Three young women are smiling and playing in a lake, their nude bodies reflecting in the water, when a forest watcher appears from the wood, and chases them away.
This Lubin actuality of the aftermath of the San Francisco Earthquake begins with a group of men, pans to the left, and the people vanish, leaving only the shattered landscape.
It is a dramatic film, with its colossal explosion and smouldering remains. Within seconds of the chimney's collapse, crowds swarm in to inspect the site; issues of the crowd's health and safety are clearly not a concern, as people smile, wave and salute the camera.
This one-reel documentary is pretty much what it says in the title. Cavalrymen ride their horses, first over low hedges, then over increasingly rough terrain, until by the end they are sliding down hills to cross a stream and going into caves.
In the beginning of the film, a streetcar passes in front of the camera position. The camera starts to move, indicating that it was on a streetcar since it is in the same position as the car in the first scene.
Comments
Have you watched The Reception of King Oscar in Kristianstad yet? What did you think about it?