Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

show moments before the show was about to start. It was also interesting
that so many of the audience had probably never seen such films before
(one normally expects a fair number of ‘regulars’ who can be guaranteed
to come up with good comments and questions). The English and Irish
Lumière titles delighted everyone, the artistry of Alexandre Promio, with
his many variations on the theme of the tracking shot, being much
remarked upon. Few in the audience would have known of the chaos
that had existed behind the scenes, as on the same day some of the same
films were also appearing on the other side of London at the University
of Westminster, site of the first British film shows in 1896 and now hosting
a centenary exhibition. Many a tale could be told of desperate dashes
down London streets clutching vital cans of film, of last minute editing
jobs, of locked projection boxes and disappearing films. February 21st ,
1996 was a long day.
February ended with the most ambitious programme of all, Personalities
and Performers. The theme was Performers on Film and the Famous on
Film, a concept which worked for all except the final 20 minutes. The
opening Georges Méliès compilation was a delight. We are so used to
Méliès’s larger works that it is possible to overlook the artistry of those
chamber works where there is only Méliès, a piece of illusion, and
maybe Jehanne d’Alcy to assist. In particular the nightmarish
Déshabillage impossible, with Méliès trapped in an endless cycle of
undressing, was warmly applauded. Another highlight was a Gibbons’
Bio-Phono-Tableaux synchronised sound film for which an original
cylinder had been traced. Hearing and seeing Lil Hawthorne sing out
Kitty Mahone once again, if not too well synchronised, was a magical
experience. The final section was most ambitious, as it employed computer
technology to do the job of what would usually be a slide show.
With a laptop plugged into the NFT’s video projection system, the presentation
consisted of a map of Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee route
around London in 1897 (a vital news story for the emergent film industry)
intercut along points of that route with either stills from otherwise
lost films of the event (mostly taken from the copyright collection in
Britain’s Public Record Office) or moving film at the appropriate locations.
Such intercutting between electronic and regular projection
required some careful planning, astute work from the projection box,
and not least some welcome computer expertise from the NFTVA’s Mike
Caldwell. A lot of preparation is needed for such a presentation, but
there are great benefits – the ability to zoom in and out on slides, to
incorporate diagrams, highlight sections, and of course the flourish of
showmanship. An unexpected drawback was that it is very difficult to
lecture, keep an eye on your notes, operate a computer and look at the
screen (which screen ?) all at the same time. The concept of Victoria as a
film star did not really come over, however, and this final section to the
programme drove the timing over two hours.
It was difficult enough to prepare one such programme per week; two
per week with which we were forced to work for the latter half of the
season was insane. Fortunately the Biograph programme was a simple
66 Journal of Film Preservation / 53 / 1996