Magic Sword, A Mediaeval Mystery

1901
Silent
3m

This innovative 'trick' film is a fantastical children's pantomime in miniature

A condensed pantomime set in old England, in which a princess is captured by an ogre and a witch, and a prince embarks on a quest to save her with the aid of a fairy, who gives him a magic sword. Some novel tricks (later adopted by Georges Melies) give us a flying witch and lovely transformations.

The film was made by Walter Booth, a close associate of RW Paul and one of the most inventive of Victorian filmmakers.

Inventing Film Language

As with any new technology, it was film’s early adopters whose innovations and discoveries began to map out what is possible.

The first filmmakers had a lot to learn, but they learnt quickly, driven by their own creative ambitions and by audiences' hunger for novelty. Most of the techniques we know today were in place by the end of the Victorian period.

It was the Victorian pioneers who developed the essential building blocks of film; close-ups, pans and travelling shots; editing and principles of continuity. And their ambition spurred them to innovate numerous tricks and effects, from jump-cuts, to double-exposure and even split screen. Generations of later filmmakers would refine these methods, but the groundwork had already been done.