BFI

Of a reported dozen films shot for R.W. Paul's company by Scots Guards medical officer Walter Beevor, this and Cronje's Surrender to Lord Roberts (also 1900) are the only ones thought to survive. They are also of unusual historical interest in consisting of practically the only genuine news footage of the Boer War, with most other production companies favouring reconstructions.

This film records Beevor's victorious regiment marching through Bloemfontein, the Boer capital, presumably very shortly after its capture on 13 March 1900, a fortnight after the surrender of Boer General Piet Cronje. Bloemfontein was the penultimate Boer stronghold to fall to the British, with Mafeking being relieved two months later, on May 16.

The previous year, the Bloemfontein Conference had attempted to establish the legal status of British migrants working in the Transvaal gold fields, but negotiations between British High Commissioner Alfred Milner and Transvaal President Paul Kruger collapsed when Kruger walked out of the conference on June 5, 1899 - an event that made it clear that friendly discussion between the two factions was no longer an option. It is now regarded as one of the events that triggered the Second Boer War began on October 11, just four months later.

Michael Brooke

*This film is included in the BFI DVD compilation 'R.W. Paul: The Collected Films 1895-1908', with music by Stephen Horne and optional commentary by Ian Christie.

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