This film is part of Free
Me and My Two Friends
A beatific image of Victorian childhood
1898 Silent
Overview
This heart-melting fragment, long impossible to show publicly due to its unusual format, gives us one of the most iconic images in early British film. Not only does it showcase the pin-sharp detail of William Kennedy Laurie Dickson's unique 68mm film. It also, in the barely four seconds that survive, seems to distil many of the modern stereotypes of Victorian Britain - pictorial, sentimental in its attitude to children and animals, and intensely patriotic.
The film appears to be related to the films shot by Dickson to mark the launch of the Worthing lifeboat, and may have been the concluding shot of a longer sequence featuring the girl and her companions. As it stands, it has the flavour of an advertisement - very much like the celebrated series marketing Pears' soap, which made a point of using fresh-faced young children.
Subjects
Related
Victoria's New Media Pioneers
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Comedy 1899 2 mins Silent
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Attack on a China Mission - Bluejackets to the Rescue
War 1900 1 mins Silent Location: Brighton
Fictional treatment of a contemporary atrocity story from the 1900 Boxer rebellion in China.
Rough Sea at Dover
Non-Fiction 1895 0 mins Silent
Waves crash onto a jetty on the Kentish shoreline in one of Britain's earliest surviving films
Opening of the Kiel Canal
Non-Fiction 1895 0 mins Silent
This was one of a series of actuality films made by the Victorian pioneer Birt Acres during 1895. The film is thought to have been shot on June 20, on the occasion of the opening of the Kiel Canal by the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. Acres shot other films at the same time, but they have not survived.
The Derby 1895
Sport 1895 1 mins Silent
An exciting finish suggests that this is one of the very earliest British films
As Seen through a Telescope
Comedy 1900 1 mins Silent
A peeping Tom gets a shocking glimpse of stocking in this early take on film voyeurism.
Worthing
Incoming Tide
Non-Fiction 1898 1 mins Silent Location: Worthing
Worthing waves at us in this mesmerising early film
Launch of the Worthing Lifeboat Coming Ashore
Documentary 1898 1 mins Silent Location: Worthing
Stunning footage of a lifesaving demonstration
Journey home to Canterbury
Amateur film 1930 7 mins Silent Location: Glastonbury
Join the Blighs on their homeward journey through the Southern counties - calling at Glastonbury and various ancient landmarks east
Re-building Worthing Pier, Wrecked by the Gales of Last Year
Non-Fiction 1914 1 mins Silent Location: Worthing
Workmen set to on the reconstruction of Worthing Pier after it was destroyed by the English weather
Dressed for Drowning
School programme and Educational film 1965 7 mins Location: Worthing
A well-made and light-hearted instructional film which demonstrates how your own clothes can save you from drowning
Glimpses of pre-war Worthing
Amateur film 1939 24 mins Silent Location: Worthing
A gem of a film shot from the rooftops of Worthing, capturing busy streets, railways and unsuspecting Worthingites as well as scenes from the snowy January of 1939.
New
Gladstone's Funeral
Non-Fiction 1898 1 mins Silent
The Victorian great and good mark the passing of a political titan
Parade of Troops with Band and Crowds Following
Non-Fiction 1900 2 mins Silent
For Britons during the Boer War, a welcome opportunity to support the troops - and march alongside them
Workers Leaving Work at Vickers
Non-Fiction 1900 1 mins Location: Barrow-In-Furness
Factory gate glimpses at - we think - Barrow-in-Furness
Incoming Tide
Non-Fiction 1898 1 mins Silent Location: Worthing
Worthing waves at us in this mesmerising early film
The Biter Bit
Comedy 1898 1 mins Silent
Film's first joke? A fresh take on an old prank.
Opening of the Kiel Canal
Non-Fiction 1895 0 mins Silent
This was one of a series of actuality films made by the Victorian pioneer Birt Acres during 1895. The film is thought to have been shot on June 20, on the occasion of the opening of the Kiel Canal by the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. Acres shot other films at the same time, but they have not survived.