The Beginnings Of The Cinema In England,1894-1901: Volume 4: 1899

By John Barnes

Describing in detail one of the most inventive periods in the history of English cinema, the volumes in this celebrated series are already established as classics in their field and represent a major contribution to international film studies. Each volume details the highlights of a single cinematic year, including details of production, manufacturers of equipment, dealers and exhibitors. This is augmented by numerous carefully chosen illustrations and a comprehensive filmography of English films, fiction and non-fiction, for the year. Particular attention is also paid to the ways in which the cinema of other countries affected the English industry.

Volume 4 examines how in 1899 two major events influenced British cinema. The Boer War created a boom in film production as a result of an insatiable demand for news and pictures of the campaign brought on my fervent patriotism. Though actual battle could not be filmed, ‘fake’ war films based on incidents from the campaign began to be produced by English filmmakers. 

The University of Exeter Press editions of  Volumes 2, 3, 4 are re-jacketed re-issues of the first editions. The long-awaited fifth and final volume in the series is published for the first time by UEP, and edited and introduced by Richard Maltby, Professor of Screen Studies, Flinders University, Australia.

Describing in detail one of the most inventive periods in the history of English cinema, this series represents a major contribution to international film studies. Each illustrated volume details a single cinematic year, including details of production, manufacturers of equipment, dealers and exhibitors, as well as a comprehensive filmography of English films, fiction and non-fiction, for the year. The previous volumes are aready established as classics in their field and have recently been re-jacketed and re-issued by University of Exeter Press.The fifth and final volume documents the year 1900, when the conflict in South Africa against the Boers and the Boxer uprising in China proved popular subjects for news films and fictional representations. It includes a full Introduction by Richard Maltby which places Victorian cinema in its cultural, social and historical context

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Exeter Press
• Release date: Mar 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9780859899802

John Barnes

John Barnes (b. 1957) is the author of more than thirty novels and numerous short stories. His most popular novels include the national bestseller Encounter with Tiber (co-written with Buzz Aldrin), Mother of Storms (finalist for both the Hugo and Nebula awards), Tales of the Madman Underground (winner of the Michael L. Printz Award), and One for the Morning Glory, among others. His most recent novel is The Last President (2013).

Book preview

The Beginnings of the Cinema in England

1894–1901

_____

Volume Four: 1899

BOER WAR. Rifle Hill Signal Station Near Frere Camp, 7 December, 1899, filmed by W.K.-L Dickson for the British Mutoscope & Biograph Co Ltd. Frame enlargement from a contemporary print in the National Film Archive.

The Beginnings of the

Cinema in England

1894–1901

______

Volume Four: 1899

John Barnes

UNIVERSITY

of

EXETER

PRESS

First published as

'Filming the Boer War: 1899'

by Bishopsgate Press Ltd in 1992

Re-issued in 1996 by

University of Exeter Press

Reed Hall, Streatham Drive

Exeter, Devon EX4 4QR

UK

www.exeterpress.co.uk

© Jhon Barnes 1992

First paperback edition published 2014

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any from or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holder

British Library Cataloguing in publication Data

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 0 85989 957 4

Printed in the UK by 4edge Limited

Contents

Foreword

1       Production

2       Exhibition

3       Equipment

4       French and American Subsidiaries

Appendices

1   British Films of 1899

2   Amendments and Additions to Volume 3

Notes

Acknowledgements

In addition to those persons acknowledged in previous volumes of this history, I wish to thank Barry Anthony, David Beevers, Stephen Bottomore, Bill Douglas, Tony Fletcher, David Henry, J. Hewish, Peter Jewell, Philip Lloyd, F. Mander, Dr H. M. Sealy-Lewis, D. J. Scott, Mike Simkin, Donald Swift, John Ward, and R. W. Whalley.

I am grateful too for the support of the British Film Institute and David Francis, curator of the National Film Archive.

I also wish to acknowledge the continued help received from my brother William Barnes, whose constant quest for the source material of early cinema has considerably enriched this history. I thank him too for diligently reading and correcting my typescript and offering many valuable suggestions.

