Uncle Tom's Cabin or: Slavery Days (1903) [1080p] [No Audio]

Описание: 'Uncle Tom's Cabin is a 1903 American silent short drama directed by Edwin S. Porter and produced by the Edison Manufacturing Company. The film was adapted by the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The plot streamlined the actual story to portray the film over the course of 19 minutes. The film was released on 3 August 1903 at the Huber's Fourteenth Street Museum in New-York.

Production and release
Uncle Tom's Cabin was one of the earliest "full-length" American movies, although in 1903 this meant about 19 minutes. Porter shot the film at the Edison Company's studio in New York. Rather than an adaptation of the novel, the movie's actors, sets, costumes and much of its staging derive from one of the turn-of-the-century theatrical Tom Shows which were very popular at the time. Each of the fourteen scenes is based on a theatre-like stage with its own set, with the exception of scenes 7 and 8 which use the same set, and scene 5 where models are filmed. This was the first American film to include intertitles to identify and introduce each scene.

The film premiered on 3 August 1903 at Huber's Fourteenth Street Museum, sharing the program with several live acts, including a team of "colored comedians".

On 12 September, Sigmund Lubin released a slightly shorter version of Uncle Tom's Cabin which was "remarkably similar" to Porter's version, a practice which was quite common in the early days of cinema when copyright protection of films was not well established.

Analysis
Compared to Porter's film that many historians regard as his masterwork, The Great Train Robbery, Uncle Tom's Cabin has been regarded as quite primitive. John W. Frick notes that it has been characterised by film historians as old fashioned for it was little more than filmed theatre. This is warranted by the fact that the entire film was shot from a single stationary camera and that the sets were the painted scenery of 19th century theatre while the performers sets and costumes were those from an existing Tom troupe.

Stephen Railton, noting that Porter had incorporated several unmotivated breakdowns with slaves dancing and "cavorting happily", regretted that "like the Tom Shows after the Reconstruction era, the 1903 film almost entirely transformed Stowe's act of protest into a minstrel show". It should not be understated however that the film present female slaves as strong characters refusing slavery and Uncle Tom as a kind of Christian martyr. Deborah Barker and Kathryn McKee remark that Porter's film "reimagines the story's antebellum narrative in the context of the Civil War and its aftermath." The final scene, the death of Tom, contains a series of "visions" evoking events related to the abolition of slavery: John Brown being led to execution, a battle scene from the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln with a slave with broken manacles kneeling at his feet, and Generals Lee and Grant shaking hands at Appomattox.

Charles Musser stressed that the film inaugurated one important innovation, inspired by British director G.A. Smith: "Each scene was prefaced by a title on film which helped the audience follow the story by identifying the scene and some of the principal characters". He also noted that the fifth scene could be seen as modern in its concept if not in its execution. "Employing miniatures moving in front of a backdrop representing a rural village, his boat race featured a violent thunderstorm created by dramatic lighting effects." The use of double exposure in the scenes of Eva's death and Tom's death, also distinguish the film from pure filmed theatre.

Stephen Johnson noted that the film represents "an early effort to translate live performance in something cinematic, (...) a rare example of the filming of what was an improvisatory, oral-performative culture, (...) a rare instance of white performers, white performers in blackface, and performers of colour (...) sharing the screen." Despite its short duration, the film is very comprehensive, and "when the film is slowed down to play at half or a quarter of its intended speed, it is possible to follow a full length stage script with a reasonable correspondence."

Directed by Edwin S. Porter
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Produced by Edison Manufacturing Company
Cinematography Edwin S. Porter
Release date
August 3, 1903
Running time 19 minutes
Country United States
Languages Silent film
English inter-titles'

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27...)