Electric Edwardians - The Lost Films of Mitchell & Kenyon
Originally aired as part of a British TV series about British Primitives,The Lost Films of Mitchell & Kenyonhave been edited onto a DVD titledElectric Edwardians. This recently unearthed documentary footage provides a spooky glimpse into life during Britian’s Victorian Industrial Age. Filmed between 1900-1913 by Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon for traveling cinema tours, several short movies constitute each over-arching, topically-titled film: "Youth and Education," "The Anglo-Boer War," "Workers," "High Days and Holidays," and "People and Places." In "People and Places," one rides past the obsolete Horse Ambulance shop. In "High Days and Holidays," women sporting elaborate, lacy hats march down cobblestone streets for a parade, defunct carousels spin kids around, and the Blackpool Victoria Pier is packed with people. In "Workers," Dickensian boys wander the streets in berets, and in one affecting segment, 20,000 workers file into a factory. The films of Eadward Muybridge, or of French Lumiere, George Méliés, provide similar fascinating looks into early cinema, but watching this documentary footage conjures up ghosts, as doesCarnival of Souls. Music accompaniment by In The Nursery adds to the spirited ambience. These silent films manage to speak volumes about their subjects.—Trinie Dalton