Today's review covers DAVY JONES' LOCKER (1900), an early example of collage in US film with a nautical horror theme. Forgotten pioneer Fred Armitage combined a shipwreck shot with a dancing skeleton as part of a shipboard doom series released through Biograph moviessilently.com/2025/02/09/d... - ThreadSky

moviessilently.bsky.social • 15 days ago

Today's review covers DAVY JONES' LOCKER (1900), an early example of collage in US film with a nautical horror theme.

Forgotten pioneer Fred Armitage combined a shipwreck shot with a dancing skeleton as part of a shipboard doom series released through Biograph

https://moviessilently.com/2025/02/09/davy-jones-locker-1900-a-silent-film-review/

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moviessilently.bsky.social•15 days ago

At the time, film producers could not keep up with demand for new pictures but Armitage's innovation was far more than just repurposing footage via double printing. He created a mood and a theme with carefully selected elements making them more than the sum of their parts.

moviessilently.bsky.social•15 days ago

The American Mutoscope & Biograph Co. released for both projected cinema and flip card peepshow machines and its hefty 200 page catalog boasted that every single picture was compatible with all mainstream movie technology. This movie could have been seen anywhere.

moviessilently.bsky.social•15 days ago

All of the Armitage collage films were accomplished by double printing two or more shots onto the same film. Armitage would further refine his technique by using both negative and positive images for THE GHOST TRAIN (1901).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zptmy5pO05c&t=17s

moviessilently.bsky.social•15 days ago

(These collage films often have a 1903 date because that was when they were submitted for copyright but they were made and sold years earlier. It's not unusual for early films to have multiple release dates attached to them as production date, release date and copyright date could be very different)

moviessilently.bsky.social•15 days ago

The concept of repurposing old footage and combining it to completely change its theme and intention is, of course, wildly popular today and its origins are generally associated with later filmmakers like Joseph Cornell. Armitage's experimental work is now being reappraised and appreciated.

cabinetstories.bsky.social•15 days ago

I was surprised to find that Cornell hired a young Stan Brakhage to help him re-edit the found footage, as well as shoot some new material for other films

toffphilippo.bsky.social•15 days ago

An ancestor of The Forbidden Quest (1993) arguably.

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