| In
the years following the turn-of-the-century of 1900, motion
pictures were still considered modern innovations. The cinematograph
displayed foreign places and current events, sometimes it even
told little stories, but the fact that pictures were actually
moving on the screen, was to the audience still more fascinating
than the stories themselves.
After
1905, as more and more permanent cinemas were established,
there were occasional publications, reports and descriptions
of the cinema being a remarkable place for experiences. It
was compared to a time machine, where exotic films from near
and far projected startling travels in the darkness.
The film
to the left - Alperna, en resa från Chamonix till
Fayet [The Alps, a trip from Chamonix to Fayet], shot
by Pathé 1908, was a typical travelogue.
Travelogues,
i.e. travel films, where the camera was placed on the front
or the back of a train, were during the first decade of the
1900s the most popular of film genres. In 1909 Nordisk
filmtidning [The Nordic Film magazine] stated:
"I
have seen the water masses of Niagara melt into fog, Arabs
on camel backs slide through burning deserts, Eskimos hunt
for walrus, fakirs from India and the great art of Italy.
The whole surface of the earth with all of her interesting
and educational events, which, without the cinematography
would never have been seen by anyone, it all reveals itself
on the screen."
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