AMERICAN AND BRITISH MUTOSCOPE BIOGRAPH

Even in the reduction to 35mm, the grandeur of the original 68mm format is still there. Like the photographic portraits taken by Nadar, the images of American and British Mutoscope and Biograph films are of a primordial eloquence, gripping our attention. We marvel at seeing a train approaching, machines in motion, ships gliding by, or being on a train and following its winding tracks. We experience cinematography in its purest state.
Mariann Lewinsky

QUEEN VICTORIA’S DIAMOND JUBILEE (JUNE 22ND 1897) AND NEW LARGE FORMAT PROJECTS

It was the first great gathering of filmmakers in the world and forty cameramen from many different companies competed for viewpoints from which to take moving pictures of a great international spectacle; the procession of Queen Victoria on the occasion of her diamond jubilee after sixty years on the throne. Bringing pictures of this era-defining event to an audience was money in the bank for nascent (and some hastily formed) companies. Three million people descended on the capital to join the celebrations in the streets of London and they, and many more in Britain and across the world would pay to see the films as part of a range of souvenir products of the Jubilee. The event was designed specifically to focus on Britain’s imperial status; where the Golden Jubilee had invited the ‘crowned heads’ of Europe, the Diamond Jubilee was formed of heads of state and a parade of representative troops from all nations of the British Empire. This spectacle, was designed to look impressive, so that a message of cohesion could be carried far and wide. Beautifully uniformed troops from the four nations, Africa, Asia and many island territories dazzled the cheering crowds, a sea of red, white and blue rosettes and flags. Not all those members of the crowd were signed up to the imperial project but accounts of the occasion show that reactions were as nuanced then, as they are today, to great national events and everyone showed up. At any event the filmmakers were there to faithfully record the carefully choreographed parade and here are the surviving fragments from the BFI – National Archive.
The bonus track presents a sneak preview of highlights and discoveries made as we progress the ongoing BFI project to restore all of our Victorian large format films and uncopied nitrate prints.

Bryony Dixon