I saw this at the Maryland Historical Society. Bodies move in and out of the smoking, steaming rubble. A Hollywood art department would have to be at the top of their game to create something this haunting. The fact that this filming was all a "happy" accident, makes this all more compelling. The cameraman was on his way to Washington, DC to display this new-fangled camera to the government. He spent the night in a Baltimore hotel and woke to find a city aflame. What better way to show off the quality of the new Edison Camera. It looks the way footage of war looks. Men in Bowler hats and dusters; silhouettes stumbling around a wasteland. If it was in color, it wouldn't be nearly as powerful.
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