Introduzione / Introduction
Elenco film / Film list

 

Meraviglie Biograph
The Wonders of the Biograph

 

 

 

Les Parisiennes, a frame enlargement from the Biograph collection of the Nederlands Filmmuseum.

 


 

 

INTRODUZIONE
Il nome "Biograph" viene generalmente associato a quello di D.W. Griffith, che fu ingaggiato dall’American Biograph nel 1908. Ma nella marea di proiettori dai nomi stravaganti che nei primi anni del cinema facevano a gara tra di loro per attirare l’attenzione del pubblico, quello denominato Biograph era un apparecchio superiore agli altri in quanto offriva immagini più nitide, più stabili e più grandi, suscitando un reale stupore in tutti coloro che le vedevano. Il segreto del suo successo stava nella pellicola non perforata larga circa 70mm, cui si aggiungeva il carattere internazionale dei soggetti presentati e una raffinata e selettiva politica distributiva, con gli spettacoli che venivano tutti effettuati sotto il diretto controllo della compagnia.
Sorta nel 1896 con il nome di American Mutoscope Company (il mutoscopio era un visore a manovella che impiegava le stesse immagini e che portò all’invenzione del Biograph), nel 1897 la società si espanse in vari paesi europei: ed è proprio la produzione della Biograph inglese, olandese, francese e tedesca al centro della retrospettiva delle Giornate 2000.

I film provengono da due grosse collezioni Biograph conservate presso il National Film and Television Archive di Londra e il Nederlands Filmmuseum di Amsterdam, anche se il restauro finale è stato curato dal solo Filmmuseum. "70mm" è un termine fuorviante, in quanto la larghezza della pellicola era originariamente indicata in pollici — 2 pollici e 23/32esimi, per la precisione — e l’immagine era più quadrata di quella del moderno 70mm, più vicina in effetti al formato IMAX. I film restaurati sono stati comunque stampati su pellicola a 35mm, con una perdita minima, se non nulla, nell’immagine.
I titoli selezionati per questa retrospettiva a partire dai circa 300 originali conservati nei due archivi e risalenti agli anni 1896-1903 sono stati suddivisi in undici programmi, in base al tema o alle soluzioni stilistiche adottate. Ma possono anche essere apprezzati in quanto esemplificativi della vasta gamma di soggetti che resero famoso il nome Biograph. La comicità grossolana (The Amorous Guardsman) si mescola con il dramma classico (King John), la gente qualunque ("The Lane" on Sunday Morning) con i potenti (Pope Leo XIII); vi troviamo l’esempio salace (Phillis Was Not Dressed to Receive Callers) e quello solenne (Battleship "Odin" with All Her Guns in Action), la motivazione commerciale (The Spirit of His Forefathers) e il gusto del bello (Pelicans at the Zoo). Ci sono importanti servizi sul processo Dreyfus e sulla guerra anglo-boera. Ci sono molti viaggi in treno. Anche ridotti a 35mm, questi film ci fanno capire perché il giornalista R.H. Mere abbia intitolato il suo articolo apparso in Pearson’s Magazine del febbraio 1899 "Le meraviglie del Biograph". Con le loro dimensioni, la loro nitidezza e la loro iperrealtà questi film facevano sensazione all’epoca e non sono meno sensazionali oggi.
Oltre ad attestare la varietà dei materiali conservati, questi undici programmi illustrano allo spettatore vari aspetti del cinema delle origini. Le copie proiettate hanno le didascalie in inglese al fine di facilitare la circolazione dei film anche al di fuori delle Giornate.
La selezione è stata stata effettuata da Nico de Klerk, con l’aiuto di Mark van den Tempel e di altri collaboratori del Nederlands Filmmuseum. L’iniziativa è stata sostenuta dal Ministero degli Esteri olandese (HGIS). Uno speciale ringaziamento va a Barry Anthony, che ha permesso l’identificazione di un gran numero di film, e alle Giornate del Cinema Muto, il cui desiderio di presentare la collezione Biograph ha dato il la alla realizzazione di questa rassegna. — Luke McKernan

A proposito del formato Biograph
La corretta definizione del formato della pellicola impiegata dalla Biograph è tuttora controversa. Luke McKernan, co-curatore del numero speciale di Griffithiana dedicato all’American Mutoscope & Biograph, sottolinea che il termine "70mm" è utilizzato in tutti gli articoli della rivista e in A Victorian Film Enterprise, il notevole studio di Richard Brown e Barry Anthony sulla British Mutoscope and Biograph Company. Negli annunci pubblicitari della Keystone Dry Plate and Film si precisa che la "larghezza Biograph" è di "due pollici e tre quarti", pari a 69,85mm (come segnala Mark van den Tempel in una delle note che accompagnano l’articolo da lui scritto per il succitato fascicolo di Griffithiana). Nel suo Living Pictures (1899) anche Henry V. Hopwood afferma che la "pellicola impiegata ha una larghezza di 2 pollici e 3/4, mentre le immagini vere e proprie misurano circa 2 pollici per 2,5". In una nota tecnica sulla macchina da presa Mutograph, citata da Gordon Hendricks in Beginnings of the Biograph (1964), Billy Bitzer si premura di segnalare che la larghezza della pellicola è non di 2 pollici e 3/4 (ovvero 70mm), bensì di 2 pollici e 23/32, vale a dire un po’ meno di 69mm.
Si potrebbe supporre che il formato prescelto avesse la larghezza originale della pellicola Eastman, la quale piegata in due aveva già portato al passo 35mm di Edison e dei Lumière. Ma Mark van den Tempel confirma che "il Filmmuseum (e tra gli altri la Moving Image Society di Londra) lo definisce come 68mm" e che i campioni misurati a caso dal Filmmuseum hanno una larghezza variabile da 66 a 68mm. I fautori della denominazione "68mm" sostengono che nessuno dei film sopravvissuti arriva a misurare 70mm e che la teoria secondi cui tutti i film a 70mm si sarebbero ristretti a 68mm non trova giustificazione in un analogo processo di contrazione del 35mm nitrato, il quale non presenta una contrazione così sistematica e di proporzioni paragonbili.
Scrive Paolo Cherchi Usai: "Un campione della collezione di Mutoscope & Biograph conservata alla George Eastman House, misurato con un micrometro di precisione con Mitutoyo, è risultato avere una larghezza di 67,05mm. Si sa che la pellicola di celluloide si restringe sia in larghezza che in lunghezza, ma di rado mi sono capitati casi di 35mm con una contrazione per ciò che riguarda la larghezza superiore al 2 per cento. Se il Mutoscope & Biograph originale era di 70mm, la contrazione in questo caso sarebbe del 4,21 per cento, che è decisamente più alta di quanto io abbia mai potuto verifcare e che, secondo Edward E. Stratmann, vice conservatore alla George Eastman House, è molto improbabile, anche se teoricamente possibile. Se la pellicola originale era invece di 68mm, la contrazione sarebbe allora dell’1,39 per cento, che rientra nei valori normali di contrazione di una copia nitrato."
Altrettanto convincente è Laurent Mannoni: egli ha attentamente esaminato una delle tre macchine da presa Mutograph appartenenti alla collezione Will Day conservata alla Cinématheque française, confermando che la larghezza del meccanismo di trascinamento è di 70mm esatti, per cui "sarebbe impossibile farvi passare una pellicola di 70mm senza romperla". Mannoni segnala anche che la pellicola di 58mm usata da Gaumont era normalmente definita, da lui stesso, "60mm".
Tutto ciò considerato, in questo catalogo adotteremo la definzione di "formato Biograph ridotto a 35mm". — David Robinson

Problemi di identificazione
Le Giornate di quest’anno propongono una selezione di film Mutoscope & Biograph appartenenti alle collezioni del Nederlands Filmmuseum e del NFTVA. Noi ci auguriamo che, mentre vedete questi splendidi materiali, possiate contribuire alla loro identificazione. I titoli in programma sono qui di seguito elencati. Tra parentesi quadre compaiono i dati su cui siamo ancora incerti. Se riconoscete un posto, una città, una persona o identificate un film, potreste comunicarcelo via e-mail o via posta? Ve ne saremmo davvero grati.
Indirizzo e-mail: Blameris@nfm.nl
Recapito postale: Bregtje Lameris, Postbus 74782, 1070 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Tutte le copie in programma provengono dal Nederlands Filmmuseum, sono in 35mm e sono state ricavate dagli originali in formato Biograph e saranno proiettate a 30 fotogrammi al secondo. I dati riguardanti il metraggio non sono stati forniti.

 

INTRODUCTION
The word "Biograph" is most strongly associated with D.W. Griffith, who joined American Biograph in 1908. But amid the welter of projectors with extravagant names that competed for the public’s attention in the very first years of cinema, the Biograph had established itself as a product above the others, with a sharper, steadier, and far larger screen image than any of its competitors, a true source of wonder in all who saw it. The key to this success was the unperforated film of approximately 70mm width that the Biograph projector used, coupled with its choice of international subjects, and a policy of select and classy presentation, with the company controlling all exhibitions that used this unique system. There were, in fact, a number of Biograph companies, beginning in 1896 with the American Mutoscope Company (the Mutoscope being the flip-card viewer that employed the same images, and inspired the invention of the Biograph), but in 1897 they expanded into Europe, and it is the product of the British, Dutch, French, and German Biograph companies in particular that is the subject of the series of programmes featuring in this year’s Giornate.

