Tokyo subway tunnel as zoetrope - all the info

[Mark Nornes]

On Dec 10, 2004, at 2:26 PM, Jason Gray wrote:

> In a non-academic way, one thing I can say is that the
> first time (and really only the first time) I saw these
> images light up in the dark of the tunnel, the feeling was
> maybe as close as one could get in this day and age to
> being conscious of watching a moving image instead of just
> focusing on the content.

It's an attraction!

> That NYC subway film sound interesting. I assume it's
> public domain?

This is, believe it or not, the link:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?papr:1:./temp/~ammem_uYkI:: 
@@@mdb=mcc,gottscho,detr,nfor,wpa,aap,cwar,bbpix,cowellbib,calbkbib,cons 
rvbib,bdsbib,dag,fsaall,gmd,pan,vv,presp,varstg,suffrg,nawbib,horyd,wtc, 
toddbib,mgw,ncr,ngp,musdibib,hlaw,papr,lhbumbib,rbpebib,lbcoll,alad,hh,a 
aodyssey,magbell,bbcards,dcm,raelbib,runyon,dukesm,lomaxbib,mtj,gottlieb 
,aep,qlt,coolbib,fpnas,aasm,scsm,denn,relpet,amss,aaeo,mffbib,hawp,omhbi 
b,rbaapcbib,mal,ncpsbib,ncpm,lhbprbib,ftvbib,afcreed,aipn,cwband,flwpabi 
b,wpapos,cmns,psbib,pin,coplandbib,cola,tccc,curt,mharendt,lhbcbbib,eaa, 
haybib,mesnbib,fine,cwnyhs,svybib,mmorse,afcwwgbib,mymhiwebib,uncall,mfd 
,afcwip,mtaft,manz,llstbib,fawbib,berl,fmuever,cdn,upboverbib,mussm,cic, 
afcpearl,awh,awhbib,sgp,wright,lhbtnbib,afcesnbib,hurstonbib,mreynoldsbi 
b,spaldingbib,sgproto

If that doesn't work, go to the Library of Congress' American Memory  
project and search for the title:

Interior N.Y. subway, 14th St. to 42nd St.

The film was shot by Billy Bitzer for Biograph. This  is a tiny  
Quicktime (don't waste your time with the Real Video), but the  
"Treasures" DVD (multi-disc collection with contributions from archives  
around the world) has a beautiful restoration.

Markus




>
> To bring it back to Japanese cinema, are there are films,
> narrative or documentary that focus or use as a backdrop
> Tokyo's transformation from a streetcar city to a subway
> one? I could be wrong, but wasn't the Ginza line the first
> underground line?
>
> Jason
>
>
>> This is a perfect description of the early film tour
>> of the New York
>> subway system. (Sorry, I can't remember the name,
>> which is long but
>> descriptive.)  It's one of the most beautiful films
>> of the early
>> cinema. They mounted a bank of strong lights on one
>> train and shot from
>> the other, with all those pillars between them. The
>> shadows of the
>> pillars sweep across the frame while the trains move
>> smoothly through
>> the underground tunnels. A must see film.
>>
>> I thought about this early film when I first saw the
>> Ginza zoetrope
>> (maybe its linearity makes it more like the
>> Kinematoscope and links it
>> with cinema in stronger ways), and I couldn't help
>> but be struck by
>> this new=old imagery that offered a new experience
>> of the underground
>> city and half the train's who missed the show
>> because they were
>> absorbed in their keitai.
>>
>> Markus
>>
>
>
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