Lieutenant Pimple and the Stolen Submarine
- Twickenham
- 1914
Newsreel cameras capture huge crowds thronging the Paris streets for the funeral of an assassinated newspaper editor.
Funerals were a staple of early cinema newsreels: this Gaumont Graphic item is an especially lavish example, with huge crowds thronging the rainy Paris street. Gaston Calmette was editor of Le Figaro, which had waged a fierce anti-corruption campaign against Minister of Finance Joseph Caillaux. Caillaux's wife shot Calmette dead in his office, but was later sensationally acquitted of his murder.
The outbreak of war in July 1914 came as a shock to most. But from our privileged position today, we can find among the films produced in the early 1910s scattered hints of the looming conflict that would split Europe in two.
One ominous sign was the proliferation of stories of international espionage and intrigue (played as drama or comedy), while newsreels offer evidence of the prominence of the armed forces in British society. Even so, the overwhelming majority of films of the period point to a nation blissfully unaware of the horrors to come.