Hello, I’m Brett Dillon, and this is the Movie Chronicles.
This episode takes us to England in 1898 to view….
A Favourite Domestic Scene
Director: R.W. Paul
This film probably influenced the opening scene in J.M. Barrie’s play “Peter Pan” (first performed in 1904) and was influenced, in turn, by the Edison Company film, “Pillow Fight”.
Two boys are put to bed.
Their sister sneaks in and teases them.
A pillow fight ensues and the feathers fly.
The Nanny then sorts the children out.
A Switchback Railway
Director: R.W. Paul
The switchback railway was an early form of roller coaster.
A six-person cart took the customers up a sequence of dips.
They were then transferred to another car which rolled down the same sequence.
The existing film is both a documentary AND an advertisement.
It certainly had me thinking I’d like to give this a try.
Alfred Cort Haddon Expedition
Unknown (probably Alfred Cort Haddon)
Of this 1898 expedition I have only come across 2 films (so far). They are:-
Malo Ceremonial Dance (aka Mer Island Ceremonial Dance); and Making Fire.
Alfred was born on 24 May, 1855, in London England, and he died in 1940 (but we won’t hold that against him).
In 1880, he was appointed Professor of Zoology at the College of Science in Dublin, Ireland.
Alfred created the Dublin Field Club in 1885.
His life became seriously impacted when he went to the Torres Straits Islands to study coral reefs and marine zoology.
When he returned to Europe, he began to publish papers on the Torres Straits Islanders and argued for further studies of the culture before it became corrupted through contact with outside forces.
He became, in effect, an anthropologist.
In April 1898, Alfred achieved his wish.
The plan was to explore the Torre Straits Islands and Borneo.
This expedition lasted twelve months.
The findings were published in “Head-Hunters, Black, White And Brown” (1901).
Come Along, Do!
Director: R.W. Paul
This is an adaptation of a song popular in 1874.
The film is so badly damaged its point is now lost.
It is of historical interest because it is composed of two separate shots edited together.
In the first shot a husband and wife dawdle outside an Art Gallery.
The second shot is lost and only a handful of stills exist.
This is inside the gallery.
The gag is probably that the husband lingers too long in front of a nude female statue.
The available stills don’t show this action – I’m guessing it, because the statue is placed centre frame, dividing the image in two.
Fair At Devil’s Dyke, Brighton
Unknown
All the fun of the fair!
I’m tempted to say the more things change the more they stay the same, yet there are some rides in this film you will not find today.
The opening shot is Swings, and then (possibly the editor was in a fey mood) roundabouts. What follows next is hard to describe.
My notes say little cars on a track going downhill.
A switchback railroad is followed by what my notes call, a churner (this is a sequence of interlinked swings churning around).
The last shot is a close up of a roundabout (on tracks that go up and down).
History,
Was pluriform.
On…
March 26 - The Sabi Game Reserve in South Africa became the first officially designated game reserve.
May 5 – US citizen, Charles Urban, created the Warwick Trading Company, in London, England as a branch of the Edison Company (a cunning ruse by Edison to try and spread his copyright and patent claims around the globe).
June 9 – The British Government took a 99-year lease of Hong Kong from China.
August 23 – The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British attempt of Antarctic exploration, set sail from London, England.
The expedition was the brain fart of Carsten Borchgrevink.
It was the first to winter over on Antarctica, the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier (since 1839), and the first to land on the Great Ice Barrier.
The trip pioneered the use of dogs and sledges in the exploration of Antarctica.
August 25 – 700 Greeks and 15 Englishmen were slaughtered by the Turks at Heraklion, Greece, leading to the establishment of the autonomous Cretan State.
December 9 – The first of the two Tsavo Man-eating Lions was shot by John Henry Patterson; the second is killed 3 weeks later, after 135 workers on The Kenya-Ugabda railway had been killed by the lions.
They got their name from the Tsavo river in Kenya.
The Launch Of H.M.S. Albion
Director: R.W. Paul
To the modern eye most of this film looks like a stock footage collection that hides the tragedy it is trying to portray.
Paul has edited the footage in a way that assumes prior knowledge of the events it is depicting.
This is news footage – Paul went to shoot one event but became caught up in a much larger one.
The footage shows the HMS Albion sliding down the slipway.
We then get a shot of a woman (probably Paul’s wife) looking to the right.
She stands on a ship which is keeping pace with other vessels.
The final shot shows people slipping about in the mud under a wharf.
The story behind the footage is that a jetty was specially built so the rich and famous could view the launching.
The wash from the Albion, as it was launched, destroyed the jetty.
Bystanders raced across the river to help save the survivors.
This occurred on Bow Creek, a tributary of the Thames river, in 1896 (the delayed release of the footage suggests there were fatalities among the 200 spectators on the jetty).
