Cinematic Era: 1901 Vintage

Silent Film

Footage of Edward VII in the funeral procession of his mother, Queen Victoria.

A man sees his head go from bald to full of long, luxurious hair in this delightful trick film.

A young girl reciting "The Star Spangled Banner" in sign language as taught at Gallaudet Institute.

Silent short film portraying photographer Pedro Sanquirico.

Single panning shot of the Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta.

Documentation of an audience watching a puppeteer working in a booth.

"Ballyhoo" cakewalk by the colored troupe of the Old Plantation.

In recording this scene the position of our camera was an excellent one, and we present to the public a most perfect picture of the train’s arrival. The engine is decorated with crepe to mark the solemnity of this great historical event. As the train stops at the platform great respect for the dead President is shown by the waiting diplomats and reception committee baring their heads and standing respectfully on one side as the mourners leave the train.

Shows the streets of Norwich filmed from the upper storey of a moving tram in 1901.

With the exception of this film there are absolutely no genuine moving picture films representing genuine prize fights on the market. The prize fight films, so-called, are either taken by the fight promoters and retained by them for exhibition, not on sale and cannot be procured, or else they are the boldest fake reproductions put up the day following the fight by cheap, so-called fighters, who endeavor, to the best of their ability and under the direction of the enterprising photographer, to represent or reproduce as nearly as possible the scrap which occured the evening before between the genuine principles. It is easy to see how very little real value films produced in these ways possess for the average public, which quick to see that the so-called priniples in the fight are not the men they are advertised to be, and the fight is not the real thing.

Troops parade past the camera.

Passengers and crew boarding the SS Saxonia.

Part of BFI collection "Tales From the Shipyard".

Part of BFI collection "Tales From the Shipyard".

If there ever was any footage of actual play in St Helens 6-3 victory over the previous season's Challenge Cup winners, it's now sadly lost. But at least these images of the happy home crowd survive. The seemingly ubiquitous twirling hat gesture presumably fell out of fashion as hats became less common - although a lack of headgear doesn't stop the boy in front of the fence from joining in.

Before the rise of trade unions and the arrival of the welfare state, membership of a mutual Friendly Society, such as the Oddfellows, provided some protection for families against illness and injury. The bowler-hatted and sash-wearing members of the St Helens order march past, but the young spectators, ushered out of view by an umbrella-prodding commissioner, are more interested in the camera.

Some factories are so much the centre of their town that they begin to define it. 'Pilks' wasn't yet the industrial giant it would become, but it was big enough that Mitchell and Kenyon's cameraman needed several different positions to capture just some of its workers outside the factory gates. The smaller children waiting for their families may before long have ended up working there themselves.

This film captures both the build-up and the impressive parade itself, involving a brass band and then a lengthy march-past of what must surely have been the entire local police force. As the parade nears its end, three small girls understandably show more interest in the camera, an enthusiasm that quickly spreads to the whole crowd as they wave their hats and cheer.

The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York travelled to New Zealand in 1901 to thank New Zealanders for their contribution to the Boer War. Only a short fragment remains of a much longer film.

The subject is a group of women bathing in a public swimming pool. The camera was placed on the edge of the pool and the full extent of the film shows the women in the pool. Only the heads and shoulders of most of the women are visible but it is possible to see they are wearing rented bathing attire.

Here, as in the other pictures, we secured a most advantageous location, and we present a life size view of the casket containing the body of President McKinley as it is slowly and carefully taken from the window of the car which bore it from the Capitol to Canton.

A film from the UK based Mitchell & Kenyon.

This is a news actuality film of the former Commander in Chief of the Boer War, Lord Roberts, visiting Manchester to much hoopla.

Shows a tramp asleep. Two mischievous boys appear on roller skates. One removes his skates and they strap them to the feet of "Weary Willie." They then wake him...

Female graduates and gents sporting spectacular Edwardian whiskers take part in Birmingham’s first Degree Day ceremony.

