1897 MELBOURNE CUP

This film is held by the BFI (ID: 5124).

Synopsis

ACTUALITY. The Melbourne Cup horse race.

The race course seen from the middle distance behind a group of spectators at the rails. The horses are seen racing from left to right, camera pans to follow them crossing the winning post (camera movements very jerky) (17). Jockeys and horses trotting back up the course towards the exit (36). Shot taken from behind a crowd of spectators of the winning horse ('Gaulus'), accompanied by mounted policemen, entering the winners' enclosure (49ft).

Note: This may have been taken by/for E.J. Thwaites, a Melbourne inventor and film producer who specialised in filming sporting events. Australian cameramen A.J. Perier and Mark Blow also filmed the race. Thwaites is supposed to have used a camera of his own construction, but the negative has Lumière perforations (it is not a production of the Lumière firm).

Ref: Chris Long, 'Indigenous Production Begins', Cinema Papers 95 (October 1993).

 

Titles

  • 1897 MELBOURNE CUP (Archive)
 

Technical Data

Year:
1897
Film Gauge (Format):
35mm Film
Colour:
Black/White
Sound:
Silent
Footage:
49 ft
 

Production Credits

Production Countries:
Australia
Producer
THWAITES, E.J.
 

Countries