Finally, I owe a particular debt of gratitude to my friend Roger Holman, chief cataloguer at the National Film Archive from 1963 to 1989, who throughout these years has done so much to facilitate my research. His kind and courteous assistance has been greatly appreciated and will be sadly missed after his retirement in July, 1989.

Foreword

The last fourteen months or so of Queen Victoria’s reign were blighted by the appalling spectacle of the Boer War, which is not to say that her long and glorious reign had until then been altogether free from bloody imperial and colonial conflicts; far from it. But the war in South Africa, coming at a particular time in history when very large sections of the population were already being served, or duped, by a popular Press, was vividly brought home to the masses in a way that former conflicts and far-flung skirmishes never were before. Besides, in addition to foreign correspondents and graphic artists sent by the Press, there were now the cinematographers to record the course of the war.

The war, which officially began in October 1899, had a profound effect on the cinema in Great Britain. The leisurely development which was taking place in the industry was suddenly accelerated by the demand for new subjects depicting every aspect of the conflict. The interest shown in pictures of the war was shared by all classes and resulted in a boom for the industry. Leading producers despatched camermen to the front, and home production was switched to producing imitation scenes of Briton versus Boer.

This imperialist war, so rightly deplored by much of the world, unwittingly provided the stimulus needed to advance the film a further stage in its development. As well as examining the film in its new wartime role, it is also necessary to record the state of the industry during the first nine months of 1899 before the war began.

1     Production

CECIL M. HEPWORTH

1899 saw the emergence of two new production companies in England, one formed by Cecil M. Hepworth, and the other by Mitchell & Kenyon. As we have noted in a previous volume, Hepworth had formerly been in the employ of the Warwick Trading Company (WTC) where he had been chiefly responsible for the processing plant, which included an automatic developing machine, of Hepworth’s own design, capable of turning out negatives and positives in lengths of up to several hundred feet without joins. This was a decided improvement on the old manual method of processing which could handle only relatively short lengths of film. It is rather surprising then to read in Hepworth’s autobiography of his abrupt dismissal from the firm without any explanation and for no apparent reason. Hepworth recalls the event in these words:

‘I have no regrets about Warwick Court. On the whole I had a very happy time. I was with nice people and doing the sort of work I have always liked; doing it fairly successfully and being fairly paid. True, I had no actual film to my credit but the one of the boat-race* but I had the handling and printing of Joe Rosenthal’s work and I picked up a lot of knowledge of the film business. I was the most surprised person you can possibly imagine when, one Monday morning, I found on my desk a short note enclosing a week’s wages in lieu of notice and saying that my services were no longer required.’¹

With the rapidly expanding trade in films, WTC probably felt that it would be more convenient, especially considering the cramped conditions pertaining at Warwick Court, to relinquish the processing side of the business and have the work done by outside sources. There is nothing to suggest any animosity between Hepworth and Warwick, indeed, a few months after his departure Hepworth was using WTC as an outlet for his films and undertaking some of the processing work for them. By agreement, Hepworth had been allowed to take away the automatic developing machine, with the intention of providing a developing and printing service, but his chief aim on leaving Warwick was to make his own films and in June the following statement appeared in the British Journal of Photography:

‘Mr C. M. Hepworth, who has long been known as an expert in cinematography, has recently commenced business at Hurst Grove, Walton-on-Thames, under the name of Hepworth & Co., Cinematographers. In the design, construction, and manipulation of cinematographic apparatus there is nothing that Mr Hepworth does not understand. The new firm start with the aim of making animated photographs, and are thoroughly equipped for the work. We wish Messrs. Hepworth & Co. the utmost success in their undertaking.’²

Hepworth had rented a small house at Hurst Grove which he had converted as a laboratory and offices. ‘We wired the whole house for electric light,’ he wrote, ’moved the developing machine from Warwick Court and re-erected it in the drawing-room, rigged up two bedrooms as film drying-rooms and the front sitting-room as an office.’³ If we are to believe a statement in his autobiography, the house was rented for £36 a year. Hepworth has left us a sketch of the house, which he reproduces in his book (1).

