographic images are composed and brought to life on a whim, and then just as quickly transformed or reduced to immobility by the Hand of the Artist. After each animated sequence, the Hand crumples the paper and disposes of it in a shower of confetti. (...) one of several films in the Corrick Collection that make use of the stop-motion technique (...)" Leslie Anne Lewis.
Les grandes eaux de Versailles
Big Fountains at Versailles. FR 1904. PC: Pathé. 183 ft /16 fps/3 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original hand-colouring); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #43), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Another highlight of the “Trip Round the World” programme, these images taken at Versailles were billed as “Gorgeously colored, the most beautiful fountains in the world”. Les Grandes Eaux de Versailles takes the viewer on a tour of the grounds of the historic French palace. The last section of the film shows off the famous fountains with a hand-painted, multi-coloured sequence." Leslie Anne Lewis
Les Invisibles
The Invisible Men. FR 1906. PC: Pathé. D: Gaston Velle; FX: Segundo de Chomón; 655 ft /16 fps/ 11 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original stencil-colour); fonte copia/print source: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #59), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "In this remarkable film, an alchemist discovers a potion that renders the drinker invisible. After he and his assistant leave the lab, two thieves break in and steal the potion. Enjoying their new-found power, the thieves wreak havoc throughout the city, finally framing the alchemist and his assistant for their crimes. Eventually the thieves are caught and brought before the court.
Under the direction of Gaston Velle, special-effects wizard Segundo de Chomón takes full advantage of the possibilities afforded by the premise of Les Invisibles, using the fantastic nature of the story as a canvas for a series of elaborate effects. In a richly detailed laboratory surrounded by all the essential accoutrements of a proper mad scientist – including a skeleton in the closet and a giant stuffed crocodile – the great effort of the alchemist’s thinking is realized when his brain literally explodes. Surprisingly quick to recover, he then sets the stage for a series of amusing disappearing and reappearing tricks that continue throughout the film. One of the most striking scenes comes after the thieves knock out a light while making their escape. What follows is a chase scene through the city shown in silhouette, recalling the intricate shadow puppets that provided optical entertainment in previous centuries. The finale is peculiar, but right in line with the film’s other surreal imagery: the courtroom suddenly disappears and the prisoners and court officers are transformed into giant vegetables, complete with detailed stencil-colouring. These also fade away, leaving the professor and his assistant to exit the now-empty black screen." Leslie Anne Lewis. - A marvellous fantasy film of miraculous transformations.
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