Electric Edwardians - The Lost Films of Mitchell & Kenyon

Just for the faces alone! And the personalities of the people who hammed it up, or walked solemnly past, or waved and smiled, or scowled at the camera set up before them. For the mothers with the babies, the little sisters and brothers with the babies, the school teachers with their charges, the children performing drills, the bobbies on their beat, the worn and weary workers, the fishwives and dock hands on the wharf. Against the backdrop of street scenes, collieries, factories, school yards, ships, seaside and more.To think this could have been destroyed. Serendipity, fate, whatever, we are the luckier for this honest, unguarded glimpse into the past. Film makers Mitchell & Kenyon's mottos : "Local Films For Local People" and "We take them and make them", says it all.

If you have any interest at all in early cinema OR the edwardian period(and in that latter class I include people like myself--artists, costumers, reenactors, buffs), then this DVD is an absolute must. I'd never heard of the early silent films of Mitchell & Kenyon, but a New York Times mention of the new release of this collection made me order it the same day.These are short documentary films made in industrial towns in England and Belfast in 1900-1910. They were shot and (hard to believe) shown on the same day in special shows, some of which attracted thousands of people hoping to catch a glimpse of themselves and their friends on screen: promenading on a pier, riding incredible contraptions at a Whitsuntide holiday fair, or hanging around one of the huge factories that employed so many men, women and children. If this sounds boring--far from it: what you see are gorgeous, sharp prints of people behaving naturally in a time totally lost to our own. It's obvious that different clothes aside men and women haven't changed much since 1900. There's little prim and proper or stiff behavior here.Best of all for me there are often loads of kids in front of the camera. It's touching and charming to see boys and girls dressed like E. Nesbit's "Railway Children", but laughing, making faces, goofing around, pushing each other and generally behaving exactly as kids do in 2006...all of them long, long dead, but fully alive via the camera in a way a still photograph could never show. Truly a form of time travel, like discovering your own relatives' home movies of over a hundred years ago. Well worth adding to your library, the sort of thing one can pull out over and over and amaze others with.

I have a been a fan of silent films for over 40 years after seeing HAROLD LLOYD"S WORLD OF COMEDY in 1962 and after reading Kevin Brownlow's THE PARADE'S GONE BY shortly thereafter. However it was more than 25 years after that before I had the means to get a really good look at most of them. The technology of first VHS and now DVD finally allowed me the opportunity to see these old films in decent prints, projected at the right speed, and with the proper musical background. I am especially fond of early silent cinema which roughly dates from 1895-1918 before the domination of Hollywood began. I have a box set of DVDs called WHEN THE MOVIES BEGAN which features early efforts from England, Europe, and the United States. Another worthwhile set is THE ORIGINS OF FILM from the Smithsonian Institute and the Library of Congress.This collection took me completely by surprise as 1) I was not at all familiar with the films of Mitchell and Kenyon and 2) the quality of these almost lost films was truly extraordinary. Not just the visual look of the films but the life from a century ago that they capture. The motion picture is the only true time machine that humans have come up with so far. Seeing these ordinary people doing ordinary things really makes you feel as if you are there. You are seeing living, breathing people even though they are long dead along with their way of life and the world they inhabited. For that reason alone this collection of short films and others like them (check out Kino's EDISON and LUMIERE BROTHERS) are worth their weight in gold and then some. A hearty thanks to Milestone Films and the British Film Institute for releasing this set and the extras it contains.

This is a fantastic compilation of old film reels shot around 1900. It's just mesmerizing to see people from a radically different era going about their lives. These are beautiful images, especially when you consider them in their historical context. Queen Victoria would soon pass away, The Boer War was raging, the Belle Époque fashions, the time of the impressionist paintings. All this as film existed a mere 5 years. It's particularly the street scenes of Manchester, Glasgow and notably the tracking shots from the horse drawn trams that are interesting. This is where these images almost have a documentary "vérité" feel, as you see men with bowler hats and women wearing long dresses and parasols promenading the boulevards on a sunny day. It's not all romantic. The shots of factory crowds show people of the working classes leaving or entering the gates. Watching those scenes, you can't help but notice that a lot of them are children. The women wear blankets over their heads, in contrast to those parading the Morecambe waterfront.Anyone interested in old or new film will feel the importance and excitement of seeing people move about in an era we mainly know from paintings, still photo's or Hollywood movies.Wonderful!Garrett K.

I enjoyed the TV series of Mitchell and Kenyon films and hoped to see more of their work through this selection. While the quality of the films is great (for early 20th Century nitrate film), the clips are still very brief, just a couple of minutes or so. You get settled down to a scene and start picking out the details and the film stops. This may be my personal prejudice - I could watch the policeman directing traffic in Manchester, or the Morecambe holidaymakers of 1901 for ages, people being themselves without self-consciousness. Some complain about the narration. I don't think it's too bad, it gives some basic information about how and when each film was made, and where they were shown. It's certainly a pleasant change from Dan Cruikshank's constant state of breathless amazement on the BBC series.

OK as an introduction to Mitchell & Kenyon's films, but I can't imagine what possessed its producers to force the narrow aspect ratio of the original films into widescreen format, with the result that the top and bottom of the films are truncated. In some of the movies the heads are missing. Have a look at the "Cunard vessel at Liverpool". At one point it shows the ship’s chef holding his cat for the camera, only his head is missing from most of it. On the BFI and Getty Image previews which in 4:3 format you can clearly see his head. The commentary could have been a redeeming feature but unfortunately it's dull and lifeless, and doesn't actually add much value. However, the amazing content of the original footage shines through the despite all this!

The films themselves are fascinating, but the commentary is truly awful. Lifeless, tone-droopy, uninspiring and far from tops for information. The accompanying music is also atrocious -- it simply doesn't match the context. It's a pity the directors didn't see 'The Vietnam War' before hashing this thing up, because its commentator, Peter Coyote, was verging on perfect in his presentations and they could have tried to get someone like him. I tried watching with the sound turned off, but it was difficult to follow exactly what was being portrayed. This could have been such a good production, but the producers got it Wrong. So I've chucked it in the bin. What a pity.

Don't be put off buying this wonderful DVD by the tin-eared voiceover. Unfortunately, the producers have not provided it with anything like the commentary it deserves, presumably on the assumption that anyone would do. Particularly appalling is the barely articulate segment on 'Lootenant' - as, incredibly, the commentator describes him - Clive Wilson, who had just returned home minus a finger from the South African war: "He actually received a Distinguished Medal [sic] for what appears to be very little involvement in the Boer War. During his time in South Africa he actually asked his mother to send him tinned partridges and a whole series of luxury items in order to make the war more bearable." Later, the commentator repeatedly mispronounces the name of Baden-Powell. I suggest that you turn off the dreadful commentary and enjoy these moving films in their original silence.

I liked the visual content.... but unfortunately I expected there to be a commentary to accompany it , and there is nothing.So disappointed as I didn’t know what was happening... there are sub titles but they are too quick for me to read. Had to keep stopping and started to read sub titles so I got fed up with it.Don’t recommend at all. Very disappointed.