The Warwick Film Catalogue from 1901 contains a listing for Panorama of Calcutta, India, from the River Ganges. ‘This is’, it began, ‘perhaps one of the most novel and picturesque views ever photographed, owing to the difficulties experienced in obtaining life-motion pictures in this far distant country, which make this view doubly interesting and valuable’ (Warwick Film Catalogue, 1901, 5260a). Although one of the first films made in India, little is known of its production history. Denis Gifford credits the film to John (‘Mad Jack’) Benett-Stanford, who had recorded the only film of the Battle of Omdurman in 1898 and who, in October 1899, went to South Africa to film footage of the Boer War for the Warwick Trading Company. However, biographies of Benett-Stanford fail to mention any trip to India, while other references to the film mention only an ‘unknown foreign cameraman’ (Fulton, 2006, Cinema Vision India, 1980, 104). Panorama of Calcutta was, though, evidently one of a series of titles filmed for Warwick during this trip. For example, listed above Panorama of Calcutta in the catalogue was ‘Arrival of Train at Station, Calcutta, India’, which, as with Panorama of Calcutta, was described and advertised as differing sharply from the images familiar to British viewers. The catalogue suggested that in showing ‘a train from which scramble hundreds of natives’, the film offered a ‘striking contrast to views of English station scenes’ (Warwick Film Catalogue, 1901, 5259b). The popular interest in India was such that in 1900 F. B. Stewart would produce a series of films from India for Warwick – listed under the series title ‘Our Eastern Empire’ – which were released during 1901 (Barnes, 1997, 88).

Although released under the title ‘Panorama of Calcutta’, the film actually represents Varanasi, which is 400 miles further up the Ganges. Cinema Vision India suggested in 1980 that the film should have been titled ‘Panorama of Benares’ – as it shows the Benares Ghats – and the listing within the Warwick catalogue avoids specific geographical references (Cinema Vision India, 1980, 104). Warwick’s decision to specify the location as Calcutta may indicate a desire to reference places familiar to British audiences, and to uniformly present these disparate places and images within India – and the East – under broader terms (eg. India and Calcutta), which, in turn, helped audiences to understand and imagine a controlled Indian space.