Marey book and DVD (November 2006)

Arcadia in France has published the proceedings of a recent colloquium held in Paris on the work of the French chronophotographer Etienne-Jules Marey, marking the centenary of his death. E.J. Marey Actes du Colloque du Centenaire (priced at 40 Euros) comes with a DVD which contains 400 chronophotographic 'films' by Marey, Georges Demenÿ, and others. The book and DVD are available from Amazon.fr.

R.W. Paul on DVD (November 2006)

The British Film Insitute has released a DVD of sixty-two films made by Robert Paul. Paul is one of the leading pioneers of British cinema, and indeed world cinema. The DVD contains dramas, tricks films, actualities, travelogues and comedies, including such key titles as Paul's film of the 1896 Derby, films of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, Come Along Do, The ? Motorist, and newsfilm of the 1898 disaster caused by the launch of H.M.S. Albion. The DVD runs for 147 minutes and includes a commentary by Ian Christie (author of a forthcoming book on Paul) and piano accompaniment by Stephen Horne. For further details, see here.

Pre-cinema and 'Cinematicity' (November 2006)

A call for papers has gopne out for a conference entitled Pre-cinema and 'Cinematicity' / 1895: Before and After, to be held 24-25 March 2007 by the British Comparative Literature Association and the Centre for Film Studies, University of Essex (UK). The aim of the conference is to bring together scholars interested in exploring the history of pre- and early film: the previsions of cinema as both technology and cultural form, and early cinema's influence on twentieth-century art, literature and culture. Proposals for papers of twenty minutes are invited, and abstracts of about 300 words should be submitted by 7 January 2007. The keynote speakers are Ian Christie, Tom Gunning and Marina Warner. For further details, visit http://www.essex.ac.uk/filmstudies/Conference07.htm.

Birt Acres biography on CD (October 2006)

The latest CD from The Projection Box is Frontiersman to Film-maker, a biography of the pioneering British cinematographer Birt Acres, written by his grandson, Alan Birt Acres. The biography blends family memories, archive documents and original research to give the personal history of the first man successfully to take and project 35mm films in Britain. Acres is still a little-known figure, though hopefully the recent discovery of some of his films by the National Fairground Archive (see June 2006 news below) and this new contribution to the historiography of Victorian cinema will help make his name and his work much better known and appreciated. The biography includes valuable information on Acres' co-workers, including Robert Paul, Henry Short, Ludwig Stollwerck and Arthur Melbourne Cooper. Further details are available here.

Before the Nickelodeon (August 2006)

The British Film Institute has published a DVD of Charles Musser's 1982 documentary film Before the Nickelodeon. The film documents the genesis of early cinema through the example of Edwin S. Porter, showing how he helped establish the structure and codes of cinematic language through such titles as The Great Train Robbery (1903) and Life of an American Fireman (1903). The film features numerous examples from Porter's early work, such as The Finish of Bridget McKeen (1901), Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly King (1901) and Jack and the Beanstalk (1902), plus other early Edison titles, including The Corbett-Courtney Fight (1894) and The Kiss (1896), starring May Irwin. The film features a commentary from Blanche Sweet, one of D.W. Griffith's Biograph actresses, and lurking among the credited 'voices' on the film are Robert Altman, D.A. Pennebaker, Jay Leyda, Louis Malle and Milos Forman. Further details are available here.

A new feature (August 2006)

This site has been redesigned slightly to accommodate a new section, Features. This brings together the existing Technical Essay and Historiographics of Victorian Cinema essay, plus a new 'essay' on the venues in which Victorian films were shown, Victorian 'Cinemas'. Other background features to the world of Victorian cinema will be added here in due course, and the editors welcome suggestions from interested contributors.

A ghost-raising entertainment (July 2006)

The Projection Box has published Mervyn Heard's Phantasmagoria: The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern. This is a comprehensive and expert account of the Phantasmagoria, that branch of the magic lantern which specialised in creating ghostly apparitions. The book traces the history of the recreation of the ghosts of the departed from ancient times to today, with emphasis on the use of the magic lantern to project images of phantoms. The book covers Etienne-Gaspard Robertson's fantasmagorie in revolutionary Paris, the 1860s theatrical ghost of Professor Pepper, the Phantasmagoria presentations of Paul de Philipsthal, and the cinema's adoption of similar spectral techniques. The book is handsomely illustrated in black-and-white and colour. For further details, visit here.

'First' British fiction film found (June 2006)

The 'first' British fiction film, Arrest of a Pickpocket, has been found. The film was made in April 1895 by Birt Acres and Robert Paul. It is one of a small collection of Acres/Paul and Edison films which were owned by travelling showman George Williams, whose grandson has passed the films on to the National Fairground Archive. The film shows a pickpocket being caught in the act and captured by a policeman and a passing sailor. Remarkably, newspapers used as a backdrop to the set have enabled historians to date the film precisely to the third week in April. Arguably the 'first' British fiction film is Acres and Paul's first film, a test film shot outside Acres' house Clovelly Cottage in February or March 1895, but Arrest of a Pickpocket would have been shown commercially. The collection is comparable in interest to the Henville collection of Acres and Paul films, found in 1995, which included their celebrated film of the 1895 Derby. Click here for news of the discovery.