The films come from two major collections of Biograph films in the National Film and Television Archive (London) and the Nederlands Filmmuseum (Amsterdam), though the final restorations were produced by the Filmmuseum alone. "70mm" is a misleading term, as the film was originally described in inches — 2 and 23/32nds of an inch, to be precise — and the image was squarer than modern-day 70mm, and is closer in fact to the IMAX format. The restorations, however, are on projectable 35mm, with little or no image loss. The programmes have been compiled from the approximately 300 originals dating 1896-1903 held by the two archives, and have been arranged by the Filmmuseum in broadly thematic or stylistic themes, though they can be enjoyed just as easily taken as a varied and random selection of the kinds of films that first made the name Biograph famous. Low comedy (The Amorous Guardsman) mixes with classical drama (King John); ordinary folk (‘The Lane’ on Sunday Morning) with the high and mighty (Pope Leo XIII); there is the salacious (Phillis Was Not Dressed to Receive Callers), the awe-inspiring (Battleship ‘Odin’ with All Her Guns in Action), the commercial (The Spirit of His Forefathers), and the simply beautiful (Pelicans at the Zoo). There are important news reports on the Dreyfus trial and the Anglo-Boer War. There are many journeys by train. Even in their reduced, 35mm form, these films show why journalist R.H. Mere called his article in Pearson’s Magazine of February 1899 "The Wonders of the Biograph". Such films, in their size, clarity, and super-reality, were the wonders of their age. They are no less wondrous now.

For this occasion, the Nederlands Filmmuseum has compiled the films into eleven programmes, in a way that does justice to the variety of the material, but which also presents several aspects of early film-making to the viewer. The programmes come in new 35mm projection prints with English intertitles, to guarantee that these films will also have a life in cinematheques after the Giornate.The compilations were made by Nico de Klerk, with the help of Mark van den Tempel and others at the Filmmuseum. This presentation was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands (HGIS). Special thanks go out to Barry Anthony, who contributed to the identification of a large number of films, and to the Giornate del Cinema Muto, whose wish to present this collection was the starting point to make these programmes. — Luke McKernan

 

A Note on the Biograph Format
The correct designation of the film format employed by Biograph remains a matter of controversy.
Luke McKernan, co-editor of the special American Mutoscope and Biograph issue of Griffithiana, points out that in that publication and in Richard Brown and Barry Anthony’s comprehensive study of British Mutoscope and Biograph, A Victorian Film Enterprise, the convention of "70mm" has been generally adopted. The contemporary advertisements of the Keystone Dry Plate and Film Works describe "Biograph width" as "two and three quarter inches", i.e., 69.85mm (information cited by Mark van den Tempel in a footnote to "Making Them Move Again", in the Griffithiana Biograph issue). Henry V. Hopwood’s Living Pictures (1899) also says, "The film employed is 2 3/4 inches in width, the pictures themselves measuring about 2 by 2 1/2 inches." In a technical note on the Mutograph camera, cited in Gordon Hendricks’ Beginnings of the Biograph (1964), Billy Bitzer is careful to give the film width not as 2 3/4 inches (i.e., 70mm) but as 2 23/32 inches, which is a fraction less than 69mm.
It is certainly tempting to suppose that the format chosen would have been the standard Eastman width, which, split down the centre, had already resulted in the Edison and Lumière standard gauge of 35mm. However, Mark van den Tempel confirms that "the [Nederlands Filmmuseum] (like among others the Moving Image Society in London) refers to it as 68mm" and that random samples measured by the Filmmuseum in the course of the present restoration varied between 66mm and 68mm. Supporters of the 68mm designation argue that no film appears to have surivived measuring as much as 70mm in width; and that the theory that all 70mm film shrank uniformly to 68mm cannot readily be justified by the analogy of 35mm nitrate film, which does not exhibit a consistent shrinkage of comparable percentage.
Paolo Cherchi Usai writes, "Measurement of a Mutoscope and Biograph film sample in the George Eastman House collection using a Mitutoyo precision micrometer shows a width of 67.05mm. It is known that celluloid film shrinks in both directions; however, I have rarely encountered 35mm shrinking lengthwise at more than 2%. If the Mutoscope and Biograph film was originally 70mm, then the shrinkage rate in this case would be 4.21%, which is far more than I have ever experienced, and, in the opinion of Edward E. Stratmann, assistant curator at George Eastman House, very unlikely, although theoretically possible. If the film was originally 68mm, then the shrinkage would be 1.39%, which is well within the parameters of a normal shrinkage rate for a nitrate print."
Equally persuasively, Laurent Mannoni has meticulously examined a Mutograph camera in the Will Day collection (one of the three held by the Cinématheque Française) and confirms that the full width of the transport mechanism (specifically the "débiteur") is an exact 70mm, so that "it would be impossible to use 70mm film in this without tearing it". Mannoni also points out that the 58mm film stock used by Gaumont was and is regularly described as "60mm" — a convenient approximation even adopted by Gaumont himself.
Given the unresolved question of the precise width of Biograph film, this catalogue specifies simply "Biograph format, reduced to 35mm". David Robinson

Problems of Identification
During this year’s festival you will see a selection of Biograph and Mutoscope films from the collections of the Nederlands Filmmuseum and the NFTVA. We invite you to enjoy this beautiful material, and also to help us by doing a little bit of identification work. Below is a list of the film titles which are going to be shown in the various programmes. Some information is between square brackets; this is information about which we are unsure. If you think you recognize a place, a town, a person, or maybe even a whole film, please tell us. We will be very grateful. Please send any information to:
e-mail: Blameris@nfm.nl
postal address: Bregtje Lameris, Postbus 74782, 1070 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Note: All the prints in these 11 programmes are from the Nederlands Filmmuseum. They are all 35mm, have been made directly from the original Biograph format, and will be shown at 30 fps. It has not been possible to ascertain lengths either in the original format or in the 35mm reduction prints.

 

FILM IN PROGRAMMA / PROGRAMMES

1.Come rivolgersi al pubblico / Addressing the audience (total: 18’55")

MAXIM FIRING FIELD GUN — ALDERSHOT (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1897) 0’45".
Hiram Stephen Maxim (1840-1916) was an American-born but British-naturalised armaments manufacturer and aeronaut, best known for his invention of the first automatic machine gun in 1884. — DR

Nella gran parte dei film a soggetto della Biograph & Mutoscope, gli attori orientavano il loro corpo, i gesti e gli sguardi frontalmente, in direzione del pubblico. Molti di questi film prendevano esplicitamente atto della presenza degli spettatori: per esempio gli attori si rivolgevano verso di loro ammiccando. Non tutti i film comunque seguivano questo schema: in alcuni il mondo della finzione è più autonomo.
In most of the Mutoscope & Biograph Company’s fiction films, actors oriented their bodies, gestures, and looks frontally — towards the audience. Many of these films,in fact, took their spectators explicitly into account — by winking, for instance. Not all films, however, followed this pattern: in some, the fictional world was more self-contained.

[HERBERT CAMPBELL ALS ‘LITTLE BOBBIE’] (British Mutoscope & Biograph Company, GB [1900]) 48ft., 30"
Herbert Campbell (1844-1904): attore del music-hall inglese noto soprattutto per le annuali pantomime intepretate in coppia con Dan Leno al Drury Lane negli ultimi due decenni dell’Ottocento. Rubicondo e corpulento, egli deliziava il pubblico con i suoi costumi e le sue grottesche caratterizzazioni di personaggi femminili e di bambini. — DR
Herbert Campbell (1844-1904): English music hall comedian, best known for his stage partnership with Dan Leno in the annual pantomimes at Drury Lane in the last two decades of the 19th century. A stout, rubicund man, he delighted audiences with his grotesque female and infant charaterisations and costumes. DR


[EEN MAN VAN DE WERELD] / [A MAN OF THE WORLD] (British Mutoscope & Biograph Company, GB [1900]) 0’35".

NAAR ’T TOLHUIS / [TO THE ‘TOLHUIS’] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1899) 0’30".

DE ZIEKE GEMEENTE-AMBTENAAR / [SICK MUNICIPAL CLERK] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1899) 0’30".

RUDGE AND WHITWORTH, BRITAIN’S BEST BICYCLE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1902) 49ft., 0’30".

HE DIDN’T FINISH THE STORY (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’25".

CHARLIE WANTED THE EARTH (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’30".

HE AND SHE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’35".

A GOOD STORY (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’25".

THE SANDWICH MAN (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’25".

THE BARBER SAW THE JOKE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB [1902]) 50ft., 0’30".

Anche le attualità avevano il loro modo di rivolgersi al pubblico, ad esempio facendo vedere una scena da una prospettiva migliore di quella che avevano coloro che assistevano personalmente a quella stessa scena.
Actualities, too, appear to have various modes of addressing their audiences. There were films that gave the best possible vantage point, probably even better than the spectators had who visited the event or witnessed the scene itself.

WATER POLO — WORTHING SWIMMING CLUB (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE BOAT RACE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 1’.

A MULTICYCLE RACE (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’30".

