Almost nothing happened in 1907. No great international events, no major climactic or natural disasters disturbed the peace (an earthquake in Jamaica hardly registered beside the San Francisco quake of the previous year). Edwardian Britain enjoyed itself. The arms race, which would eventually make a European war inevitable, had just reached the fun part where the military boys showed off their new toys (last year the launch of the Dreadnought, this year the demonstration of the new torpedo boats faking an attack on that very battleship) and it is significant that by this time no one would consider staging such an event without the inclusion of the cameramen. Cinemagoing was expanding rapidly, to the point where it became viable to establish purpose built cinemas rather than screen films in shop-fronts, nickelodeons and church halls. Film was becoming big business, and as more theatres opened the demand for more and newer films increased. For British filmmakers, 1907 was another difficult year, with the ongoing problems of international competition fomented by the Pathé company in France. Charles Pathé hit a critical mass in his plans to industrialise the film business and further reduced the price per foot of his films to undercut his competitors. But falling prices, while eating into profits, were not enough to discourage British producers; at least 467 films were released (a conservative estimate), of which 82 survive in the BFI National Archive. Exhibition was healthy, with purpose-built film theatres opening in London, and pioneering companies such as Electric Theatres Ltd. were founded to establish circuits of cinemas. The surviving films are heavily dominated by the London contingent of pioneering companies such as Hepworth, Urban and Clarendon. Content and styles of filmmaking continued along the lines of previous years with comedy, drama, trick films and animation, interest films and actualities being produced in similar proportions. For the moment film producers steered a steady course and produced the same films as their competitors but strived to make them better. In this selection, we see the dominant position played by Charles Urban in British production, and we feature the work of W.R. Booth, a cartoonist, animator and amateur magician who had worked with Maskelyne and Devant at the Egyptian Theatre before going into film with R.W. Paul and then Urban. In drama, adaptations of literary works likely to have a international appeal were popular and would anticipate the establishing of Film d'Art in the following year. Percy Stow's source for his film The Pied Piper of Hamelin was the Robert Browning poem of 1842, to be found in most British nurseries but with a basis in European folk culture. Cecil Hepworth continued to produce good quality comedies along tried and tested lines. In the non-fiction field, Mitchell & Kenyon were still producing wonderful local films. The Crewe hospital pageant is a remarkable compilation of highlights of the event with performances by the prize-winners, illustrating the sophisticated filmmaking strategy that the company was operating. One newcomer to the film scene in 1907 was the Cinematophone, a synchronised disc system not unlike the Gaumont Chronophones being produced in the same year. These 'singing' films featured well-known songs of the day. One example is By the Side of the Zuyder Zee, a popular song of 1906 by A.J. Mills (lyrics) and Bennett Scott (music). Bryony Dixon
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