BFI database goes online (May 2006)

At long last, the British Film Institute's film and television database (variously known before now as SIFT or BID) has been published online. It is not immediately clear from the restricted layout what the extent of this important resource is, but it contains some 810,000 records, and includes the entirety of the BFI National Film and Television Archive's collection of Victorian cinema (around 500 titles), mostly with detailed catalogue descriptions (click on the 'synopses' option on the left-hand menu to obtain the Archive's shotlist descriptions, where these exist). The database is accessible at www.bfi.org.uk/filmtvinfo/ftvdb.

Centenary no more (April 2006)

In 1996, the 'centenary' of cinema in Britain was marked by a film industry organisation, Cinema 100, which co-ordinated various centenary events. Among its many activities was the placing of plaques on buildings which represented pioneering persons or key locations in British cinema history. Perhaps most significant was the plaque placed at 70 Oxford Street, London, location of the first film exhibition in Britain on 17 October 1894, when a Kinetoscope parlour was opened there by Maguire and Baucus. In fact, the electrical business at no. 70 was not interested in having the plaque, which was instead placed at no. 76. Sadly, the plaque was taken down recently when the building was refurbished, and its whereabouts are unknown. It seems the would-be permanent marker of the birth of film exhibition in Britain lasted a mere ten years.

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (March 2006)

The British Silent Cinema Festival, held every April at the Broadway cinema, Nottingham, this year is hosting a special show dedicated to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The spectacular procession commemorating sixty years of Queen Victoria's reign was held in London on 22 June 1897. One hundred years later, a celebratory show which incorporated all of the available film taken of the procession by the numerous cameramen postioned along the route was put on at the Museum of the Moving Image. This popular show is at long last being repeated at Nottingham on Saturday 8th April, hosted by Luke McKernan, with musical, verbal and pictorial accompaniment. For further information, visit www.britishsilentcinema.com.

New journal for the long nineteenth century (March 2006)

Birkbeck, University of London, has launched a new online journal: 19 - Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century. The stated aims of 19 are "to publicise and disseminate the research activities carried out under the auspices of Birkbeck's interdisciplinary Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies; and to provide practical research and professional development opportunities for the large and active body of postgraduate students currently undertaking research degrees in nineteenth-century studies at the College". It promises to provide easy access to a wide range of stimulating texts, and promises to includes audio-visual subject matter, as it in general encourages discussion of the interrelationships between the verbal and the visual. The journal can be read at www.19.bbk.ac.uk.

Science Museum closes photography and cinematography galleries (February 2006)

The Science Museum in London has closed its photography, cinematography and optics galleries, ending over sixty years of the display of historic cameras and photographic equipment. Some of the equipment will go on display at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford, though most will go into storage. There are no plans for a new photography display. The galleries had included pre-cinema artefacts, optical toys, persistence of vision devices, and early motion picture cameras from Birt Acres, Robert Paul and William Friese-Greene. Its disappearance leaves London very much a poorer place for the historian of early photography and cinematography.

Historiographics of Victorian Cinema (January 2006)

The latest feature to be added to this site is Stephen Herbert's The Historiographics of Victorian Cinema, an illustrated essay on images of the Victorian filmmakers from comic strips, comic books and children's books from across the world. The images are each available in high and low resolution versions as downloadable PDFs. The authors of this site welcome any suggestions for additions to this unique graphic gallery of the earliest filmmakers, through the imaginations of later generations of illustrators.

Early Visual Media discussion group (January 2006)

A new Google Group has been established by Thomas Weynants, author of the Early Visual Media web site on nineteenth-century image technologies and entertainments. The discussion group, entitled 'Early Visual Media' invites contributions on pre-cinema, optical toys, early vintage photography, early film, the conjuring arts, illusions, apparitions, spiritism, vaudeville, theatre history, street performers, and like topics. To join the list, visit Google Groups.

New front page for Who's Who of Victorian Cinema (January 2006)

Now entering its third year, the Who's Who of Victorian Cinema site has a new gallery of faces on its front page. The people are Jehanne d'Alcy, Danjuro X, Jules Carpentier, Ruth St Denis, W.G. Grace, Wordsworth Donisthorpe, Max Glücksmann, James Williamson, May Irwin, Auguste Lumière, Charles Urban, Fred Ott, Eadweard Muybridge and Sarah Bernhardt, plus our central figure of Queen Victoria. Together they represent the diversity of Victorian cinema: those who made the films or made the film equipment, those who appeared before the cameras as performers or as news subjects, those who exploited the films and those who developed their potential. We will continue to develop the web site, updating the entries and adding new resources. Feedback is always welcome.