President McKinley Inauguration

President McKinley Inauguration (1901)

This Biograph film was shot by the legendary Billy Bitzer and features various shots that were taken from President McKinley's Inauguration (as the title gives away). A lot of times movie companies would just film anything that they could. It could be a waterfall, a dance, a parade or whatever else. While these films are fun to watch there's no question that none of them are important to history. That's not the case with these films showing President McKinley because they at least give us a look at a part of the country's political history. This one here actually features quite a bit of editing as we get several shots of the event from various view points.

This is a summary of what can be seen, so people know who is in this (both McKinley and Roosevelt, as well as Marcus Hanna):

President William McKinley speaks to the crowd during his inauguration in Washington, DC. We see crowds on Pennsylvania Avenue passing by the Willard Hotel during the festivities. A military unit on horseback rides down the court of honor, the area on Pennsylvania Avenue, going down 15th to 17th streets. President McKinley and his party reviews the inaugural parade from a stand here. McKinley tips his hat to the crowd as his carriage passes the Willard Hotel. Sitting beside McKinley in the carriage is Sen. Marcus Hanna of Ohio with members of the President's special escort, Troop A of the Ohio National Guard, and aides aides with guards. The man riding alone in the second carriage is Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.

This was actually the second inauguration of McKinley captured on film, but the first only really shows men on horseback and a brief glimpse of McKinley, who is so blurry that it could be anyone. Here we get a much more crisp view. Still very short and without sound, but there is something about seeing a person in motion that captures them better than a photo. Apparently McKinley used the film for promotional events... not sure what exactly.

This one-minute actuality of the second inauguration of President William McKinley was shot by cameraman Billy Bitzer and then edited into what was for the era, a complicated affair. It consists of half a dozen separate shots from varying angles.

The initial shot, of McKinley speaking from a script, is shot from above in a medium-long shot. After the first cut, we see people walking about and finally men on horses, all leaving the site. Although the language of editing was still very primitive at this time -- George Albert Smith was still developing the film grammar that would become standard film grammar under the influence of D.W. Griffith -- the cuts and changing actions would have clearly indicated to the audience the passage of unobserved time.