Once installed, Hepworth set about producing his first series of films. The first film was a simple actuality called Express Trains in a Railway Cutting. This remained no 1 in the Hepworth lists for some time to come and an entry in a 1903 catalogue describes it as follows:

‘A photograph taken in a picturesque Railway Cutting. During the period of the picture no less than three Express Trains rush through, emitting dense clouds of steam as they pass. The trains come from the extreme distance of the view right up into the close foreground, and the effect of their rapid travelling is very fine and quite exciting.’⁴

By November of 1899, Hepworth was able to publish his first list of films. The subjects included ‘Express trains, donkey races, Ascot, egg and spoon races for lady cyclists, Henley Regatta, naval and military scenes, and even prize fights’.⁵ The films were each 50ft long and cost £2.10s. each.⁶ No copy of this first catalogue of ‘Hepwix’ films seems to have survived, but fortunately almost a complete record of the year’s production is to be found in the catalogue issued by the Warwick Trading Company, which, at the time, acted as selling agents for several film makers, of which Hepworth was one. The WTC catalogue is dated 1st November 1899, and the Hepwix films bear the serial numbers in the 2000 range.⁷

1 Hepworth’s first film laboratory at Hurst Grove, Walton-on-Thames. From a drawing by Cecil M. Hepworth

The films listed in the catalogue include scenes taken at the Windsor Agricultural Show; Royal Ascot; a cycling gymkhana (held by the Catford Cycling Club); Henley Royal Regatta; Thames River scenery; as well as a number of West Country scenes taken in Devon and Cornwall, including an extensive series taken on the London & South Western Railway. Rather mundane subjects one would think. But on closer examination one is surprised to find some quite lively film making.

It is at once apparent on reading the catalogue descriptions, that Hepworth was conscious of the visual composition of his shots and there are one or two instances where striking visual effects are noted. One such instance is the description of film no 68 — Arrival of S.S. Westward Ho! in Harbour (see Appendix) - which is described as ‘somewhat of a novelty.’ ‘It opens with a view of a narrow strip of sea backed by a massive grey cliff. Suddenly the bows of a large vessel are seen quite close, and the big steamer passes slowly across the field of view.’

As a former stills photographer, Hepworth emphasizes the pictorial beauty of some of his scenes, but he also reveals a cinematic eye in his fondness for so called ‘panoramic’ views taken from moving vehicles or vessels such as river launches, steamers, and locomotives. Of the seventy or so films listed, no less than twenty-two are of this kind. The railway series, taken from front and rear, are particularly ambitious, and involved the use of a special engine put at his disposal by the London & South Western Railway Company. Making the most of this opportunity, he issued one such film in a continuous length of 200ft, whereas the average length of his other films was only 50ft.

Even more remarkable was Hepworth’s suggested splicing of the view taken from the rear of the train (film no 62) between two of the engine-front pictures. Here indeed is the embryo of film editing! In film no 65 — The Arrival of an Excursion Steamer — we are given another example of Hepworth’s advanced methods of film technique. ‘The steamer is seen bearing straight towards the pier, and it draws steadily on until it passes the camera. Then the point of view suddenly changes and the boat is again seen, this time passing quite close, and affording a panoramic view of the deck crowded with passengers.’ As I have stated before, in a previous volume, in any study of the development of film technique, the lesson to be learned, I think, is not to neglect the actuality film in favour of the fiction film, for it is in the former that many of the innovations in film technique are to be found.⁸

As for the few fictional films Hepworth produced during the year, these were simple comic incidents in one shot, mostly taken in natural settings. Hepworth’s premises at Walton were of course close to the river, so it is not surprising that he made use of this locale in three of his films. These were The Stolen Drink; Exchange no Robbery; and Two Cockneys in a Canoe. A rather Thurberish subject was Macaroni Competition, in which two country folk sit down together in a macaroni-eating contest. Another less obvious comic situation was Mud Larks, in which a collection of small boys are made to scramble for pennies in the mud of a harbour.