Phantom Ride From A Train At Barnstable, North Devon (aka Steam Train Moving)
Unknown
The camera is set up at the front of the engine.
It doesn’t take long to get out of the siding and into the city.
We pass through the city stations and out into the countryside.
Queen Victoria Arrives At Royal Garden Party
British Pathe
It takes almost 30 seconds for the Queen to appear because the horses of her carriage want to hog the picture.
The film then shows the elderly Queen being helped down to solid ground.
A cut takes us to the garden party.
The tent pegs and ropes are foreground left while a group of men and women are in the mid-distance.
There’s a bit of bobbing and hat raising going on.
Santa Claus
Director: George Albert Smith
Actors: Laura Bayley, Dorothy Smith, Harold Smith
The oldest surviving Santa film features a pretty scary Santa.
The children prepare for the morrow and then go to bed.
Santa arrives like a modern horror movie villain and redecorates the room before leaving the way he came.
Something like the thief who broke into homes to clean them as an ironic commentary on consumerism.
Director,
George Albert Smith
Was born on January 4, 1864, in London, England and he died in 1959.
As you may have noticed, he used his family for the film, “Santa Claus”.
Partly inspired by the work of Georges Melies, Smith’s work also tended toward the fantastical.
In turn, this led him to film experimentation.
He created some of the first glass shots and, in 1897, had patented a method to take double exposures.
He used close ups, wipes, and focus pulls in his work.
In 1906, he and Charles Urban patented a colour film system they called Kinemacolour.
This was the world’s first commercial colour system.
George started out as a portrait photographer and running a tourist attraction in his home town of Brighton, England.
Charles Urban distributed his films when George went into film production.
Being an entrepreneur, George quickly learnt that porn sells.
By 1900 he was producing “keyhole” shorts, this, however, was a side line to his fantasy films.
In case you’re getting all hot and bothered, the keyhole films were more on the voyeuristic end of what we now consider to be pornography.
Actor,
Laura Bayley
Was George’s wife.
Laura was born on February 4, 1862, in Ramsgate, England and she died in 1938.
She appeared in many of George’s films released from 1897 to 1903, after which she seems to have retired.
Births,
Where censored.
On….
January 9 – Gracie Fields, British singer and actress (d 1979)
February 12 – Wallace Ford, British actor (d 1966)
April 26 – John Grierson, Scottish documentary filmmaker (d 1972)
November 18 – Joris Ivens, Dutch film director (d 1989)
November 29 – C.S. Lewis, British writer (d 1963)
The Sirdar’s Reception At Guildhall
Director: R.W. Paul
The Sirdar is, of course, Lord Kitchener.
After the Battle of Omdurman in the Sudan, Kitchener returned to London to celebrate his success.
Paul positions his camera across the street from the Guildhall and films the Sirdar’s carriage as it pulls up.
The only other point of note is the hats.
Men do love to stick their heads up a beaver.
Tommy Atkins In The Park
Director: R.W. Paul
This is a remake of Paul’s earlier film “A Soldier’s Courtship” (which appears to be lost).
This version is notable for its location shooting.
Atkins and his beau are sitting on a park bench when they are disturbed by a buxom lady who interrupts their wooing.
The buxom lady is engrossed in a book and the couple can neither avoid nor ignore her. Finally, in exasperation he tips her over the bench and the happy couple now walk off.
In essence it is a very crude bit of humour, with a sophisticated set up whose comic potential is ignored.
It’s noteworthy because Charlie Chaplin’s early film career is based upon just this type of crude gag.
View From Engine Front - Ilfracombe
Warwick Trading Company
We begin by passing under a bridge.
This takes us into some steep hills… and we’re going downhill (I hope the brakes work!). When we come out of the hills there is a river on the left and we get a glimpse of a boat pulled up onto the bank.
Soon the chequered fields of England are revealed… to be blotted out as we enter a tunnel. On the other side, the track is even steeper and we’re plummeting down it.
When we hit the flat, we’re heading into a station.
We gently pull up to a stop, having reached our destination.
Deaths,
Were disasters.
On…
January 14 – Lewis Carroll, British writer, mathematician, and logician (b 1832)
February 16 – Thomas Bracken, author of New Zealand’s National Anthem (b 1843)
March 15 – Henry Bessemer, British engineer and inventor (b 1813)
March 16 – Aubrey Beardsley, British artist (b 1872)
April 15 – Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui, Maori warrior leader. He fought on the government side during the 1860-64 NZ Civil War.
Next episode is for Buzzsprout and Patreon supporters only (only you want to purchase it as a single episode.
We continue the Best Science Fictions films of All Time to explore the Microcosmos.
Assuming you don’t want to become a podperson (and I can appreciate your humility – after all, only the best choose to become a podperson) then the next episode explores the aural world of blind swordsman, Zatoichi in 1965.
Bring your mat, because if Zatoichi doesn’t give you a massage, he’ll give you a head cut.