[WILHELM II OP KEIZERLIJK JACHT] / [WILHELM II ON ROYAL YACHT] (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft, D [1899]) 1’15".

FERRYBOAT AND TUG PASSING GOVERNORS ISLAND, NEW YORK HARBOR / [NEW YORK HARBOR AND SOUTH BROOKLYN FERRY] (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 50ft., 0’35".

PANORAMA OF GRAND HARBOUR, MALTA (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1901) 99ft., 1’.

In certi soggetti questo punto di vista superiore serviva a far rivivere un’esperienza, a ricreare un’emozione come, ad esempio, nelle "corse dei treni fantasma". Qui lo spettatore veniva a trovarsi in una posizione davvero unica, come se fosse alla guida di una locomativa, per cui vedeva il paesaggio sfrecciare ai lati. Ma tutto sommato le attualità erano un compromesso tra la possibilità di mostrare un evento e quella di suscitare un’emozione.
Some subjects utilized such a viewpoint, moreover, to re-create the experience, or thrill, of the real event, as in the "phantom ride". Here, the spectator was put in a unique position, at the front of the locomotive as it were, thereby allowing him to see the landscape fly by on both sides. But on the whole, most actualities were a trade-off between showing an event and providing a thrill.

THROUGH MILLER’S DALE (NEAR BUXTON, DERBYSHIRE) MIDLAND RAIL / THROUGH THE CHEE TOR TUNNEL IN DERBYSHIRE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 168ft., 2’00".

CLIMBING JACOB’S LADDER (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 1’05".

DOWN MOUNT TOM (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 1’30".

ELEPHANTS AT THE ZOO (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’35".

TAKING ON A PILOT (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 1’10".

A TUG IN HEAVY SEA (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’25".

A BLAST AT THE SOLVAY QUARRIES (American Mutoscope Company, US 1898) 93ft., 1’.

 

2. Dove piazzare la macchina da presa? / Where to place the camera? (total: 22’35")

[CHARGE OF THE CARABINEERS — ALDERSHOT] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB [1898]) 28ft., 0’20".

In esterni, una volta posizionata, la macchina da presa Mutograph aveva dei seri limiti per quanto riguarda la possibilità di effettuare panoramiche. Per riprendere in maniera più o meno completa un’azione — preparata o meno che fosse — o per seguire soggetti in movimento lungo una certa traiettoria, gli operatori dovevano premurarsi di individuare il punto di vista più vantaggioso.
On location, once it was set up, the Mutograph camera was often seriously limited in making panning shots. In order to record a more or less complete action - either staged or unstaged - or, more particularly, to follow objects along a certain trajectory, camera operators were careful to choose an advantageous, or at least the best possible, vantage point.

[HONDEKARREN] / [DOG PULLS CART IN FRONT OF MILL] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL [1898]) 0’45".

THRESHING MACHINE AT WORK (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 35ft., 0’30".

FEESTELIJK BEZOEK VAN HM KONINGIN WILHELMINA AAN ROTTERDAM /[ROYAL VISIT OF QUEEN WILHELMINA TO ROTTERDAM] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1899) 0’45".

[HUWELIJKSSTOET TER GELEGENHEID VAN HET HUWELIJK VAN WILHELMINA EN HENDRIK] / [MARRIAGE PROCESSION OF QUEEN WILHELMINA AND PRINCE HENDRIK] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1901) 0’55".

JUMPING HURDLES (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’30".

WHEN THE BUGLE SOUNDS ‘CHARGE’ (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft, D 1899) 0’30".

MENAI BRIDGE, THE DAY IRISH MAIL FROM EUSTON ENTERING THE TUBULAR BRIDGE OVER THE MENAI STRAITS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 58ft., 0’40".

Quando si trattava di filmare oggetti che si muovevano velocemente la scarsa mobilità della macchina da presa era compensata dalla possibilità di sfruttare la profondità di campo. E se le carrellate erano inattuabili, una soluzione molto efficace era quella di suggerire la continuazione del movimento fuori campo oppure quella di far irrompere in campo l’oggetto che doveva essere ripreso.
For recording fast-moving objects, the loss in camera mobility was offset by, for instance, exploiting depth of field. And if, moreover, tracking shots were impracticable, effective use was made of the frame by suggesting the continuation of movement off-screen or by having objects enter the shot suddenly.

LAUNCH OF THE ‘OCEANIC’ (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1899) 1’05".

THE ALBANY DAY BOATS (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’30".

[EEN JACHT, EN PROFIL] / [YACHT, IN PROFILE?] (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US [1900]) 0’30".

‘SHAMROCK’ AND ‘COLUMBIA’ (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 122ft., 1’20".

[INTERNATIONAL YACHT RACES ON THE CLYDE] (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US [1901]) 0’30".

[INTERNATIONAL YACHT RACES ON THE CLYDE] (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US [1901]) 0’40".

COASTING ON SLEDS IN THE STOCKHOLM SPORT PARK ON SUNDAY (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1902) 0’40".

SHOOTING THE CHUTES (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 0’30".

EMPIRE STATE EXPRESS (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 0’20".

Un altro modo per far fronte alla scarsa maneggevolezza della ingombrante macchina da presa a funzionamento elettrico era quello di piazzarla sopra l’oggetto in movimento. Particolarmente riuscite erano le vedute Biograph riprese da treni in movimento, le cosiddette "corse fantasma" — film che avevano spesso un effetto cinetico.
Another way to cope with the unwieldiness of the bulky, electrically-driven camera was to put it on the moving object itself. Biograph was particularly successful with its views shot from moving trains, so-called "phantom rides", films which often had a kinetic effect.

BATTLESHIPS ‘MAINE’ AND ‘IOWA’ (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 1’05".

FOUR WARSHIPS IN ROUGH SEAS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1900) 35ft., 0’25".

[TRAM JOURNEY THROUGH SOUTHAMPTON] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB [1900]) 99ft., 1’05".

IRISH MAIL — L. & N.W. RAILWAY — TAKING UP WATER AT FULL SPEED (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 1’20".

FROM VAUDREUIL TO ST. ANNE’S (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US [1900]) 329ft., 3’45".

[RAILWAY TRIP THROUGH MOUNTAIN SCENERY AND TUNNELS] (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US [1900]) 96ft., 1’05".

ACROSS BROOKLYN BRIDGE (American Mutoscope Company, US 1899) 265ft., 2’50".

 

3. Damigelle del XX secolo / "Twentieth-century damsel" (total: 14’10")

THE WONDERFUL MUTOSCOPE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB [1898]) 0’35".

Oltre ai film per il grande schermo, l’altro importante settore della Mutoscope & Biograph era la produzione destinata al mutoscopio, un apparecchio a monetine destinato alla visione individuale: i fotogrammi di un soggetto filmato venivano tutti stampati in sequenza su cartoncini che, fatti scorrere, davano l’impressione del movimento.
Il mutoscopio rappresentava un’alternativa, spesso più economica, per i soggetti più osé, di solito focalizzati sul corpo femminile, in quanto non tutti i teatri di varietà in cui si proiettavano i film Biograph erano disposti a presentare questi soggetti.
Besides film, the Mutoscope & Biograph Company’s other major product was the Mutoscope (also known as "what-the-butler-saw"). A Mutoscope was a slot machine for individual viewing in which all the frames of a filmed subject were transferred to a flip-card system.
Mutoscopes were an alternative — and often cheaper — venue for many of the company’s risqué subjects, usually centring on the female body, as not all variety theatres which featured the Biograph showed these subjects.

A JUST CAUSE FOR DIVORCE (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’30".

A MOUSE IN A GIRLS’ DORMITORY (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’35".

THE BLACK CAT AND THE DINNER FOR TWO (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB [1898]) 0’35".

TOLHUIS! KIELE! KIELE! (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1899) 0’30".

THE FEMALE DRUMMER (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’40".

HAZING AFFAIR IN A GIRLS’ BOARDING SCHOOL (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’30".

THE STOLEN STOCKINGS (American Mutoscope Company, US 1898) 0’30".

THE NURSE’S JOKE (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’30".

AN INTERRUPTED SITTING (American Mutoscope Company, US 1898) 0’30".

[SLAAPKAMERPRET] / [FUN IN THE BEDROOM] (Biograph and Mutoscope Company for France, F [1899]) 0’30".

THE FINISH OF MR. FRESH (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’35".

Il contenuto e i luoghi in cui erano piazzati i mutoscopi ci fanno capire che la produzione della compagnia era rivolta a pubblici diversi, distinti per ceto sociale. Di conseguenza, subrettine, cuoche e domestiche varie popolavano le storielle più osé. Si vedono anche donne in situazioni e ambienti meno rispettabili e più realistici, ad esempio mentre fumano e bevono in locali pubblici.
The content and placement of the Mutoscopes illustrate that the company’s output was directed at various target audiences, identified by class distinctions. Concordantly, characters such as soubrettes, cooks, and other servants peopled the more risqué subjects. They also showed women in less respectable, even more "realistic" settings and situations, such as bars, where they smoked and drank in public.

[ONGEWENST VADER] / [UNWILLING FATHERHOOD] (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft, D [1900]) 0’40".

[GEEN BEDELAARS IN DE KEUKEN] /[NO BEGGARS IN THE KITCHEN] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB [1898]) 0’30".

