Vintage cars are filmed going up and down mountain roads. Some of them struggle with the steep grade.Vintage cars are filmed going up and down mountain roads. Some of them struggle with the steep grade.Vintage cars are filmed going up and down mountain roads. Some of them struggle with the steep grade.
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Storyline
Featured review
One of the very earliest important auto races captured on film.
The Librray of Congress notes do not say that this is not a race; they merey say the title does not indicate that it is a race but in fact they they have not done their research properly and they are still wrong because it is a race and the title very clearly indicates which race it is. It is the Mount Washington Hillclimb Auto Race, also known as "the Climb to the Clouds". It was one of the oldest auto races in the country and was first run on July 11 and 12, 1904. The race featured Oldsmobiles, Stanley Steamers, Pierces, Mercedes and one Daimler and was won by a certain Harry Harkness in a Mercedes.
So the film has a perfectly good point. It is covering an extremely significant pioneering event, not easy to film obviously because it is "up in the clouds" but this does nevertheless give it a certain beauty and Bitzer does not do too bad a job. This is an "actualité" in the proper sense of the word - a topicailty, a news-item. Topicalities (as distinct from composed views - the precursors of documentary and comic films - the precursors of photoplays) did not form a very large proportion of the early film repertoire and would only become really important with the introduction of the newsreel in 1908 after they would remain an extremely important feature of film-going, with many cinema devoted solely to newsreels, right up until the advent of television. Of their importance there is absolutely no question; there are many references to the importance of newsreels and newsreel cinemas in fictional films as well. Such films of course remain a hugely important part of people's lives to this day - "the news" - but they are now the province of the small screen (and increasingly of course of the internet.
Amongst early topicalities, sports events were always important features and particularly those that involved the cutting edge - the new automobile races, ballooning, airplanes. These remained naturaly important in the newsreels and remain important today. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
So the film has a perfectly good point. It is covering an extremely significant pioneering event, not easy to film obviously because it is "up in the clouds" but this does nevertheless give it a certain beauty and Bitzer does not do too bad a job. This is an "actualité" in the proper sense of the word - a topicailty, a news-item. Topicalities (as distinct from composed views - the precursors of documentary and comic films - the precursors of photoplays) did not form a very large proportion of the early film repertoire and would only become really important with the introduction of the newsreel in 1908 after they would remain an extremely important feature of film-going, with many cinema devoted solely to newsreels, right up until the advent of television. Of their importance there is absolutely no question; there are many references to the importance of newsreels and newsreel cinemas in fictional films as well. Such films of course remain a hugely important part of people's lives to this day - "the news" - but they are now the province of the small screen (and increasingly of course of the internet.
Amongst early topicalities, sports events were always important features and particularly those that involved the cutting edge - the new automobile races, ballooning, airplanes. These remained naturaly important in the newsreels and remain important today. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
helpful•21
- kekseksa
- May 18, 2018
Details
- Runtime9 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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