Electric Edwardians (Milestone/Silent Historic Film Shorts)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B+ Shorts: B+
Because
film and TV do not look as good as they used to, with so much home video, video
options, hundreds of channels and the continued move towards too much digital
video too soon, it is always something when you try to argue on behalf of film
to those who do not see or know better.
Besides the ups and downs of visual quality, you have something else
that is an issue. History. Some people are advocating video over film as
a sort of dangerous ethnic cleansing of history, which deserves its own
separate coverage, but in this, the timing of the new DVD Electric Edwardians could not have come sooner.
We hear
much about the early days of cinema in the U.S., but other countries like France and England also have amazing cinematic
beginnings. Literally over a hundred
years ago, showmen in Britain and its outskirts were making
shorts to the amazement of a delighted public.
They were capturing towns, roads, parades and events that simply would
not have been captured before. Sagar
Mitchell and James Kenyon were hired for the task and the negatives of their
work recently discovered were often in good enough shape that they could be
saved, even if some of them needed extensive work.
Now, you
can watch the ones that were saved non-stop or in any order you wish and they
are mesmerizing. When Francois Truffaut
said that film and the film camera glorifies everything it captures, there is a
great deeper truth that has to do with the power of the moving image and its
fidelity. That it applies to these
earliest of short films further backs his claims as most correct. You are, like in all great films (fictional
or documentary) taken to another place and time, especially in this case. You see a world of the past not unlike ours
now, with its first grapplings of technology deep in The Industrial Age. That these are all so watchable and
rewatchable speaks volumes of Mitchell and Kenyon’s talent and enthusiasm as
filmmakers and craftsmen. It is a pride
that continues over a century later.
The 1.33
x 1 image on the various shorts are very often miraculous, with amazing detail
for film shorts so old. You can see
detail here you would not see in the best digital HD today simply because the
photochemical process had that much detail even as far back as 1900 at its
best. The preservation efforts of BFI
and University Of Sheffield have really paid off and anyone
who watches these without knowing their age will go into shock. The new music is very nice and has the option
of voice over narration by Dr. Vanessa Toulmin, leaving two separate Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtracks.
The
extras are also terrific, with a DVD-ROM version of the press kit, video
interview with Dr. Toulmin, an introduction by Tom Gunning Pictures Of Crown Splendour is read here in edited form set to some
of this footage, a brilliant featurette Road
To Restoration – Mitchell & Kenyon and the National Film & Television
Archive and these five additional shorts that are as compelling as those in
the main feature compilation:
Driving Lucy (1903)
Race For The Muriatti Cup, Manchester (1901)
Comic Picture In High Street, West Bromwich (1902)
Royal Proclamation Of The Death Of
Queen Victoria, Blackburn (1901)
Bradford Coronation Procession (1902)
This is a
must see for film fans and especially for any filmmakers or videomakers serious
about their craft. This is not just one
of the best DVD releases of the year, but a real event that deserves all the
attention it can get. Get your hands on
a copy ASAP!
- Nicholas Sheffo