THE AMOROUS GUARDSMAN (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

THE PRICE OF A KISS (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’30".

A BOWERY CAFE (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’30".

HER FIRST CIGARETTE (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’40".

Nei mutoscopi c’era tuttavia spazio anche per rappresentazioni femminili più accettabili tratte, ad esempio, da opere teatrali o dalle attualità. In alcune di queste ultime vediamo in particolare donne che camminano da sole per le strade affollate o che si divertono in piscina.
La maggior indipendenza che le donne — "damigelle del XX secolo", tanto per citare il catalogo Biograph — dimostrano in tutti questi film riflette il cambiamento nelle norme comportamentali e di etichetta che si era verificato sul finire del XIX secolo.
Nevertheless, such candid images permeated to representations of women in more acceptable subjects, too: excerpts from stage plays, for instance, or actualities. A few actualities, in particular, captured the look of contemporary women as they walked busy city streets unchaperoned, or moved about freely in a swimming pool.
All these films shared a representation of women — "twentieth-century damsels", in Biograph catalogue parlance — as more independent, a reflection of change in rules of deportment and etiquette in the late nineteenth century.

DUEL TO THE DEATH (FROM THE MELODRAMA ‘WOMEN AND WINE’) (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’30".

[AN INTERRUPTED KISS] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB [1898]) 0’40".

LOVE’S YOUNG DREAM (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’30".

ARMOR VS. AMOUR (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’30".

UNION SQUARE — NEW YORK (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 45ft., 0’30’.

VIEW ON BOULEVARD, NEW YORK CITY (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 0’30".

IN A GERMAN BATH (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft, D 1899) 1’.

 

4. "Les feuilles remuaient au vent" (total: 16’35")

AMERICAN FALLS, GOAT ISLAND (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 0’30".

La Mutoscope & Biograph filmò molti soggetti che non avevano un valore intrinseco, cose non particolarmente degne di nota che si potevano vedere dovunque, ogni giorno: uccelli in volo, bambini che giocano, biancheria stesa ad asciugare e fatta agitare dal vento. Naturalmente ciò che molti di questi soggetti avevano in comune era il movimento, che era impossibile, o perlomeno difficile, da controllare e predire: il movimento dell’acqua, del fumo, della folla, dei bambini, degli animali.
The Mutoscope & Biograph Company selected many subjects for filming that lacked any intrinsic value, uneventful things one could see every day, everywhere: birds flying, children playing, or laundry flapping in the wind. What many of these subjects had in common, of course, was movement, which was impossible, certainly difficult, to control or predict: water, smoke, crowds, children, or animals.

SAD SEA WAVES (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 46ft., 0’30".

FEEDING SEAGULLS OFF THE IRISH COAST / [FEEDING THE SEAGULLS] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 47ft., 0’30".

[FUN ON A SAND HILL] (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft, D [1899]) 0’35".

SKATING IN CENTRAL PARK (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1900) 0’50".

[HORSE RACE AT EPSOM] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB [1899]) 0’45".

A PILLOW FIGHT (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’30".

[KINDERSPEL] / [CHILD’S PLAY] (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US [1899]) 0’35".

EEN KINDERFEEST OP HET EILAND MARKEN / [A CHILDREN’S PARTY ON THE ISLAND OF MARKEN] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL [1899]) 1’15".

AN IRISH PEASANT SCENE — FEEDING PIGS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1899) 0’30".

A STABLE ON FIRE (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 0’25".

[MAIDENHEAD JUNCTION] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB [1898]) 0’35".

Come soggetti filmati, tuttavia, non erano per nulla insignificanti. Esaltavano infatti le possibilità delle apparecchiature cinematografiche, quelle Biograph in particolare. Grazie alla velocità di scorrimento (30 fotogrammi al secondo), al formato più largo (68mm), alla superiorità delle immagini proiettate (più nitide, più stabili e più grandi), i film Biograph erano recensiti con ammirato entusiasmo sia che mostrassero rapidi in corsa ("a sessanta miglia orarie"), l’intenso traffico cittadino ("un trionfo del realismo"), volti ("si vedono distintamente i lineamenti") o che, come diversivo, venissero proiettati all’incontrario.
As filmed subjects, however, they were not at all insignificant. They celebrate as it were the possibilities of the cinematic and, in particular, the Biograph apparatus. Because of its recording speed (30 frames per second), wider gauge (68mm), and its superior projection (a clear and stable image of larger dimensions), Biograph’s films of many different subjects were reviewed with equal admiration, whether they showed the fastest trains ("at sixty miles speed"), busy city traffic ("a triumph of realism"), faces ("one can see clearly every feature"), or, as comic relief, the world in reverse.

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS — THE FATEFUL LETTER (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’35".

KEYSTONE EXPRESS (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’25".

HAVERSTRAW TUNNEL (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 1’.

PLACE DE LA CONCORDE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) 0’30".

[IN THE FRIEDRICHSTRASSE] (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph GmbH., D [1899]) 1’10".

JUMBO, HORSELESS FIRE-ENGINE (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’20".

[MOLENS VAN DE ZAANSTREEK] / [MILLS FROM THE ZAANSTREEK] ([British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate], GB? [1899]) 0’50".

[HOLLANDSE VISSERVLOOT] / [DUTCH FISHING BOATS] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’35".

AMERICAN FALLS, LUNA ISLAND [reversed] (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 0’30".

"Les feuilles remuaient au vent", esclamò Georges Méliès vedendo le foglie mosse dal vento in un film Lumière che mostrava una scena domestica. Nei film delle origini gli effetti del vento, il gioco dell’acqua, il riflesso della luce el sole potevano attirare l’attenzione dello spettatore anche in scene di evidente interesse cronachistico, militare o nazionale, e persino in quelle di non fiction.
"Les feuilles remuaient au vent" — "The leaves were moving in the wind," Georges Méliès exclaimed while watching a Lumière film of a domestic scene. In fact, in early films the effects of the wind, as well as the play of water or the reflection of sunlight, may have caught spectators’ eyes, even in scenes of obviously topical, military, or national interest, or in scenes of obviously fictional intent.

NINTH REGIMENT, N.G.N.S.Y. (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 1’05".

GERMAN GARDE KURASSIERS (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft, D 1900) 0’10".

AMSTERDAMS VREEMDELINGENVERKEER / [AMSTERDAM’S TOURISM] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1899) 0’30".

STILL WATERS RUN DEEP (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’30".

WATER POLO — WORTHING SWIMMING CLUB (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 16ft., 0’10".

[GERMAN BATTLESHIP ‘KAISER WILHELM II’] (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft, D 1900) 0’15".

LANDING AT VILLEFRANCHE FROM U.S. CRUISER ‘OLYMPIA’ (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 0’30".

 

5 . Le attualità / Yesterday’s news (total: 17’25")

[AMERICAN BIOGRAPH AT THE PALACE] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 0’35".
One of the great 19th-century London music halls, the Palace Theatre was built by Richard D’Oyly Carte and originally opened on 31 January 1891 as the Royal English Opera House. Less than two years later it was taken over by the great impresario Sir Augustus Harris, who in turn ceded the management to Charles Morton, who re-established its fortunes as the Palace Theatre of Varieties. Attracting some of the most prestigious music hall acts of the day — including the Biograph itself — the Palace flourished as a variety theatre until 1914, after which it turned to revue and subsequently every kind of show, with emphasis on large-scale musicals. In recent years it was taken over by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. — DR

Molti dei programmi della Mutoscope & Biograph erano basati principalmente su materiali di attualità. Ieri come oggi le notizie si accumulavano e i principali fatti di cronaca finivano spesso con l’occupare buona parte del tempo disponibile per le proiezioni. Uno di questi soggetti fu l’incoronazione della regina Guglielmina d’Olanda nel settembre del 1908.
Many of the Mutoscope & Biograph Company’s film programmes consisted largely of actuality material that reflected the events of the day. Yesterday’s news tended to pile up just as today's does; and the top stories could easily fill a sizeable amount of the film programme’s allotted screening time. One such story was the coronation of the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina, in September 1898.

PLECHTIGE INTOCHT VAN H.M. KONINGIN WILHELMINA IN AMSTERDAM / [OFFICIAL ENTRY OF QUEEN WILHELMINA INTO AMSTERDAM ] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Sydicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

ARRIVAL OF THE QUEEN AT THE PALACE, AMSTERDAM (British Mutoscope and Biograph Sydicate, GB 1898) 1’20".

REVIEW OF THE ROYAL NETHERLANDS GUARDS IN THE COSTUMES OF THE MIDDLE AGES (British Mutoscope and Biograph Sydicate, GB 1898) 0’50".

THE ROYAL PROCESSION TO THE CHURCH BEFORE THE CORONATION CEREMONY (British Mutoscope and Biograph Sydicate, GB 1898) 0’25".

THE ROYAL PROCESSION FROM THE CHURCH AFTER THE CEREMONY (British Mutoscope and Biograph Sydicate, GB 1898) 0’10".

