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].

1895 – Das Boxende Känguruh / Boxing Kangaroo

Directed by: Max Skladanowsky

When it comes to the early years of cinema, it is difficult to attribute “firsts” with absolute certainty, largely due to lost records, lost media, rumors and general misconceptions made popular. Likewise, while it is generally accepted that the first public screening of films was by the Lumière brothers, they were preceded by two German brothers, Max and Emil Skladanowsky, by almost two months.

On November 1, 1895, they screened their Wintergartenprogramm to a paying audience at the Berlin Wintergarten Varieté. The full program consisted of:
Italienischer Bauerntanz
Komisches Reck
Das Boxende Känguruh
Jongleur
Akrobatisches Potpurri
Kamarinskaja
Serpentintanz
Ringkämpfer
Apotheose

The films were projected using Max Skladanowsky’s Bioscop dual projector. As the Lumière brothers’ Cinématographe was superior to the Bioscop, the Skladanowsky brothers soon fell into obscurity.

One of the more memorable shorts in the program was Das Boxende Känguruh, as evident by Birt Acres’ “remake” the following year, The Boxing Kangaroo (1896). It was not uncommon for early filmmakers to replicate popular films. Even in the Skladanowsky brothers’ program, there is a version of the Serpentine Dance and the Lumière brothers would screen Les Forgerons, a variation of Blacksmith Scene.

Bibliography

Blankenship, J. (2012). ‘1 November 1895: Premiere of Wintergarten Program Highlights Transitional Nature of Early Film Technology’. In: Kapczynski, J. M. & Richardson, M. D. (ed.) A New History of German Cinema. New York: Camden House.

IMDb contributors (n.d. a). ‘Das boxende Känguruh (1895)’, IMDb. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000018/ [Accessed: 4 December 2021].

INDb contributors (n.d. b). ‘Wintergartenprogramm (1895)’, IMDb, Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1754898/ [Accessed: 10 December 2021].

Wikipedia contributors (2021a). ‘Boxing Kangaroo (film)’, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 23 July. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Kangaroo_(film) [Accessed: 4 December 2021].

Wikipedia contributors (2021b). ‘The Boxing Kangaroo’, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 25 March. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boxing_Kangaroo [Accessed: 4 December 2021].

1894 – The Boxing Cats

Directed by: William K. L. Dickson, William Heise

More than a hundred years prior to cat videos exploding online, this film starring two boxing cats was recorded in Edison’s Black Maria Studio. The cats featured were part of Professor Welton’s vaudeville show which, reportedly, also included acts such as cats jumping through flaming hoops and riding on bicycles. It is possible that the film was used to promote the show.

News, 27 January 1894.

The man in the background is Professor Henry Welton himself. To achieve the effects in the film, the cats wore shoulder harnesses that were manipulated by Welton to help them stand upright.

Bibliography

IMDb contributors (n.d.). ‘The Boxing Cats (Prof. Welton’s) (1894)’, IMDb. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219560/ [Accessed: 1 December 2021].

Kay, L. (2014). ‘The Boxing Cats (Prof. Welton’s) (1894)’, Cinema Cats, 28 February. Available at: http://www.cinemacats.com/?p=1042 [Accessed: 1 December 2021].

Tschorn, A. (2015). ‘Thomas Edison, inventor of…the cat video?’, Los Angeles Times, 20 June. Available at: http://www.latimes.com/style/pets/la-hm-pets-cat-video-side-20150620-story.html [Accessed: 1 December 2021].