Detail

Title ID

8445

Collection ID

1196

Title

A Switchback Railway

Date

[1898?]

Collection

Early Films

Genre/Type

Professional Non-fiction

Theme

Early film in the South East

Keywords

Railways Entertainment Seaside Resorts Leisure Time Activities Clothing Children

Location

National	England United Kingdom

Credits

Production	Paul's Animatograph Works
Director	Robert W. Paul

Format

Black & White Silent

Duration

00:00:48:24

Summary

Footage of a switchback railway amuses its passengers in this film by Robert Paul of the late 1890s.

Description

A carriage on a wooden switchback railway, an early version of a roller coaster, passes the camera and continues along the tracks. Two other carriages carrying passengers are on the railway simultaneously. One of the carriages arrives back at the start and a group of smartly dressed school-age children alight the train.

Contextual information

A switchback railway, an early roller coaster pioneered at Coney Island NY, features in [Edwardian Folkstone].

Related titles

8425

Related resources

Books

Barnes, John. The Beginnings of the Cinema in England 1894-1901. Five Volumes, n.p. University of Exeter Press

Date: 1996-1998 John Barnes’s archaeological study of early cinema charts its development between 1894 and 1901. Barnes founded the Barnes Museum of Cinematography with his brother William in the 1960s. The collection provided primary material for Barnes’s study of early cinema.

Low, Rachael. The History of the British Film 1896-1906. n.p. London: George Allen & Unwin

Date: 1948

Rossell, Deac. Living Pictures: The Origins of the Movies. n.p. Albany: State University of New York Press

Date: 1998

Barnouw, Erik. The Magician and the Cinema. n.p. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press

Date: 1981 Investigation of the influence of magic on early film.

Gifford, Denis. British Animated Films. n.p. Jefferson/London: McFarland

Date: 1987

Collections

The Barnes Collection

Location: Hove Museum and Art Gallery Twins John and William Barnes founded the Barnes Museum of Cinematography in the 1960s. After the closure, the early part of the collection moved to Hove. The collection includes cameras, projectors and material relating to the Brighton School of film pioneers.
http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/discover/2015/02/26/the-barnes-brothers-collection/

Films

Location: BFI National Archive, British Film Institute, London Holds films made by Robert Paul.

Further Information on File at Screen Archive South East

BFI National Archive, copies kept on file SASE 950000.

Websites

Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema: Robert Paul

Biographical overview and further reading.
http://www.victorian-cinema.net/paul.htm

Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema: Brit Acres

Biographical overview and further reading.
http://www.victorian-cinema.net/acres.htm