The publication of Hepworth’s first film list was reported in the photographic press during November,⁹ one of the earliest reports being published by Photography in its issue of the 16th. Here we are also informed that the Hepworth company ‘undertake the taking, developing, and printing of films, as well as the production of their listed subjects, the sole agency of which is in the hands of the Warwick Trading CO.’¹⁰

In addition to the developing service, the Hepworth company were prepared ‘to kinetograph special events for customers, and have a studio where special pictures for advertisements or other purposes can be taken,’¹¹ and Hepworth himself, from his home address at 120 Belgrave Road, SW, advertised that he was prepared to give entertainments combining the optical lantern and cinematograph.¹² Although full synopses of two of these entertainments were printed,¹³ these are now lost to us.

In partnership with Cecil M. Hepworth at this time was his young cousin Monty Wicks,¹⁴ who had been with him at WTC and who had left the firm at the same time.¹⁵ Wicks had been with Hepworth ever since the days in 1897 when they ran a photographic agency in Cecil Court,¹⁶ and together they founded the Hepworth Co. which was destined to become one of the most important film producing companies in England during the first two decades of the 20th century.

As well as writing his memoirs which were published in 1951, Cecil M. Hepworth gave an account of his early film career in a lecture to the British Kinematograph Society on 3 February 1936.¹⁷ We shall have more to say about Hepworth in a future volume.

MITCHELL & KENYON

The other film production company to be formed in 1899, Mitchell & Kenyon, was based in the north of England. Very little is known at present concerning this firm. It was founded by James Kenyon and Sagar J. Mitchell (2), with premises at 21 King Street, and 40 Northgate, Blackburn, Lancashire.¹⁸ The firm first came into prominence in September, when it offered for sale three films, The Tramps Surprise; Tramps and Artist; and Kidnapped by Indians.¹⁹ The first two were described as ‘broadly humorous’ and the third as ‘sensationally dramatic’.²⁰ These are the only titles we have for 1899, and although none seem to have survived, frame illustrations from these three films were published in the Optician (3).²¹

Mitchell & Kenyon films were sold under the trade name ‘Norden’ and ‘each film bears the initial, opposite every separate picture, of the firm,’²² according to a statement in the Optician, and if this is indeed the case, should prove invaluable to archivists for identification purposes. Regarding the quality of these early picture plays, the same journal informs us that ‘infinite care is taken even in the minutest details, and all work sent out is the result of careful study and the acme of expert workmanship.’²³

Although Mitchell & Kenyon only came into prominence nationally during 1899, they had been engaged locally in cinematography since 1897 and by the end of November of that year had already constructed their own cinematograph projector with an intermittent sprocket actuated by an eccentric cam, which gave a period of rest six times longer than the time it took to replace one frame with another. The projector was known as the New Norden Cinematograph, but it is unlikely that it was produced for the commercial market.²⁴

2 Sagar J. Mitchell (1866—1952) co-founder of ‘Mitchell & Kenyon’, producers of ‘Norden Films’. From a photograph published in the Blackburn Times (4 March 1933) (R. W. Whalley)

Mitchell & Kenyon may also have designed their own camera. Certainly they had succeeded in taking at least one film by this time, which showed ‘a scene on the Blackburn Market Ground on a Saturday morning.’²⁵ Later, they took a film outside Dugdale & Heyworth’s Mill.²⁶ The cinematographic work was carried out in an upper room of the opticians shop which Mitchell ran in Northgate.

Not having any studio facilities, all their films had, of necessity, to be taken in natural locations and this probably accounts for the emphasis placed in their films, on realistic subjects, such as their series of reconstructed, or ‘fake’ war scenes, for which they were later to become noted and of which some examples have survived.

