1901...The Unproductive Era

Well hello there...fancy seeing you here...in my thoughts. Anywho today we're going into 1901 where not much happened. There were 7 films made in 1901...one of which is President McKinley's inauguration and 3 others I wasn't able to find. So I'm doing 4 films today (just so the posts are easy to keep up with in the future).

First up we have Fire! by James Williamson. It's just shy of 5 minutes long and is one of the first films to use multiple shots to tell a narrative. Take a look!

Favorites: shots used, fire effects, fireman who just left the hose running while he rescued the dude

Dislikes: they had two horse drawn carriages going to the fire but only used one...fail. 

I think this is a great example of how to tell a story through film. Early filmmakers had the extremely difficult tasking of not having words. They had to tell the story through their shots and this is a pretty good way of doing just that. 

Next we have President Mckinley's inauguration... 

Again Edison directed this documentary and it certainly didn't surprise me. It was boring as hell and because there is no sound or subtitles or something I have no idea what's going on. The only thing I could tell was that it was an important guy speaking and there was a parade...it tells me nothing of what was actually going on. I really wish Edison would stop experimenting and do an actual story (I know hes dead and all of his films have been produced but I want a time machine so I can smack him for being dumb). 

Now on to more American documentaries....Star Theatre by F.S. Armitage

What I love about this film is that it does something that Edisoon completely fails to do...tell me what's going on. There is an establishing shot of the star theatre...then the demolish it...then an ending shot of it completely demolished and people walking normally. Beginning, middle, and end. While it wasn't the most riveting or entertaining film I've watched it certainly did it's job and I appreciate that. 

And now the last film of the day Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost by Walter Booth. 

Favorites: super imposing for all ghost effects, acting, titles

Dislikes: set...looked like they took it straight from a stage production. 

Another British flick which I think is really well done and I wish more of the footage survived (we only have about half of the original). I really really really enjoyed the ghost effects. They were positively superb for their time! 

Well thats all I have to say. Join me on thursday when we go into 1902!