Explosion of Motor Car 

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Explosion of Motor Car

This is a somewhat similar scene to the last, but of a much more elaborate descrption. The picture opens with a view of a quiet country road, with, in the distance coming rapidly forward, a motor car with four passengers. The car comes along at a high speed, and its occupants, recognising friends, wave and raise their hasts, until just as the carriage comes to the centre of the picture, ther is a sudden mishap, followed by a big explosion, which entirely wrecks the motor car and blows the passengers high into the air. A policeman rushes to the spot, and, seeing nothing but wreckage of machinery, searches in the sky with a telescope. He soon sees the bodles falling down, and only runs away in time to escape being hit. When all the pieces have fallen to the ground he comes up again and collects them into classes -so many legs, so many arms, &c.-and we lose sight of him as he enters the results in his official notebook. A bewildering trick film, full of comic interest.

The Era, London, November 24, 1900, p. 27.


Explosion d'un automobile

Un automobile à la campagne s'avance sur la route, rencontre avec des amis et salutations, puis peu après explosion de l'automobile, les voyageurs sont projetés en l'air ; arrivée d'un policeman qui les cherche avec une longue-vue, les corps retombent en morceaux, le policeman se sauve et revient pour ranger les corps et faire son rapport.

GAU 1901-07

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1 Hepwix Films 130  Gaumont H.138 
2 Alfred Claude Bromhead
 
 

A chat with Mr Bromhead
[...]
“The first one I expect you know. It is the Explosion of a Motor Car. This was taken at our place at Walton-on-Thames. Look!” I looked, and saw a motor car with a happy load of folk coming down a country road towards the spectator. Just as it is in the very foreground of the picture it explodes, blowing all its living freight to, let us hope, a happier than an earthly Christmas. When the smoke clears away, tangled remnants of boiler and wheels are all that are left. A policeman runs up, takes out his notebook and begins to search for the mangled remains and the material for a report. There is not a body to be found on earth. Ergo, they must be in the sky. He produces a telescope, and, gazing upwards, discovers their whereabouts just in time to dodge the falling limbs. Heads, legs, trunks, and fragments of clothing fall around, and the weird film closes with the unhappy man’s attempt to sort out and match a pair of trousers to a summer blouse.


The Era, London, January 12, 1901, p. 22.

3 ≤ 24/11/1900 100ft/30m 
4 Grande-BretagneWalton-on-Thames  

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