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Echo of Applause: An Excursion into Motion Pictures (1946)

Film details

Alternative titles

  • An Excursion into Motion Pictures Alternative
  • Echo of Applause Alternative

Synopsis

A reconstruction of the pioneering days of cinema, beginning with the primitive cave drawings and tracing development through the camera obscura, tracing of silhouettes, invention of photography, optical toys, moving lantern slides, dissolving views, shadowgraphs, to the cinematograph. Examples of early films by the Lumières and R.W. Paul are shown, as well as early newsreels, comedies and dramas with Max Linder, Wiffles, Florence Turner, John Bunny, Maurice Costello and Broncho Billy Anderson. The later silent period is represented mainly by glimpses of posters and star portraits.

Includes footage of Persimmon winning the 1896 Derby, Gordon Highlanders departing for the South-African war and the first British film studios.

Cast & Credits

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