San Francisco Disaster (1906)
*** (out of 4)
Leave it to Biograph (future home of Griffith) to make the first film based on the SF earthquake of 1906. From what I've read, the producer's tried to sell this off as actual footage but if you've seen the films dealing with the real thing then it's easy to see the fire here is a fake. Mildly entertaining but it can't touch the actual films of the destruction. G.W. Bitzer was the cinematographer.
Scenes in San Francisco, No. 1 (1906)
**** (out of 4)
Here's another film with actual footage from the 1906 earthquake. Once again the footage is quite striking as the destruction seems like the city would have been dead for a lot longer than it actually was. An interesting note is that in this film you see another man with a movie camera and he was actually making another film on this subject (San Francisco: Aftermath of an Earthquake). From American Mutoscope and Biograph, which makes you wonder why the above film was faked.
Scenes in San Francisco, No. 2 (1906)
**** (out of 4)
More footage from the earthquake but this film also includes footage from a refugee camp, which is quite striking.