Cinematic Era: 1898 Vintage

Funeral party walking with hoods on.

Short reportage

The power of moving photography is exploited in this early film, not to dazzle audiences' eyes but to turn their stomachs. The camera is mounted on the bow of a ship ploughing forward through a squall, and as the boat lurches up and down, the image does too - meaning that the viewer experiences the (unpleasant) sensation of movement too. The canny composition means that the frame contains both the ship and the waves, each moving in different directions.

Boats in Venice

Sailors disembarking on the beach in Scheveningen, Netherlands. Shot on 68 mm Mutoscope-Biograph.

A Vitagraph film about the war of 1898

On Saturday morning, August 20, 1898, six grim battleships of Admiral Sampson's Squadron sailed into New York Harbor and up the Hudson to receive a welcome from the people and to fire a salute of victory in sight of the tomb of the great soldier-hero of another war [Ulysses Grant].

NFM B15006 VI | FLM45380 | Film from the collection of EYE (Amsterdam)

Turin Expo, 1st May 1898. Inauguration of the Italian National Exhibition in the presence of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. The Parco del Valentino becomes a theater of evocative outdoor landscapes, a kind of city of wonders, of progress and innovation. The film is divided into three parts.

Black-and-white silent film from the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait, featuring a small group of young Aboriginal men demonstrating a shake-a-leg dance on the beach at Murray Island.

Film produced by William K. Dickson’s British Mutoscope and Biograph Company.

Pelicans being released for feeding into their enclosure at London Zoological Gardens.

A man gets into an argument with his carriage driver.

A scene showing the singing of "La Marseillaise".

Four women dressed in the costume of the era perform a can-can. They were photographed from a single camera position.

Beautiful Spanish Dance by Carolina Otero.

Soldiers marching up a winding trail.

A review of the Republican Guard and firemen at Longchamp filmed by the Lumière brothers.

Of the thousand and more men who left New York for the Cuban Campaign, scarcely three hundred were able to shoulder their rifles to march before the Biograph camera at Camp Wyckoff...

"A splendid picture of the pride of the Spanish navy, taken on the occasion of her visit to New York Harbor, when her captain hinted at his ability to blow holes through New York's sky-scrapers. In this picture the vessel makes a very beautiful appearance steaming out to sea under full headway. But what a contrast to a later Biograph picture [WRECK OF THE 'VIZCAYA'] when the vessel was a smoking hulk wrecked on the shore of Cuba, battered to pieces by the guns of the Oregon."

An oddly routed parade.

A man of at least five faces.

Anonymously directed is Karina (1902), less than half a minute of a vaudeville can-can dancer. She's shown in voluminous skirt hanging to the floor, which she often lifts to reveal her legs & much more in bodysock.

Another entry in Edison's "Southern Pacific Company Series", which pretty much had cameramen hanging around the train line just shooting anything they could.

"On the way to San[ta] Monica, Cal., the train approaches, runs through and emerges from a tunnel. Train passes in opposite direction. Camera is at front end of train, giving a very novel view."

"Imagine forty or fifty soldier boys each with a pail of water on the ground before him, sousing and spattering and scrubbing away for dear life..."

On Saturday morning, August 20, 1898, six grim battleships of Admiral Sampson's Squadron sailed into New York Harbor and up the Hudson to receive a welcome from the people and to fire a salute of victory in sight of the tomb of the great soldier-hero of another war [Ulysses Grant].

"Taken at San Francisco, Cal., at the Golden Jubilee. This picture shows a procession of the resident Chinese of San Francisco, carrying banners, flags, etc. They are followed by an immense float drawn by four white horses. In the background is seen a beautiful arch, while across the street are hung numerous flags, which wave in the wind" --Edison films catalog.

This boat was the first one to leave for the South with troops. On board is a battalion of the 5th U.S. Infantry.

In front of each bare headed woman is a flat rock, used as a wash board. Stream of water near by.

People entering an arena on horseback.

An actuality. Well dressed people sit by the Scheveningen shore. Men play in the sea beside a horse and cart in the water; there are boats in the distance.

Opening of the Auckland Industrial and Mining Exhibition was an 1898 New Zealand silent documentary film. The film included scenes of the Newton Band playing, the governor arriving with a cavalry escort, and people entering the building.

1898 indian short

1898 indian short

"Zdjęcia operacji w szpitalach Paryża" (1898) is a Polish documentary film directed by Bolesław Matuszewski, which showcases surgical operations performed in Parisian hospitals.

​"Sceny z naszego 'turfu' na Polu Mokotowskim i inne rodzajowe lokalne, warszawskie" (translated as "Scenes from Our 'Turf' in Mokotów Field and Other Local Genre Scenes in Warsaw") is a 1901 Polish documentary film directed by Bolesław Matuszewski. The film showcases everyday life and local customs in Warsaw, providing a glimpse into the city's culture at the turn of the 20th century.

Representing soldiers in camp washing their clothing and a general cleaning up

Short film about the Spanish–American War

Clog dancing contest winner dances on dinner plate.

Scene filmed in the town of St. Gallen.

Fourth part of a series documenting the Basel carnival.

Third part of a series of vues of the Basel Carnival.

Children dancing in the street.

A Sunday in Binondo.

Women washing clothes.

Short film on Intramuros

One minute short on bamboo dancers.

A short film capturing Manila streets.

Workers unload the coal they collected as part of their routine.