3 Three fims made in 1899 by Mitchell & Kenyon, of Blackburn: Kidnapping by Indians; The Tramp and the Artist; The Tramps Surprise. From illustrations published in the Optician. vol 18, no 444 (29 September 1899) p 46 (British Library) 13

R. W. PAUL

In preparation for the coming season’s filming, Paul inserted this advertisement in The Era for 1st April:²⁷

Notice to Artistes and Sketch Combinations

Preparations are being made

for the

Production

of a

Large Number of

Fine Comic and Dramatic Scenes

for next Season,

and

Special Scenery and Accessories

are being made for

each Picture.

Artistes who are willing to appear in such

are invited to

communicate with the undersigned.

The announcement of the actors in each scene

forms a

Valuable and World-Wide Advertisement.

Robt. W. Paul,

44, Hatton-garden, London E.C.

We do not have a complete record of Paul’s film production for 1899, but the indications are that, in spite of the above announcement, there was a marked drop in output compared with the previous year. This may have been due to circumstances connected with the establishment of a new studio at Muswell Hill and the preparations being made for the erection of a more substantial building to house the processing plant. Plans were probably also being made for the new office in High Holborn, which was to open the following year under the name of ‘Paul’s Animatograph Depôt.’

There was plenty to occupy Paul besides filming, both at home and abroad. He was obviously watching events in South Africa and when hostilities finally broke out in October, he lost no time in despatching a cameraman and equipment to the seat of war.

Paul began the year by issuing a series of views illustrating ‘Life in Cape Colony’, an appropriate enough subject since that country was now much in the news. At home he, or an assistant, filmed a storm in Dover harbour, but filming did not get into its stride until the summer, when two topical events were filmed, the visit of Queen Victoria to South Kensington on 17 May, to lay the foundation stone of the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Derby on 31 May. In June there was the Trooping of the Colour at Horse Guards Parade, and the following month the Photographic Convention at Gloucester, where Paul himself filmed the delegates leaving the Severn steamer Avonmore at Tewkesbury after a river excursion.²⁸ The film was taken on behalf of the President of the Convention, Mr Crooke, and was never commercially shown. The Convention also included a trade section at which Paul exhibited.²⁹

4 Upside Down, or, The Human Flies (R. W. Paul, 1899). Trick film composed of two shots, one with the camera upside down and with rearranged decor. Frame illustrations from a contemporary print in the National Film Archive

One of the most interesting of Paul’s fiction films is Upside Down or the Human Flies, which employed for the first time, a new trick effect that not even Méliès seems to have contemplated. By inverting the camera and rearranging the set to suit the situation, the characters in the film are made to appear as if suspended from the ceiling (4). A synopsis of the film will be found in Appendix I, so need not be repeated here, but it is worth remembering that this was the second time that a Paul film is noted for an innovation in film technique. The other is in Come along Do! (1898) where the narrative extends to two shots. Upside Down or the Human Flies is also composed of two shots of course, but here the second shot forms part of a trick effect.

Another film of particular interest is On a Runnaway Motor Car Through Piccadilly Circus (5). No copy survives, but the catalogue description informs us that it was taken ‘from a motor cab running at full speed along Piccadilly and through the Circus, narrowly escaping collision with various buses and cabs.’ This in itself was a novel application of the common ‘phantom ride’ taken from the front of a locomotive, but here, as the description leads us to believe, a heightened sense of excitment may have been achieved by under cranking the camera and thus accelerating the action. If this is indeed the case, then Paul has once again demonstrated his innovative flair. Under cranking was of course one of the chief ingredients of the Keystone comedies of later years.