A daredevil rides his bicycle down a ramp and attempts to land in a pool of water as a crowd of spectators watches.

Mourners process through the wintry streets of Edinburgh.

Women getting on and riding Tehran-Rey railway tram.

A striking panorama of the Peak District town and its magnificent Georgian Crescent.

Silent black and white film from Argentina made in 1901.

Silent film.

A collection of short films by Swedish engineer Emil Sieurin.

Footage from the dawn of film taken by Mitchell and Kenyon in North England, 1901.

Another fine picture of the champion going through his side-stepping tactics which have made him famous. The picture ends with a wrestling bout with his brother, Jack Jeffries.

Mitchell & Kenyon.

Mitchell & Kenyon.

A conjurer vanishes animals then vanishes himself.

Panoramic view of the McKinley homestead, Canton, O., on the morning of the funeral, showing large crowds passing the house, which was under military guard.

An opium smoker intoxicated by this poison, falls asleep and dreams that he is in prison.

A young nurse is seated asleep on a bench with a small infant in her lap, while directly opposite her can be seen an old gentleman also snoozing. Two bad boys enter upon the scene, one gets a small log about the size of the child and places it in the nurse's lap and the other takes the child from the nurse, and lays it in the old gent's arms. In a few moments the old gent awakens and find the baby, nurse wakes up and misses her baby, and seeing it in the old gent's arms, seizes him and mops up the earth with him. A policeman marches them off to the station house. The picture is bound to provoke a great deal of mirth.

The camera was positioned on the edge of a large public swimming pool. Many children jump in the water from the edge of the pool opposite the camera and swim toward the camera.

The exact moment when the Victorian age turned into the Edwardian age, in this public proclomation in Blackburn, UK on Jan 22 or 23, 1901.

This parade took place on 16 November 1901. It preceded a series of races over a one mile stretch of the Boulevard. The fastest car did a "memorable 51 4/5 seconds", about 70 mph.

These mesmerising scenes were captured outside soap and chemical manufacturers William M. Gossage and Sons. Located on the west Bank of the St Helen's Canal in Widnes, the company was responsible for around half of all of the UK's international soap trade at this time. Unlike most 'factory gates' films, which show only building exteriors, this one gives us a glimpse of the glass-roofed interior.

Shows six engines, four hose carriages, two hook and ladders, two chemical engines, and a runabout containing the fire chief...

In the background is a row of three-masted sailing ships, at anchor, their sales furled. In the foreground, a simple pier that's more like a yardarm juts out above the water; about 15 boys of six or seven years of age are on the jutting wood, and they jump off into the water below. The water looks to be about three feet deep. They swim back toward the pier. A small motorized boat passes. It's a stationary camera; one take.

This picture was taken from the Court of Fountains. Here we present a view of the Exposition grounds as the visitor would see them while standing at the base of the electric tower and looking south. The camera was put in motion while the lens was looking eastward toward the Manufacturers' and Liberal Arts Buildings. The camera is slowly revolved from left to right, making a semi-circle.

"This film shows the citation, presentation, and dedication of a bridge by the Duke of York, later King of England and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth. Many high-ranking military officials of both England and Canada are with him"- Early motion pictures.

An excellent picture secured on the Esplanada of the Pan-American Exposition, showing the live stock exhibitor's exposition of prize winners at the Pan-American...

A film from the UK based Mitchell & Kenyon.

Two lifeguards rescue a female bather after faltering and sinking while swimming.

At a building being constructed at Broadway and 13th Street in Manhattan, a boom or crane from which a platform is suspended on a cable first pulls the platform up, then swings it out from the top floor where it's been resting, and then gradually lowers it seven-plus stories to the ground below. On it at least 11 men stand or hold on to the cable. All wear dark coveralls and hats. They wave toward the camera. At the ground and on the lower floors, other workers are busy. This picture was taken by means of a special apparatus which enabled the camera to follow the men as they were lowered to the ground.

A rare glimpse of early Edwardian Manchester when the horse-drawn tram still reigned supreme.