I viewed this "Grand Display of Brock's Fireworks at the Crystal Palace" on July 4th oddly, and rather ironically (given the British patriotism involved in the film's fireworks display), enough. In the United States, at least, fireworks may be seen and heard all over television and outside in any populated area as, pandemic notwithstanding, some localities put on grand public displays, while neighbors frighten each others' pets by lighting their own firecrackers. So, how does an early silent film photographed on black-and-white nitrate compare? Not too well, honestly. Nighttime photography was a challenging prospect back then, in addition to the film's original absence of color and sound. In the surviving restoration, the overcoming of color may be appreciated, at least, with the preservation of the original hand-coloring of the print. Rather than a faithful representation of a fireworks display that one may see in digital recording nowadays, though, the tinting here takes on an almost abstract appearance at times. Shades are occasionally smudged and, otherwise, sometimes seem to not adhere to the outlines of the lights in the sky all that felicitously. There are also some light displays of figures and scenes, including, amusingly, a fireman trying to put out a fire and the faces of the royal couple at the end (I said my timing was ironic).
Produced by Charles Urban's company, the filmmaker attributed here is reportedly George Albert Smith, one of the great innovators of early cinema. One doesn't really get that sense here. His "Mary Jane's Mishap" (1903), on the other hand, is something of a pinnacle of developments in editing and trick effects for the first story films. Later in his filmmaking career, though, Smith turned to experiments in colorized films. The hand coloring here wasn't anything new, except for, perhaps, being applied to fireworks, but he later worked on a color film process, Kinemacolor. Largely, his significance in film history largely ended with this hued transition. This one is charming enough, and there's quite a few shots typical of such actuality entries, but his later primitive recordings of public affairs tends to be dull.
Produced by Charles Urban's company, the filmmaker attributed here is reportedly George Albert Smith, one of the great innovators of early cinema. One doesn't really get that sense here. His "Mary Jane's Mishap" (1903), on the other hand, is something of a pinnacle of developments in editing and trick effects for the first story films. Later in his filmmaking career, though, Smith turned to experiments in colorized films. The hand coloring here wasn't anything new, except for, perhaps, being applied to fireworks, but he later worked on a color film process, Kinemacolor. Largely, his significance in film history largely ended with this hued transition. This one is charming enough, and there's quite a few shots typical of such actuality entries, but his later primitive recordings of public affairs tends to be dull.
