Lumiere’s First Picture Show (1975)

Director	Auguste Lumiere, Louis Lumiere
Producer	Lumiere Bros.
Contributors	Blackhawk Films, Eastin-Phelan Distributing Corp.
Length	15 minutes
B&W/Color	B&W
UO Library Catalog description:	Film presents a brief history of the technical developments in early motion pictures up to and including Auguste and Louis Lumière. This film is reproduced from a collection of Lumière films unearthed in November, 1972.
Call #	Mb194
Genre	Experimental, Short
Rare	No
Online	Yes
Copyright status	©1974 Blackhawk Films
Physical condition	Good
Oregon-related	No

Notes: Lumiere’s First Picture Show is an essential compilation of the Lumiere brothers’ seminal films during the late 1800’s. It highlights the various films in terms of the technical aspects of film making developed by the brothers in their movies. Many of these shorts are quintessential films that are often shown in the academic realm. I believe viewing them on film is a big part of being conscious of the medium the brothers were working with while creating these movies. The series was transferred to a single 16mm reel after they were found in 1972 and distributed by Blackhawk Films in 1975.

The reel includes the following Lumiere shorts:

La sortie des usines–
Déjeuner de bébé–
Partie d’écarté–
Demolitian d’un mur–
Bataille de neige [?]–
Mise en batterie–
Enfants aux jouets–
Arroseur et arrosé–
Joueurs de cartes arrosés–
Photographe–
Bataille de femmes–
Arrivée du train á la Ciotet–
Basse-cour [?]–
Querelle d’enfants–
Chaudière–
Enfants pêchant des cresvettes [?]–
Baignade en mer [?]

Although the film isn’t particularly rare, and many of these shorts can be easily found online, I think that it’s important for any institution of education with a cinema studies program to have at least one copy of Lumiere’s First Picture Show in some form. It is simply too important in terms of historical reference to destroy or get rid of. As I stated before, I believe that viewing it in filmic form provides a more pronounced consciousness of how it was shot and the technology used during the birth of cinema. I think that something is lost in translation when viewing footage such as this digitally.

The Great Train Robbery (35mm 1904, 16mm 1961)

Director	Edwin S. Porter
Producer	Blackhawk Films
Contributors	Gatewood W. Dunston Film Collection, Library of Congress
Length	10 Minutes
B&W/Color	B&W with sections of hand painted frames in color.
UO Library Catalog description:	Bandits tie up the station master, stop the train, rob the mail car, take the passenger’s valuables, and then escape, and the station master’s daughter frees her father, alerts a group at a dance who then chase and overtake the robbers.
Call #	Ma163
Genre	Feature
Rare	No
Online	Yes
Copyright status	Public Domain
Physical condition	Poor
Oregon-related	No

Notes: The Great Train Robbery is arguably one of the most influential films of all time, and certainly one of the most important in terms of editing and visual aesthetics. The film created such techniques ascross cutting, double exposure, composite editing, camera movement and on location shooting. There are certain 35mm prints that featured hand-colored frames as well to accentuate some of the more exciting parts of the movie.

This version is a 16mm duplicate of an original 35mm print. There is a disclaimer by Blackhawk films featured at the beginning indicating this. It states, “Presented in virtually the original form in which it was initially shown. Re-processed to eliminate the appearance of surface blemishes and scratches.” This may have been the case when the 35mm was transferred into the 16mm format in 1961, but the condition of the film now is absolutely terrible, with multiple frames that have been totally blown out and melted by heat, scratches, extensive warping and tons of splices. I would imagine that a film so important would have been watched and handled quite a bit for educational purposes as well as for any entertainment value, which would explain why its physical condition is so bad.

One of the strangest things however is that this may be actually two 16mm versions of The Great Train Robbery spliced together. About a quarter of the way through, the film jumps suddenly from one scene to a seemingly unrelated one. When this happens the color changes completely from black and white to red. Although the disclaimer by Blackhawk films says that certain hand painted scenes from the 35mm were retained in the transfer to 16mm, the sudden shift from black and white to pinkish-red doesn’t seem intentional, and doesn’t occur at a point of excitement or elevated emotion. This leads me to believe that at some point the original 16mm reel had become so damaged that someone decided to splice it into a different reel that had undergone some serious emulsion degradation. This would make sense, because the portion of the film with the red coloring is in notably better physical condition than the initial black and white portion. Perhaps the red part was handled and used less, but stored in less than favorable conditions while the black and white part of the reel was used to the point of being in terrible physical condition, but stored in a way that preserved its black and white properties.

Bowling Fundamentals (1947)

Director	Mahnke
Producer	Teaching Films Inc.
Contributors	Unknown
Length	11 Minutes
B&W/Color	B&W
UO Library Catalog description:	No catalog description
Call #	FILM Mb6
Genre	Instructional, Sports
Rare	Yes
Online	Yes
Copyright status	Protected 1947
Physical condition	Good
Oregon-related	No

Notes: This film focuses on the basic techniques of bowling. The instructional aspect of the movie is presented by a narrator assuming the role of an expert. He provides instruction and demonstration to a group of boys and girls. Each point of importance is covered step by step. Various animated diagrams accompany the movements exhibited by the bowlers. Lessons are given concerning stance, approach, aim, delivery, follow-through and direction.

The film itself is labeled on the side periodically with “Kodak Safety Positive”, indicating that it was a black & white positive stock that corresponds to the 1947 release date. The contrast is excellent, and borderline dark with almost no fading.

I should also note that this appears to be a pretty rare instructional film. The UO Libraries are the only ones listed as having Bowling Fundamentals available. On top of that I managed to find an eBay listing for the film indicating that it may be a collectible item. The listing has a starting bid of $245 and a Buy It Now price of $700. See the listing here.

The UO Libraries has one other instructional film available by Teaching Films Inc. titled Rhythm Is Everywhere (1946).

I could find very little about the director of the film, and was only able to discover his last name, Mahnke.