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Then, on April 2, 1898, conjuror Carl Hertz brought his famous stage show to the
Theatre Royal, featuring a Cinematographe with a vast repertoire of movies ("200
subjects"). "You are not up to date," Hertz warned, "if you fail to see the Original
and Marvellous Cinematographe, recently the Craze of the West!" Short dramas
and comedies like The Death of Nelson, The Widow's Kiss and The Nightmare
wowed HK audiences. "The Cinematograph is far beyond those previously
exhibited here." waxed a reporter, though another complained that it was "less
steady than the last 'squintograph' exhibited here." Hertz' show ran until at least
April 16.
For Hong Kong, it was a busy time, moviewise - five exhibitions in a year!
Pirates and Underground Movies
The above list of facts - and other recent discoveries - from contemporary
newspapers in English, based in either Hong Kong or mainland China 1 , offers a
new chronology for the earliest film shows in the territory. However, the
discoveries raise other questions.
Was Charvet's Cinematograph the first such machine to operate in Hong Kong, let
alone the "Far East" as claimed in the China Mail?
The statement is supported - twice - by Shanghai's own North China Herald
(28/5/1897) which reviewed a May 22 performance of the Animatoscope in Astor
Hall, Shanghai. It was "the first opportunity in Shanghai of witnessing the
demonstration of the wonderful machine which under a variety of names has
become so popular" and a "marvellous advance upon the familiar optical lantern."
On September 10 that year, the same journal called Charvet's Cinematograph a
"comparative novelty" for the Shanghainese: "Previously this modern and very
clever adaptation of photography has only had one exhibit" (i.e. May 22, as
above).
But the Institut Lumiere in Lyon, France, says otherwise - that the Societe
Lumiere (Lumiere Company) organised film shows at a venue in the Xu Gardens,
Shanghai, on August 11, 1896. This is well documented - though vaguely and
without mentioning the name 'Lumiere' - in several writings on the history of
Chinese cinema. The primary source appears to be 2 contemporary
advertisements in the Shanghai daily, Shen Pao.