The Fatal Hand
- 1907
Royal Train
Detective work reveals... this very early film was shot at Southampton Royal Pier Station. But who's the VIP on board?
Who's on board? For many years this was a largely unidentified film. Having survived as a mere 25-foot fragment of cellulose nitrate film, and not having been found mentioned in the film catalogues of the day, it was a difficult one to collate, date or locate. But there's several clues to go on...
The footage apparently arrived at the BFI as part of a small collection associated with film pioneer RW Paul - so it was presumably shot by Paul's company. A train arrives at a station, clearly in a port town: there are harbour scenes in the background while visible 'LS' insignia suggest the London and South Western Railway. These two pieces information combined mean that we're almost certainly at Southampton Royal Pier Station. The train's met by a line of police and a large crowd: someone important is on board. Indeed, train markings identify this as Queen Victoria's own conveyance: forelock-tugging train companies often designated 'royal carriages' for her. The remaining question is: on this occasion, is it the Queen herself inside or another top Royal?
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Robert Paul: Giant of Early Film
The most prolific filmmaker of the pioneer period of British film
The multi-talented Robert Paul (1869-1943) was the first British filmmaker to project film for a paying audience, in 1896. A contemporary of the Lumiere brothers, Paul had been producing film, in partnership with Birt Acres, for his own brand of Kinetoscope viewer since April 1895. Shortly after, he began producing for his Theatrograph and Animatographe machines, enjoying a long run at the Alhambra in Leicester Square. As an engineer, Paul made a number of significant innovations - such as an intermittent mechanism for efficiently projecting film. But he also made key innovations in film language, such as the first two-shot fiction film, Come Along Do! (1898). To cap it all, he was a shrewd businessman, with an instinctive grasp of audience tastes.
51 videos in this collection
1
The Fatal Hand
2
Aberdeen University Quatercentenary Celebrations
3
Drat That Boy!
4
The "?" Motorist
5
Blackfriars Bridge
6
Extraordinary Cab Accident
7
The Dancer's Dream
8
The Medium Exposed? Or, A Modern Spiritualistic Seance
9
The Derby
10
A Miner's Daily Life
11
Footpads
12
Coronation Durbar at Delhi
13
A Lively Quarter-day
14
The Waif and the Wizard; or, The Home Made Happy
15
The Launch of H.M.S. Albion
16
Nurses Attending the Wounded
17
Breakers
18
Mounted Infantry
19
Scrooge; Or, Marley's Ghost
20
Comic Costume Race
21
Come Along, Do!
22
Gordon Highlanders Leaving for the Boer War
23
Up the River
24
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Paul (St Paul's: South 3)
25
The Kiddies' Cakewalk
26
Robbery
27
Two A.M.; Or, The Husband's Return
28
Sirdar's Reception at Guildhall
29
Rough Sea at Dover
30
Rocky Shore
31
Surprising a Picket
32
Tom Merry, Lightning Cartoonist, Sketching Kaiser Wilhelm II
33
Undressing Extraordinary; Or, The Troubles of a Tired Traveller
34
Tetherball, Or Do-do
35
Mr. Pecksniff Fetches the Doctor
36
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Paul (St Paul's: South 1)
37
Tommy Atkins in the Park
38
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Paul (St Paul's: South 4)
39
Jubilee Procession
40
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Paul (York Road 1)
41
The Gordon Highlanders
42
The Twins' Tea Party
43
His only Pair
44
Delhi Durbar
45
The Extraordinary Waiter
46
The Deonzo Brothers
47
Royal Train
48
Artistic Creation
49
His Brave Defender
50
Queen Victoria's Jubilee
51