Early Cinema - Primitives And Pioneers details
| Format: | Ex DVD |
|---|---|
| Directors: | G.A. Smith, Edwin S. Porter, George Melies |
| Genre: | Documentary - Entertainment |
| Studio: | BFI VIDEO |
| Name | Discs | |
|---|---|---|
Early Cinema - Primitives And Pioneers - Disc 1 |
TBC Disc 1 | |
Early Cinema - Primitives And Pioneers - Disc 2 |
TBC Disc 2 |
DVD Information
| Run time: | 3 hours 7 minutes |
|---|---|
| Rental release: | 29 Aug 2005 |
| Main languages: | English |
| Hearing impaired subtitles: | English |
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Most helpful review
Back to the beginning
By Stephen Simpson from Croydon, England , 05 Feb 2006[Highly rated reviewer]
The British Film Industry has released this excellent round up of early silent films, covering roughly the first fifteen years of the medium. As with Mitchell and Kenyon or Silent Shakespeare, there is something utterly beguiling about these charming early films – watching them is like stepping back in time, while you can tick off the artistic and technical innovations that their makers pioneered. They range in length from less than a minute to around ten minutes, so if there is a dull one (for example, a tour of a biscuit factory!), you can quickly move on. I’d also recommend the curt but useful commentary, which puts these wonderful images into context.- Was this review helpful to you?
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(6)i liked this so much i bought it
By andysbar (34 reviews) from London , 03 Dec 2011i liked this so much i went out and bought it, see film as we know it coming to life in front of your eyes, interesting historically in a film syntax sense and in a record of social history, nice to see Britain had some talent in the early days, but we have never been able to see art as having any worth.or perhaps that's the problem we are to short sighted to see the possibilities of this new art form unlike r w paul, and g e smith true pioneers and a revelation .- Was this review helpful to you?
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fascinating window on industry 100 years ago
By a customer from Coulsdon , 08 Oct 2009it's the two documentaries - biscuit making and coal mining - that make this a fascinating watch. some of the shorts are derivative/repetitive of others' ideas, but those documentaries alone make this worth borrowing.- Was this review helpful to you?
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the early pioneers
By a customer from North of Reading , 18 Nov 2008Of interest to cinephiles only, lots of snippets of more or less documentaries before story making comes in along with using cinema tricks. Could have done with the whole Melies film though.- Was this review helpful to you?
- (2) Yes |
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film before hollywood
By a customer from Bath, England , 18 Sep 2007Great to see an account and examples of cinema that prove there was life before hollywood. Cinema history like so many things has been re written by Hollywood to the detriment of reality.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Without these films, you wouldn't be on here now!
By carlosreddevil (116 reviews) from Risca , 29 Jun 2006The very beginning of film making as we know it. Imagine a film with no grand Hollywood budget or SFX, just a wave pounding against a sea front wall - sounds boring right? Wrong! Some of the films included here are historically interesting, some (such as 'The (?) Motorist') are a joy to behold. Anyone with even the slightest interest in Film History must go and add this to their list!- Was this review helpful to you?
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