Contents
Maksim Gorkij über den Cinématographe Lumière (1896) Drei Texte mit einer Vorbemerkung von Jörg Bochow
pp 11 - 25
Two articles by Gorkij on the Lumière cinématographe and a short story. Introductory remarks by J.B.
Livio Belloi
Lumière und der Augen-Blick
pp 27 - 49
Livio Belloi traces the tension between between the cameraman and the badauds who observe hoim observing them, and analyses the strategies which cameramen used tio maintain control over the event while it is photographed.
English version: Lumière and His View: thein cameraman's eye in early cinema, in: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 15, No. 4 (1995), pp. 461-474.
Roland Cosandey
Bilderbogen einer Filmexpedition im Lande des Tourismus. Die Mutoscope & Biograph Co. in der Schweiz, 1903
pp 50 - 73
Roland Cosandey describes a peculiar phenomenon. The ascent of the cog-railway from Caux to the Gauchet de Naye in the Swiss mountains by car, in 1903, was repeated to allow media coverage, including moving pictures. Even though snow ruined the second attempt, images taken on that occasion were treated as visual documents of the actual exploit.
English version:Sensational Films. Ascent of the Alps by Motor Car': Mutoscope and Biograph in Switzerland, 1903, in: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 15, No. 4 (1995), pp. 475-494.
Stephen Bottomore
"An Amazing Quarter Mile of Moving Gold, Gems and Genealogy" Die Filmaufnahmen des Delhi Durbar von 1902/03
pp 75 - 97
Among the favourite subjects of early non-fiction are ceremonies and other newsworthy public events. The 1902/03 "Delhi Durbar" was one of the most attractive shows in political life at the turn of the century. Stephen Bottomore reconstructs how this major event was covered by several film companies. While covering a lavishly designed event, the Durbar films are also factual propaganda.
English versionAn Amazing Quarter Mile of Moving Gold, Gems and Genealogy': filming India's 1902/03 Delhi Durbar, in: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 15, No. 4 (1995), pp. 495-516.
Viktor Belyakov
Der letzte Zar und das russische Kino
pp 99 - 109
Russia's Last Tsar Nicholas II and Cinema.
Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar, employed a personal photographer, and preferred to treat the resultuing films as home movies. Victor Belyakov desribes how these films were shot and used. Films for public screening were carefully selected and exhibited according to strict regulations.
English version:Russia's Last Tsar Nicholas II and Cinema, in: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 15, No. 4 (1995), pp. 517-524.
Tom Gunning
Vor dem Dokumentarfilm
Frühe non-fiction-Filme und die Ästhetik der "Ansicht"
pp 111 - 121
The 'view' as the central unit in early non-fiction film practice, even when several shots are organized in a sequence covering an event from different angles. The shift to later documentary filmmaking occurs according to the author when during WWI images are used to substantiate a (propaganda) discourse. Then the 'authenticity' of visual documents becomes a central issue.
Rainer Rother
Bei unseren Helden an der Somme. Eine deutsche Antwort auf die Entente-Propaganda
pp 123 - 142
Bei unseren Helden an der Somme (1917): the creation of a 'social event'.
Rainer Rother shows how difficult it was for German film propagandists to create a trustworthy answer to Britain's The Battle of the Somme (1916). Before World War One the difference between fiction and non-fiction was not an issue for cinema audiences. Only in wartime did the question of visual authenticity become crucial in today's sense of this question.
English version:Bei unseren Helden an der Somme (1917): the creation of a 'social event', in: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 15, No. 4 (1995), pp. 525-542.
Elena Dagrada
Filmsprache und Filmgeschichte. Am Beispiel von Eine Fliegenjagd, oder die Rache der Frau Schultze von Max und Eugen Skladanowsky
pp 143 - 162
An attempt to clarify the problem of establishing the production date of the Skladanowsky film "EINE FLIEGENJAGD ODER: DIE RACHE DER FRAU SCHULTZE" through a close analysis of the formal devices used in the film. The author wants to show how an analysis of the 'film language' can contribute to dating a film when secondary sources are lacking. FLIEGENJAGD ODER: DIE RACHE DER FRAU SCHULTZE, DIE (G, Eugen Skladanowsky, 1905)
Sabine Lenk
Lichtblitze. Die Produktionsgesellschaft Eclair - ein Nachtrag
pp 163 - 167
A post-script to an article in 'KINtop' 1/1992, where the author presents newly-found documents concerning the dissolution of the German branch of French company clair during World War I.
John Barnes, Tony Fletcher, Tjitte de Vries
Arthur Melbourne-Cooper: Discussion
pp 169 - 180
Comments on Tjitte der Vries' claim that Arthur Melbourne-Cooper made the film "Grandma's reading glass", generally attributed to George Albert Smith (cf. de Vries' article in 'KINtop' 3) and replies by T.der V.
Stroemfeld Verlag: Basel, Frankfurt am Main 1995
ISBN 3-87877-784-1
