Opening of the Kiel Canal

One person rows the rowboat in the middle distance, while two people sit at either end. A man walks by with a lunchbox.

The credits say this is the Kaiser and the .... Kaserin? The Empress of Germany I guess you would say, although which is which among these four people, I cannot say. I've described this 14-second short, and that's all there is. Really.

Early movies are full of stuff like this: short films in which we are supposed to know who these people are. People knew who the Kaiser was back in 1895, or pretended to, but if they substituted some other guy in the rowboat, who would know? A dozen years later, Melies would release movies showing the coronation of the King of England a week before it happened, and no one said boo.

AKA: Inauguration of the Kiel Canal by Kaiser Wilhelm II (1895). This film is considered, one of the first examples, of a news-reel film. The actual inauguration of the canal happened in June of 1895. The film probably wasn't released until 1896. It is a mere 13 seconds long, with a shot of a row-boat, slowly moving down the canal. A lonely man walks by and then, like anybody, looks back at the camera, trying to figure out what's going on. It is an early example of an Instagram video. This British film production, utilizes a nice contrast in the main shot. It is a contrast, that is very professional for 1896. It is a good blend of the black and white thresholds. It also has an appealing composition to the shot as well. Opening of the Kiel Canal (1896), shows how well these pioneering directors, of the late-1800s, like Birt Acres, knew their craft so well.

8.1 (B MyGrade) = 8 IMDB.