It is not known for certain, how many films Paul produced in 1899. An illustrated supplement to the main catalogue of 1898, was issued in October,³⁰ but no copy of this is known to have survived. Fortunately, many of the titles are listed in advertisements appearing in The Era, and where synopses are not given, these can usually be found in later catalogues. By this means I have accounted for 33 films, but Denis Gifford, in his British Film Catalogue, lists seven films for which I have been unable to find any references. He may of course had access to source material unknown to me. The films in question are: Bertie’s Bike, or, the Merry Madcaps; The Country Waiter, or, the Tale of a Crushed Hat; Two Tipsy Pals and the tailor’s Dummy; A Gretna Green Wedding; The Miser’s Doom;* The Bricklayer and His Mate, or, a Jealous Man’s Crime; and Thrilling Fight on a Scaffold. The last two films have a particular interest, as will be made apparent further on.

5 On a Runnaway Motor Car Through Piccadilly Circus (R. W. Paul, 1899). Filmed from the front of a moving vehicle, possibly in speeded action by under cranking the camera (Barnes Collection)

After the studio was built, Paul set about the construction of the laboratory. This was a substantial brick building where the films were to be developed, dried and printed ready for despatch to the new depôt in Holborn. But whilst the laboratory was still being built, Paul used the opportunity to stage two dramatic films on the site, using the partly-built structure as the setting for the drama.

The first film shot on the site was The Bricklayer and His Mate, or a Jealous Man’s Crime (6a). The simple plot is as follows:

‘A bricklayer is seated waiting for his wife, who brings him his dinner. Having received this and thanked his wife, he proceeds up the scaffold. On looking down, he sees his wife talking to his mate. He makes angry gesticulations at them, and waits until his mate climbs the ladder. Just as the latter reaches the top, he creeps up and throws over the ladder with the man on it. They come crashing down on the ground towards the spectator [i.e. the camera], raising a cloud of dust. Length 50ft.’

No copy of this film is known to exist, but a frame illustration published in one of Paul’s catalogues, shows the laboratory almost complete up to roof level. The film is shot in medium long shot, evidently in a single take, and the illustration shows the moment when the mate comes crashing to the ground.

The second film in which Paul’s ‘lab’ is featured, is Thrilling Fight on a Scaffold (6b) and shows the building in a more advanced stage of construction, but with the scaffold still in place. A different aspect of the building is shown this time, and the surrounding trees are in fuller leaf than those in the former film, indicating that the first was shot in early summer and the second in full season. Gifford in his Index dates both films as September 1899, but adds the rider ‘Date uncertain’. I too have been unable to find any reference to these films which could date them precisely. Paul, in an article published in the Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers in November 1936, recalls that in 1899 work commenced in the new studio. This statement accords well with the announcement, quoted above, calling for ‘artistes and sketch combinations’ to apply to Paul with a view to taking part in the films then being prepared for the coming season. We know from another statement of Paul’s that the studio was built before the brick laboratory, so we can hazard a guess that the latter was in the course of construction whilst the studio was being used.

The two films mentioned, show two stages of the work in progress, the foliage indicating the months of June and August, or September. That it is the construction of the laboratory that is shown in the two films is not in doubt, the fact is stated in the synopsis of the second film, which we quote:

‘Bricklayers, labourers and carpenters are seen busily engaged on different portions of the building of Paul’s Animatograph Works. On a high scaffold, two men are carrying hods of mortar. A quarrel arises between them, and, throwing down their hods, they fight their way along the scaffold until they reach the portion nearest the spectator. The struggle goes on until one of the two throws his mate, who falls with a fearful crash, about 30 feet to the ground. As he lies helpless, his faithful dog runs towards him, and his mates hurry up from all directions, some sliding down the poles. On examination he proves to be seriously injured, and is only able to rise slightly. His mates help him on to a stretcher and carry him off. Length 100ft.’

6 During the construction of the new laboratory at Muswell Hill, Paul made two films using the building site as a setting: (a) The Bricklayer and His Mate; and (b) Thrilling Fight on a Scaffold (Barnes Collection)

At first, I thought that the unusual length, for Paul, of 100ft, indicated a later date than 1899, but at least two other fiction films by Paul, known to have been made in 1899, are of similar length. So there is nothing to preclude us from supposing the two films under discussion were made during the early and late summer of the same year. This would give a completion date for the laboratory sometime in 1900, which fits in nicely with the opening in July of Paul’s new Animatograph Depôt at 68 High Holborn, London WC.