THE QUEEN AND THE QUEEN MOTHER ON THE PALACE BALCONY RESPONDING TO THE CALL OF THE POPULACE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Sydicate, GB 1898) 0’25".
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (1880-1962) succeeded to the throne at the age of 10 on the death of her father King Wilhelm III. Her mother remained regent until her coming of age in 1898. Her beauty and dignity enchanted the populace and re-established the waning popularity of the House of Orange-Nassau. In the First World War she declared the government’s intention to maintain the neutrality and integrity of the Netherlands. In the Second World War she moved with her government-in-exile to Britain, where she was a symbol of resistance to Nazism and, with her generally dowdy appearance, was a figure of great affection and esteem for the British population. She returned to the Netherlands at the moment of liberation and was welcomed home with delirious enthusiasm. Ill-health persuaded her to abdicate in favour of her daughter Juliana in 1948, after which she retired to her palace Het Loo, near Apeldoorn, Gelderland. — DR

Inserite in un programma di varietà, a loro volta le attualità Biograph proponevano una varietà di argomenti, unendo il pezzo serio a quello leggero, la cronaca locale a quella internazionale.
Part of a larger variety programme, the Biograph actualities themselves were quite varied, too. A Biograph film programme combined heavier and lighter, local and international, news items.

BLOEMENCORSO TE HAARLEM OP 4 JUNI 1899 / [FLOWER PARADE AT HAARLEM] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1899) 0’30".

THE GREAT OTTAWA FIRE (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1900) 1’10".

BUMPING RACE (CAMBRIDGE MAY RACES) (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 0’30".

LA SORTIE DU CONGRES DE VERSAILLES (Biograph and Mutoscope Company for France, F 1899) 0’45".

THE MARRIAGE OF THE EARL OF CREWE AND LADY ‘PEGGY’ PRIMROSE AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 1’05".

FROM WAR TO PEACE — FIRST DEPARTURE OF SS ‘ST. LOUIS’ FROM SOUTHAMPTON (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 1’.

THE MARDI GRAS CARNIVAL (American Mutoscope Company, US 1898) 1’50".

A differenza di oggi, le attualità Biograph comprendevano anche versioni romanzate o metaforiche dei fatti di cronaca. Spesso le immagini o le vicende proposte erano, quando andava bene, vere a metà. Il caso Dreyfus, a parte le riprese riguardanti il processo vero e proprio, ispirò un sacco di materiali del genere.
Very unlike today’s news was the inclusion of fictionalized versions of or allusions to the events of the day. More often than not, such subjects represented images or stories that were half true, to say the least. The Dreyfus case, apart from footage of events surrounding the trial itself, generated a number of such spin-offs.

[DREYFUS, CAPTAIN ALFRED] (Biograph and Mutoscope for France, F 1899) 4’10".

[NA DE RECHTZAAK] / [AFTER THE SESSION OF THE COURT] (Biograph and Mutoscope for France, F 1899) 0’45".

THE ZOLA-ROCHEFORT DUEL, PARIS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’45".

AMANN, THE GREAT IMPERSONATOR (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 46ft., 0’30".

 

6. Che bella parata! / "I love a parade" (total: 18’05")

CHARGE PAR ESCADRONS, EXECUTEE PAR LE 1ER REGT. DE CUIRASSIERS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1897) 0’50".

Le parate erano un fenomeno ricorrente nella vita pubblica di fine secolo. Bambini, studenti, monaci, capi di stato — tutti — partecipavano a parate, marce, cortei, sfilate. Le immagini delle parate contrastavano con il caos della vita urbana che le prime macchine da presa coglievano così magnificamente. Le parate offrivano un tipo di spettacolo diverso, in cui l’ordine regnava in ogni direzione.
Parades were a recurrent phenomenon of turn-of-the-century public life. Children, students, monks, heads of state — everybody — participated in parades, marches, pageants, or processions. Views of parades contrasted with the chaos of city life that early film cameras captured so beautifully. But here was a different kind of spectacle, in which order reigned in every direction.

DE WEESHUIS-QUAESTIE / [ORPHANAGE QUESTION] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1899) 0’25".

DE LEIDSCHE STUDENTEN-FEESTEN / [STUDENT CELEBRATIONS, LEYDEN] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1900) 1’15".

FAMOUS PROCESSION OF THE CORPUS DOMINI (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’35".

PARADE, AMERICUS CLUB, CANTON OHIO (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 0’35".

PARADE, SOUND MONEY CLUB, CANTON, O. (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 1’25".

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND AND PRESIDENT MCKINLEY (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’30".
Stephen Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) was 22nd and 24th President of the United States — the only President to serve for two non-consecutive terms, 1885-1889 and 1893-97. The first Democratic President elected after the Civil War, he was known for his stand against corruption in public life. In 1895 he initiated arbitration proceedings that eventually settled a territorial dispute with Britain over the borders of Venezuela.
William McKinley (1843-1901), 25th President of the United States, was born in Ohio and first elected to Congress in 1876. The markedly imperialistic policy of his regime led to the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the annexation of the Philippines. His assassination at the Temple of Music of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, on 6 September 1901 by the anarchist Louis Czolgosz gave the cinema one of its earliest sensational actualities. — DR

EMPEROR AND EMPRESS OF GERMANY (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft, D 1899) 1’15".

LONDON FIRE BRIGADE, ALARM (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 0’30".

AWAY ALOFT (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’30".

PASSAGE DES PORTIQUES (ECOLE DE GYMNASTIQUE DE JOINVILLE) (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) 0’35".

A sfilare erano innanzi tutto i soldati. La Mutoscope & Biograph ha ripreso — se non allestito — una quantità enorme di scene in cui si vedono fanti e cavalleggeri sfilare o dare la carica in formazioni talora mozzafiato.
Nello stesso tempo la Biograph era interessata a mostrare le conquiste tecnologiche dell’epoca. Ma sono proprio i film in cui si vedono gli ultimi ritrovati in fatto di armi a preannunciare la fine di questa forma di spettacolo militare. In epoca moderna la parata non sarebbe più stata concepita come una forma di azione militare.
The paraders par excellence were, of course, soldiers. The Mutoscope & Biograph Company recorded — if not staged — an enormous amount of military views in which cavalry and infantry filed or charged past in sometimes breathtaking formations.
At the same time, Biograph was also interested in showing contemporary technological achievements.
Ironically, its films of newly-designed weapons spelled this form of military spectacle’s doom. The modern age would annihilate the parade as a significant form of military action.

MILITARY REVIEW AT ALDERSHOT (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) 0’25".

THE ROYAL LEINSTER REGIMENT (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1900) 1’.

GERMAN LANCERS (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft, D 1899) 1’05".

[CHARGE OF THE LANCERS — ALDERSHOT] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1898) 0’30".

FIRING THE MAXIM GUN (British Mutoscope and Biograph Sydicate, GB 1897) 0’45".
Hiram Stephen Maxim (1840-1916) was an American-born but British-naturalised armaments manufacturer and aeronaut, best known for his invention of the first automatic machine gun in 1884.

INCH DISAPPEARING CARRIAGE GUN LOADING AND FIRING, SANDY HOOK (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’30".

LAUNCH OF H.M. BATTLESHIP "FORMIDABLE" AT PORTSMOUTH (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 1’.

Nei materiali Biograph sulla guerra anglo-boera — guerra che combinava il vecchio e il nuovo — le parate hanno solo una funzione cerimoniale. Anzi finiscono col segnalare le scene predisposte per l’obiettivo, giacché con le nuove armi sarebbe stato impossibile effettuare certe riprese se non mantenendosi a distanza di sicurezza rispetto al fronte.
Delle decine di film girati durante questa guerra, sono pochi quelli sopravvissuti. Li riproponiamo in ordine rigorosamente cronologico.
In Biograph’s footage of the Anglo-Boer War, a war that combined the old and the modern, parades only have a ceremonial function. In fact, they became a sign of staging, as modern weaponry only allowed such scenes to be taken at a safe distance from the front line.
Of the dozens of films made during this war, only a handful have come down to us. They are shown here in a strictly chronological order.

PANORAMIC VIEW OF FRERE CAMP TAKEN FROM THE FRONT OF AN ARMOURED TRAIN (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) [0’30"].

BRIDGING THE TUGELA RIVER BY ROYAL ENGINEERS SHOWING BRIDGE DESTROYED BY THE BOERS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 0’30".

RIFLE HILL SIGNAL STATION NEAR FRERE CAMP (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 46ft., 0’30".

BOMBARDMENT OF COLENSO BY 4.7 GUNS OF HMS ‘TERRIBLE’ (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 0’25".

SEIZING A KOPJE NEAR SPION KOP BY LORD DUNDONALD’S TROOPERS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 0’30".

OPERATIONS OF RED CROSS AMBULANCES AFTER SPION KOP (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1900) 0’30".

GORDON HIGHLANDERS IN LADYSMITH (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1900) 51ft., 0’30".

LADYSMITH — NAVAL BRIGADE DRAGGING 4.7 GUNS INTO LADYSMITH (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1900) 0’30".

BLOEMFONTEIN: UNFURLING THE FLAG (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1900) 48ft., 0’30".

