1897 – The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight

Directed by: Enoch J. Rector

This film chronicles the boxing match between James John Corbett and Robert Prometheus Fitzsimmons in Carson City, Nevada on 17 March 1897. The 14 rounds were captured on 11,000 feet of film, resulting in a run time of approximately 100 minutes. This makes it the earliest known “feature film”, though only approximately 20 minutes of the footage survives. In addition, it was shot with an aspect ratio of about 1.65:1 – the first widescreen motion picture. Due to the unique 63mm format of the film prints, it could only be projected with a special device known as “The Veriscope”.

The fight was first screened at the Academy of Music in New York on 22 May 1897 and reportedly made an estimated $750,000 from its showings over the years. The audience largely consisted of women who, at the time, were prohibited from attending boxing matches. There seems to be an indication that people realized (though perhaps not consciously) there was an imaginary barrier created by film that somewhat removed the viewer from the event itself – enough that it enabled the publication of a hitherto restricted event (probably because it wasn’t the unladylike setting but a perceived replication of it).

Boxing has left a mark on film history and repeatedly returns: The Champ (1931), The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933), Champion (1949), Rocky (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Cinderella Man (2005), The Fighter (2010), etc.

Bibliography

Booth, T. (2013). ‘From our archives: Corbett vs. Fitzsimmons, the fight of the century and the earliest feature film’, Science and Media Museum, 22 February. Available at: https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/corbett-fitzsimmons-fight-film-fragment/ [Accessed: 29 December 2021].

Hansen, Miriam (1991). Babel and Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

IMDb contributors (n.d.). ‘The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight (1897)’, IMDb. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000147/ [Accessed: 29 December 2021].

Niemi, R. (2006). History in the Media: Film and Television. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO

Variety Staff (2012). ‘The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fight (1897)’, Variety, 19 December. Available at: http://variety.com/2012/more/news/the-corbett-fitzsimmons-title-fight-1897-1118063819/ [Accessed: 29 December 2021].

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