One other aspect of these two films which is of interest, is the fall from the scaffold, which surely implies that a stunt man was employed to take these falls — the first use of a stunt man in the history of the cinema?

One of the most sensational and successful films to be seen in England during the year under discussion, was the Méliès version of the Dreyfus affair, then making headlines in the world’s press. Méliès’s reconstruction was remarkably realistic for that time and quite unlike his other more fanciful work (7). The film itself, is discussed in more detail later on in this book, but it must be pointed out here that the influence it had on other film makers, especially in England, was immense.

The chances of securing any news film of the actual events leading up to the trial, or even of the trial itself, was absolutely minimal, hence the remarkable success of the Méliès film, which presented a reasonably accurate record of the facts, in a series of reconstructed episodes or scenes.

A more or less similar situation existed with regard to the Boer War. The nature of the conflict gave cameramen little or no opportunity to film anything other than troop movements and military installations, which it must be admitted, was a poor substitute for scenes of battle. In the South African war there was no front line in the accepted sense, such as existed in World War I, but rather a series of brief and swift skirmishes of the type usually associated with modern guerrilla warfare. This made the actual conflict almost impossible to film unless by chance the cameraman happened to be in the right place at the right time.

7. L’Affaire Dreyfus: La Bataille des Journalistes au Lycée (Méliès, 1899). Filmed in the ‘actuality’ style of the non-fiction film (National Film Archive)

Following Méliès’ example of L’Affaire Dreyfus, film makers in England began to produce reconstructions purporting to be based on actual incidents in the Boer War. As to be expected, Paul was in the vanguard of this movement and was one of the first to issue films of this kind. By the end of the year he had produced no less than seven examples.

The films were regularly advertised in The Era, where they were given much prominence under the heading ‘Transvaal War Films’.³¹ A detailed synopsis of each film was given, together with some general remarks about their production:

‘Mr. Paul has arranged, with the assistance of a Retired Officer who has seen eighteen years’ active service in the Transvaal, a series of reproductions of the principal incidents of the war, on a scale hitherto unparalled in Animated Photography.

The films are complete in details, and true to life. They are perfect photographically, and are being printed on a new and specially thick durable film. Owing to the number of men engaged and the enormous expense, the price of these films is at the rate of 1s per foot*.’³²

8 ‘Reproductions of Incidents of the Boer War’ made by R. W. Paul in 1899: (a) Farrier: A Camp Smithy (Clive Sowry, NZ National Film Unit); (b) Nurses on the Battlefield (Barnes Collection)

In a lecture to the British Kinematograph Society in 1936, Paul recalled the making of these ‘fake’ war films, and had this to say:

‘Nobody secured pictures of actual fighting, though several operators secured interesting scenes on the lines of communication. To meet the demand for something more exciting, representations of such scenes as the bombardment of Mafeking and the work of nurses on the battlefield were enacted on neighbouring golf links, under the supervision of Sir Robert Ashe, an ex-officer of Rhodes’s force.’³³

The film Bombardment of Mafeking, mentioned by Paul, showed British soldiers sitting round a camp fire. Several shells explode near them, at which they jeer. Nurses on the Battlefield (8b) was a more serious realisation and showed wounded and dead lying on the battlefield. A stretcher party with doctor and orderly tend a wounded Boer with the help of nurses. At the same time, a British soldier is carried down by his comrades and tended to by other nurses. Other films in the series included The Battle of Glencoe; Attack on the Picquet; Wrecking an Armoured Train; and Farrier (8a).

Paul also issued films showing actual troop movements, which today we would call news films. In this category were Scots Guards Embarking (28 October) and Fun on a Transport (November), and from South Africa itself, Bridging the Modder River (6 December); Modder River Drift (6 December) (9); Cavalry Watering Horses in the Modder (6 December); Mule Waggons (10 December) and Naval 4. 7 Gun (December). Although all the films