 

7. La gente davanti alla macchina da presa / People in front of a camera (total: 20’35")

[PRINSENGRACHT] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL [1898]) 1’10".
La novità della macchina da presa suscitò fra la gente reazioni disparate. Mentre certi non sembravano per nulla colpiti e neanche interessati, altri interrompevano le loro attività per esaminare il nuovo aggeggio. Alcuni arrivavano persino a interagire con esso.
As a new element in public life, the film camera elicited a variety of responses. While many people appear not to be impressed or even interested, others can be seen to interrupt their business in order to examine this new contraption. Some even stepped up their acknowledgement by interacting with it.

‘THE LANE’ ON SUNDAY MORNING (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1899) 0’30".

[THE HENLEY REGATTA] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1901) 61ft., 0’45".

[DE BOULEVARD VAN SCHEVENINGEN] / [THE BOULEVARD OF SCHEVENINGEN] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’30".

EEN TRAMBESTORMING OP ZONDAG OP DEN DAM / [STORMING THE TRAM AT THE DAM] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1899) 0’40".

[AMERICAN BIOGRAPH IN CIRCUS O. CARRÉ] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL [1898]) 0’45".

VENICE, FEEDING THE PIGEONS IN ST. MARK’S SQUARE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’50".

THE GEORGETOWN LOOP (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1901) 161ft., 1’45".

Al fine di evitare che guardassero direttamente in macchina, le persone venivano filmate mentre erano intente nelle loro occupazioni o mentre assistevano a cerimonie, predisposte o meno che fossero per le riprese. Tuttavia, quando qualcuno riusciva a manifestare la propria consapevolezza di essere davanti a un obiettivo, le esigenze della situazione permettevano soltanto un rapido sguardo.
People were often filmed while engrossed in professional or ceremonial activities, either staged or unstaged, effectively preventing them from looking directly into the camera. Nevertheless, if people managed to show their awareness of the camera, the demands of the situation, or the required costume, only allowed a stolen look.

TAPPING A BLAST FURNACE — NEWCASTLE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 1’05".

RELIEVING THE GUARD AT ST. JAMES’S PALACE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) 0’45".

THE GORDON HIGHLANDERS: RETURNING TO CAMP (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) 0’30".

THE VATICAN GUARDS, ROME (British Mutoscope and Biograph, GB 1898) 0’55".

FUNERAL PROCESSION OF THE MISERICORDIA (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’45".

CAPUCHIN MONKS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’30".

PROCESSION OF ARMENIAN MONKS, INCLUDING THE ABBOT-ARCHBISHOP ST. LAZAR, VENICE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’35".

RINGRIJDEN VOOR SJEEZEN TE HAARLEM / [DRIVING IN CIRCLES BY GIGS] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1899) 0’25".

CHANGING GUARD (BERLIN) (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) 0’30".

La presenza della macchina da presa determinava spesso comportamenti incerti, talvolta persino di rifiuto, come si può vedere nelle riprese di sovrani quali re Edoardo VII, la regina Guglielmina d’Olanda, la regina d’Italia Margherita o di altre personalità come Sir George Newnes (uno dei maggiori azionisti della Biograph), Paul Kruger, William McKinley, candidato alla presidenza degli Stati Uniti, o il papa Leone XIII. Le loro reazioni documentate dalle macchine da presa della Biograph si possono oggi considerare come i primi incerti tentativi di mettersi o meno in posa davanti all’obiettivo.
Acknowledgment of the camera often led to uncertainty, even denial. This can particularly be witnessed in the on-camera behaviour of royalty — King Edward VII, Queen Wilhelmina of Holland, Queen Margherita of Italy, among others — and celebrities or other people in high places, such as Sir George Newnes (one of British Biograph’s major shareholders), Paul Kruger, American presidential candidate William McKinley, or Pope Leo XIII. Retrospectively, their responses as caught by Biograph’s cameras can be conceived of as being among the earliest, uncertain attempts to strike a pose (or not) in the film camera’s presence.

[KING EDWARD VII AT THE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF THE KING OF DENMARK] (Biograph and Mutoscope Company for France, F 1901) 1’05".
Edward VII (1841-1910), King of Great Britain and Ireland and eldest son of Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort, succeeded his mother on the throne at her death in 1901. (His coronation was dramatically postponed until 1902, since he was struck down by appendicitis, a disorder hitherto hardly known but thereafter positively fashionable.) Celebrated for his colourful private life rather than for any political skills, his popularity in France nevertheless did much to encourage the Entente Cordiale of 1904. His consort was Princess Alexandra of Denmark; his most famous mistress was the actress Lillie Langtry (1853-1929), "the Jersey Lily". — DR

ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION — SIR GEORGE NEWNES’ FAREWELL TO OFFICERS AND CREW (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’35".

[KONINKLIJK JACHT TIJDENS DE VISSERSVLOOTREVUE BIJ MUIDEN] / [ROYAL YACHT] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL [1899]) 0’30".

[PAUL KRUGER IN GESPREK] / [PAUL KRUGER IN CONVERSATION] (Biograph and Mutoscope Company for France, F [1900]) 0’30".
Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (1824-1904), popularly known as "Ohm Paul", was President of the Transvaal from 1883 to 1900. His refusal to remedy the grievances of the English and other white "uitlanders" precipated the Second South African War. — DR

QUEEN MARGHERITA OF ITALY (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1898) 0’40".

MCKINLEY AT HOME, CANTON, OHIO (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 0’45".
William McKinley (1843-1901), 25th President of the United States, was born in Ohio and was first elected to Congress in 1876. The markedly imperialistic policy of his regime led to the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the annexation of the Philippines. His assassination at the Temple of Music of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, on 6 September 1901 by the anarchist Louis Czolgosz gave the cinema one of its earliest sensational actualities. — DR

POPE LEO XIII:
POPE LEO XIII CARRIED THROUGH THE VATICAN LOGGIA ON HIS WAY TO THE SISTINE CHAPEL (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’35".
POPE LEO XIII IN HIS CARRIAGE, PASSING THROUGH THE VATICAN GARDENS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".
POPE LEO XIII, IN HIS CHAIR (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’50".
POPE LEO XIII, RESTING ON HIS WAY TO HIS SUMMER VILLA (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 1’05".
POPE LEO XIII WALKING BEFORE KNEELING GUARDS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’25".

Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903), born Gioacchino Pecci, was elected Pope in 1878, after a brilliant career as a papal diplomat in Europe, the USA, and Japan. He was committed to the importance of the church’s role in matters of social justice, and his 1891 encyclical, Rerum novarum, lays down the moral duties of employers towards their workers. Leo can almost certainly claim to be the earliest living person to be recorded in both sound and image. Some years after Dickson had filmed him for the Biograph, his voice was recorded on a Bettini cylinder in 1903, the last year of his long life. — DR

 

8. L’assemblaggio delle riprese / How shots hang together (total: 22’15")

CAPTAIN DEASY’S DARING DRIVE, ASCENT (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft, D 1903) 340ft., 3’50".

Non di rado la Mutoscope & Biograph realizzava soggetti con due o più riprese. C’erano vari modi per dare unità a queste scene. Poteva succedere, ad esempio, che un evento o un’azione fossero troppo lunghi per stare in una sola ripresa. Oppure la suddivisione in scene poteva corrispondere a sequenze o segmenti. Le sette riprese (di cui sei sono sopravvissute) della versione Biograph della storia di Rip Van Winkle costituiscono uno degli esempi più elaborati.
It was not uncommon for the Mutoscope & Biograph Company to produce subjects consisting of two shots or more. There were various ways in which these shots could be seen as forming a unit. It could be, for example, that an action or event was simply too long to be included in one shot. Or the division in shots could coincide with sequences or segments. The seven shots of Biograph’s version of the story of Rip Van Winkle, six of which have survived, is one of the more elaborate examples.

WORTHING LIFE-SAVING STATION (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

LAUNCH OF THE WORTHING LIFE-BOAT: COMING ASHORE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 108ft., 1’10".

ME AND MY TWO FRIENDS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

SPANISH CORONATION BULLFIGHT (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1902) 200ft., 2’20".

RIP VAN WINKLE:
RIP MEETING THE DWARF (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 43ft., 0’30".
RIP LEAVING SLEEPY HOLLOW (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 45ft., 0’30".
RIP’S TOAST TO HUDSON AND CREW (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 48ft., 0’30".
RIP’S TWENTY YEARS’ SLEEP (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 47ft., 0’35".
AWAKENING OF RIP (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 76ft., 0’50".
RIP PASSING OVER THE MOUNTAIN (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 48ft., 0’30".

Joseph Jefferson (1829-1905) was one of a long theatrical dynasty that had its origins in the theatre of David Garrick in 18th-century England. Jefferson made his first stage appearance at the age of four, being tumbled out of a sack by the legendary blackface artist T.D.Rice, creator of "Jim Crow". Jefferson’s richly varied career was to last 71 years, and encompass many roles, but his most famous part remained that of Rip Van Winkle in the Dion Boucicault stage version of the Washington Irving story, which he first played in 1865. Over the years he made the part his own, revising the text and business until it was hardly recognisable as Boucicault’s original. — DR

Durante la proiezione tuttavia niente poteva garantire la coesione di queste unità precostituite, specie se le immagini non avevano una loro continuità. Film che in un programma formavano un tutto unico, in quello successivo potevano essere sostituiti, separati, cancellati, ed altri potevano essere aggiunti. Tutto questo influiva sulla coesione dei film. Una serie di vedute su Venezia, ad esempio, poteva diventare una serie sull’Italia con la semplice aggiunta di materiali.
In exhibition, however, nothing could guarantee these preconceived units’ cohesion, particularly if the images were non-continuous. Over the course of consecutive Biograph programmes, films that were part of a unit could be replaced, separated, or deleted, and other films could be added. All this affected the nature of the films’ cohesion. A series of films of Venice, for instance, could become a series about Italy, simply by adding more material.

THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 50ft., 0’35".

PANORAMA OF THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE; PASSING THE VEGETABLE MARKET (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

[BRUG DER ZUCHTEN] / [BRIDGE OF SIGHS, VENICE] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

BOYS BATHING — VENICE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 51ft., 0’35".

[VENETIË-HAVENGEZICHT MET GONDELS] / [VENICE, HARBOUR SCENE WITH GONDOLAS] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

NEAPOLITAN DANCE AT THE ANCIENT FORUM OF POMPEII (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’35".

Spesso stabilire l’ordine di proiezione dei film poteva diventare una forma di montaggio che conferiva loro significati di natura simbolica o metaforica imprevedibili, persino "invisibili". In mancanza di materiali più pertinenti, abbiamo abbinato in maniera analoga quelli che potrebbero suggerire la successione, sul trono di Inghilterra, di Edoardo VII alla regina Vittoria.
In fact, the ordering of films into programmes could effectively be turned into editing, sometimes resulting in unforeseen, even "invisible" meanings, usually of a symbolic or metaphorical nature. For lack of surviving materials with which actual examples could be reconstructed, we here suggest Edward VII’s succession of Queen Victoria in a comparable way.

PANORAMIC VIEW OF WINDSOR CASTLE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1898) 0’55".

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN ARRIVING AT SOUTH KENSINGTON ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB [1899]) 1’20".
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1837-1901, and Empress of India, 1867-1901. Born in 1819, Victoria was the daughter of the Duke of Kent, son of George III, and her long reign represented an extraordinary transition between the Georgian era and the 20th century. A highly emotional woman, her relationships with her ministers were very personal and often prejudiced, while her popularity with the British public waxed and waned over the years. Her withdrawal from public life following the death of her consort Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1861 brought her to the lowest point of public esteem, but her Golden Jubilee of 1887 and Diamond Jubilee of 1897 restored her to the affection of the nation, and her death in 1901 was an occasion for genuine public mourning. — DR

[BUILDING BEING PULLED DOWN] (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US [1900]) 77ft., 0’50".

CORONATION OF THEIR MAJESTIES KING EDWARD VII AND QUEEN ALEXANDRA, FIRST SCENE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1902) 73ft., 0’45".

CORONATION OF THEIR MAJESTIES KING EDWARD VII AND QUEEN ALEXANDRA, SECOND SCENE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1902) 53ft., 0’35".
Edward VII (1841-1910), King of Great Britain and Ireland and eldest son of Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort, succeeded his mother on the throne at her death in 1901. (His coronation was dramatically postponed until 1902, since he was struck down by appendicitis, a disorder hitherto hardly known but thereafter positively fashionable.) Celebrated for his colourful private life rather than for any political skills, his popularity in France nevertheless did much to encourage the Entente Cordiale of 1904. His consort was Princess Alexandra of Denmark; his most famous mistress was the actress Lillie Langtry (1853-1929), "the Jersey Lily". — DR

CAPTAIN DEASY’S DARING DRIVE, DESCENT (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft, D 1903) 179ft., 2’00".

 

9. Il mondo messo in scena / Staging the world (total: 15’55")

THREE LINOTYPE MACHINES ([British Mutoscope and Biograph Company], GB? [1900]) 47ft., 0’30".

Sarebbe ingenuo pensare che le attualità Mutoscope & Biograph fossero realizzate semplicemente lasciando che la macchina da presa cogliesse la realtà di fine secolo nel suo svolgersi. La lunghezza della pellicola spesso rendeva necessaria una compressione degli eventi attraverso la loro accelerazione oppure presentando simultaneamente momenti diversi di un avvenimento. Di conseguenza il mondo sembrava un posto molto più spettacolare che in realtà.
It would be naïve to assume that for the actualities the Mutoscope & Biograph Company turned out, the camera was simply set up to capture turn-of-the-century reality as it unfolded. The length of film in the camera often necessitated a compression of events, either by speeding them up or by arranging separate or sequential components simultaneously. As a result, of course, the world looked a much more spectacular place.

AGOUST FAMILY OF JUGGLERS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

[PARADE BRITSE TROEPEN] / [PARADE BRITISH TROOPS] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB [1900]) 0’50".

CHARGE D’UN ESCADRON DU 27E DRAGONS, CONTRE UNE BATTERIE DU 11E RÉGIMENT EN POSITION, FAISANT FEU SUR L’ENNEMI (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) 0’30".

FORT HILL FIRE STATION (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’30".

HOTEL ON FIRE, PARIS (RESCUE WORK BY PARIS POMPIERS) (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 2’10".

‘MAN OVERBOARD!’ (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 1’05".

A CAMP OF ZINGAREE GYPSIES (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) 0’30".

[THE BATTLESHIP ‘ODIN’ WITH ALL HER GUNS IN ACTION] (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft, D 1900) 0’45".

Quando le riprese avvenivano in esterni, l’azione era spesso compressa anche spazialmente, con la conseguenza che le vere locations assomigliano talvolta al teatro di posa allestito sul tetto dell’edificio dove la compagnia aveva sede.
When, moreover, filming took place in real, outdoor locations, the action was often compressed spatially as well. As a result, real locations sometimes resembled the company’s open-air rooftop studio.

[WHY PAPA CAN’T SLEEP] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB [1898]) 0’40".

DUTCH FISHING BOATS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

[EEN NAT PAK] / [MAN FALLS IN BATH] ([British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate], GB? [1897]) 0’30".

BATH SCENE — HOLLAND (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’30".

A COUNTRY DANCE (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 43ft., 0’30".

‘JARABE’ DANCE, STREETS OF MEXICO, PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1901) 0’30".

[SAILORS OF HMS "BLACK PRINCE" FIRING CANNON AND RIFLES] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB [1900]) 0’40".

Ma il mondo esterno poteva anche entrare a far parte di quello della finzione. Il controllo sulla luce, l’ombra, il vento non poteva essere totale — un teatro di posa all’aperto è esposto alle correnti d’aria. Tuttavia queste interferenze esterne sembravano persino gradite per il tocco di realismo che conferivano.
Inversely, the real world also invaded and became part of the fictional one. Control over light, shadow, and wind was not complete — an open-air studio is a draughty place. But somehow these chance circumstances seem to have been accepted, perhaps sometimes even welcomed, for the touch of realism, however small, they provided.

A BAD (K)NIGHT (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’45".

PLAYING DOCTOR (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

THE DAIRY MAID’S REVENGE (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’30".

THE SPIRIT OF HIS FOREFATHERS (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1900) 0’35".

A MIDNIGHT FANTASY (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’45".

[OP LEVEN EN DOOD] / [ON LIFE AND DEATH] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB [1899]) 0’30".

 

10. Attrazioni visive / Visual attractions (total: 21’05")

APPLE BLOSSOMS (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’35".

Molti dei soggetti Biograph erano mutati dalle altre forme di intrattenimento — teatro, spettacoli di lanterna magica, vaudeville, fiere, luna park, mostre dedicate alle colonie.
A large number of Biograph subjects were borrowed from a wide range of other entertainments, such as the legitimate and the magic theatre, vaudeville, fairground amusements, the circus, amusement parks, or colonial exhibitions.

KING JOHN (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 84ft., 1’.
Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1853-1917) was one of the most prominent actor-managers of the late Victorian theatre. Starting his career as a clerk in the offices of his father, an immigrant and successful grain merchant, he became a professional actor in 1878. After managing the Comedy and Haymarket Theatres, in 1897 he built Her Majesty’s Theatre, where for the next 20 years he presented productions of staggering opulence, in which he generally played the leading roles. He was knighted by King Edward VII in 1909. Tree was the first major English-speaking stage star to see the importance of motion pictures as record. Many years after his pioneer effort to record a fragment of King John for Biograph, he starred in silent films of his stage successes Henry VIII (1911, directed by Will Barker) and Trilby (1914, directed by Harold Shaw). In 1916 he spent a period in the United States, where he filmed Macbeth (directed by John Emerson) and The Old Folks at Home (directed by Chester Withey, with Mildred Harris), and made a walk-on appearance in Griffith’s Intolerance (1916). — DR

FENCING CONTEST FROM THE PLAY ‘THE THREE MUSKETEERS’ (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’15".
Lewis Waller (William Waller Lewis, 1850-1915) was one of the great Victorian actor managers and a romantic idol of his day. His most famous roles were Monsieur Beaucaire, D’Artagnan and Brigadier Gerard, though he was admired for such Shakespearean interpretations as Henry V and Brutus. A strikingly handsome man with a fine voice (which is on record) he did not deserve the slighting title, "The high priest of tushery". — DR

AN INTRIGUE IN A HAREM (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’55".

BAXTER STREET MYSTERY (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 1’.

[TWEE CLOWNS BOKSEN ONDERSTEBOVEN] / [UPSIDE DOWN BOXERS] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB [1899]) 0’30".

