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Madison Square?
It's a little difficult to be sure more than a century later, since the landscape of Manhattan has changed mightily since, but I suspect that this was shot in the area of Madison Square. That might be the Flatiron Building to the left. One cannot be sure, since it is seen straight on, looking at the middle of the building and I can make out neither its distinction triangular shape nor that little shop on the north. But that looks like the New York Life tower to the right -- that's still there and nicely lit at night.
In any case, this actuality shot by Arthur Marvin is actually very nicely done with a highly mobile camera. There's a bit of a pan to the left, and then the camera follows a wagon being lifted up for quite a distance; this is quite an achievement given the bulky Biography equipment of the era.
The copies I have been able to view are fairly dim and vague. They look like they were drawn from the paper print collection at the Library of Congress before they got in the new conversion equipment in the last couple of decades. Alas, as Marvin is considered a side note -- his Biograph colleague, Billy Bitzer, is deemed much more important -- I think it likely that fresh, sharp prints of this film are not going to show up soon. A pity.
In any case, this actuality shot by Arthur Marvin is actually very nicely done with a highly mobile camera. There's a bit of a pan to the left, and then the camera follows a wagon being lifted up for quite a distance; this is quite an achievement given the bulky Biography equipment of the era.
The copies I have been able to view are fairly dim and vague. They look like they were drawn from the paper print collection at the Library of Congress before they got in the new conversion equipment in the last couple of decades. Alas, as Marvin is considered a side note -- his Biograph colleague, Billy Bitzer, is deemed much more important -- I think it likely that fresh, sharp prints of this film are not going to show up soon. A pity.
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- boblipton
- Sep 20, 2010
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- Excavating for a New York Foundation
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime2 minutes
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