HAS HE HIT ME? (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

[STEALING A DINNER] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB [1898]) 0’40".

HURDLE JUMPING BY TRAINED DOGS (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 1’05".

‘KING’ AND ‘QUEEN’, THE GREAT HIGH DIVING HORSES (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 1’05".

WRESTLING PONY AND MAN (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 0’30".

THE LANDING OF SAVAGE SOUTH AFRICA AT SOUTHAMPTON (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1899) 50ft., 0"30".

DANCING DARKIES (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 48ft., 0’30".
Lo spettacolo di lanterne magiche era la forma di intrattenimento più vicina al cinema cui fornì numerosi soggetti e soluzioni tecniche. E anche se nel cinema l’illusione del movimento era più completa, molti film imitavano la tecnica della lanterna magica o cercavano di emularne i trucchi. Anche l’organizzazione dello spazio narrativo richiama talvolta quello della lanterna magica. E in un paio di film viene mascherata una lacuna rispetto ai vetri per lanterna magica: il colore.
The entertainment closest to cinema — the magic lantern show — provided many subjects as well as techniques. And even though cinema’s illusion of movement was more complete, many films copied the magic lantern’s techniques or tried to emulate its tricks. Furthermore, the organization of a story’s space was sometimes reminiscent of the magic lantern, too. And a couple of films covered up a deficiency compared to lantern slides: colour.

[CLIFTON SUSPENSION BRIDGE] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB [1900]) 49ft., 0’35".

[WARSHIPS AT SUNSET] ([British Mutoscope and Biograph Company], GB? [1900]) 42ft., 0’25".

THE ARTIST’S DREAM (American Mutoscope Company, US 1899) 0’35".

PHILLIS WAS NOT DRESSED TO RECEIVE CALLERS (American Mutoscope Company, US 1898) 0’30".

A SCANDALOUS PROCEEDING (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’30".

A RURAL COURTSHIP (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 51ft., 0’35".

lES PARISIENNES (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’20".

CONWAY CASTLE — PANORAMIC VIEW OF CONWAY ON THE L. & N.W. RAILWAY (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 1’30".

La macchina da presa permetteva un nuovo modo di vedere, senza tuttavia rendere obsolete le altre tecniche e forme di intrattenimento. La novità e singolarità del nuovo tipo di immagine che era peculiare del cinema erano evidenziate dal contrasto con le immagini proposte dai mezzi più tradizionali.
The camera presented a new kind of view, but it did not render other techniques and entertainments obsolete. Indeed the novelty and singularity of the new, very naturalistic kind of image characteristic of the motion picture was highlighted by contrasts with views of other more traditional entertainments.

[DEEP SEA DIVERS] ([British Mutoscope and Biograph Company], GB? [1898]) 15ft., 0’10".

RARE FISH IN THE AQUARIUM ([Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph Gesellschaft], D? 1899) 0’30".

WATERSNOOD IN BUURT YY / [WATER SURFEIT IN DISTRICT YY] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1899) 0’30".

SURF DASHING AGAINST ENGLAND’S ROCKY COAST (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) 0’40".

THE TARANTELLA, AN ITALIAN DANCE (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’40".

PELICANS AT THE ZOO (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 33ft., 0’20".

At Regent’s Park Zoo, London.

THE SMALLEST TRAIN IN THE WORLD (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’30".

FROM MONTE CARLO TO MONACO (Biograph and Mutoscope Company for France, F 1899) 2’30".

 

11. La programmazione / Making up a programme (total: 17’20")

[DE CONFERENCIER] / [THE COMEDIAN] ([American Mutoscope and Biograph Company], US? [1900]) 0’50".

Di norma i film Biograph facevano parte di un programma di varietà che comprendeva musica, numeri di ballo, giocolieri, attori, cantanti, ecc. Lo stesso programma cinematografico era alquanto diversificato e alternava comiche con scene di viaggio, vedute esotiche, fatti di cronaca, scene sportive, militari e così via.
As a rule, the Biograph’s film projections were part of a larger variety show, surrounded by music, dancers, jugglers, comedians, singers, and the like. The film programme itself also contained a variety of subjects, alternating comedies, travel and exotic scenes, news and sports scenes, military views, etc.

TROUT POACHERS (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 0’30".

AN ORIENTAL HIGHWAY (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1901) 0’30".

BAYONET VERSUS BAYONET — ALDERSHOT (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) 0’40".

MILITARY EXERCISE — ALDERSHOT (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1898) 0’35".

HE GOT MORE THAN HE BARGAINED FOR (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB [1899]) 0’40".

[EEN JACHT GAAT OVERSTAG] / [ONE YACHT TACKS] (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US [1899]) 0’30".

HOME LIFE OF A HUNGARIAN FAMILY (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB 1897) 0’25".

THE POSTER GIRLS AND THE HYPNOTIST (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 0’30".

HARVESTING CORN (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 96ft., 1’05".

A HARD WASH (American Mutoscope Company, US 1896) 48ft., 0’30".

Esistono tuttora molti dei programmi e delle locandine del Palace Theatre of Varieties di Londra, dove veniva proposta una selezione cinematografica con particolari caratteristiche. Di norma, la prima parte prevedeva soggetti leggeri, mentre nella seconda prevalevano quelli più seri di interesse nazionale, internazionale o politico. Con le debite eccezioni, naturalmente, legate agli eventi della stagione.
Many playbills and programmes have been preserved for the Palace Theatre of Varieties in London, which featured a film programme that had its own peculiar make-up. As a rule, the first part included lighter subjects, while in the second more serious subjects of national, international, or political moment dominated. Exceptions were made, of course, for subjects reflecting seasonal events.

***

One of the great 19th-century London music halls, the Palace Theatre was built by Richard D’Oyly Carte and originally opened on 31 January 1891 as the Royal English Opera House. Less than two years later it was taken over by the great impresario Sir Augustus Harris, who in turn ceded the management to Charles Morton, who re-established its fortunes as the Palace Theatre of Varieties. Attracting some of the most prestigious music hall acts of the day — including the Biograph itself — the Palace flourished as a variety theatre until 1914, after which it turned to revue and subsequently every kind of show, with emphasis on large-scale musicals. In recent years it was taken over by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. — DR

[KERSTMAN EN FEE] / [SANTA CLAUS AND FAIRY] (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate, GB [1898]) 1’05".

[KONINKLIJKE FAMILIE] / [ROYAL FAMILY] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL [1902]) 0’30".

[FUNÉRAILLES DE FÉLIX FAURE] / [PRESIDENT FAURE’S FUNERAL] (Biograph and Mutoscope Company for France, F [1898]) 0’10".
A self-made man — the son of a furniture maker, he made a fortune as a tanner and merchant — Felix Faure (1841-1899) became sixth president of the Third French Republic in 1895. He was a personable figure and skilful diplomat, but his last years were soured by his stiff-necked attitude in the Dreyfus affair. He died suddenly on 16 February 1899 while closeted in his study with his mistress, Madame Steinheil. — DR

M. GUERIN’S HEADQUARTERS — FORT CHABROL (Biograph and Mutoscope Company for France, F [1899]) 0’30".

AANKOMST DER VREDESCONFERENTIE TE HAARLEM, 4 JUNI 1899 / [ARRIVAL AT THE PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAARLEM] (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, NL 1899) 1’05".

RÉCEPTION DU PRÉSIDENT KRÜGER À L’HÔTEL DE VILLE / [EX-PRESIDENT KRUGER LEAVING HOTEL DE VILLE] (Biograph and Mutoscope Company for France, F 1900) 0’45".
Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (1824-1904), popularly known as "Ohm Paul", was President of the Transvaal from 1883 to 1900. His refusal to remedy the grievances of the English and other white "uitlanders" precipated the Second South African War. — DR

LORD KITCHENER’S ARRIVAL AT SOUTHAMPTON (British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, GB 1902) 125ft., 1’30".
Horatio Herbert Kitchener (1850-1916), Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, was born in County Kerry, Ireland. Promoted to Commander in Chief of the Egyptian Army in 1892, he acheived prominence with his successes at the Battle of Omdurman (1898) and the subsequent recapture of Khartoum. He was chief of staff during the Boer War and subsequently Commander of the British forces in India, 1902-1909. On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 he was appointed Secretary of State for War, and had already achieved much to modernise the British armed forces when he was drowned in the wreck of a ship bound for Russia. — DR

Per anni i programmi Biograph del Palace Theatre of Varieties si sono regolarmente conclusi con le cosiddette "corse fantasma" o altri film con treni. Alle volte ne venivano proiettati anche tre o quattro di fila.
For years, the Biograph programmes at the Palace Theatre ended invariably with so-called "phantom rides" or other train films. Sometimes three or four of these films were shown in a row.

NIAGARA FALLS STATION (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1899) 1’05".

THE CROOKEDEST RAILROAD YARD IN THE WORLD (American Mutoscope Company, US 1897) 100ft., 1’05".
At Dedham, Massachusetts.

IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES, NEAR BANFF (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US [1899]) 125ft., 1’25".

VICTORIA JUBILEE BRIDGE, ST. LAWRENCE RIVER (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, US 1900) 129ft., 1’25".
At Montréal, Canada.