Battle of Chemulpo Bay

Battle of Chemulpo Bay (1904)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Ambitious Edison short runs three-minutes but packs a nice little punch. The film is a re-enactment of the battle in Chemulpo Bay during the Russo-Japanese war. The film gives us the point of view from the Japanese ship as it damages and sink two Russian ships. This is a very entertaining little short and what's so amazing about it is how simple it was filmed. The camera stays at the same position the entire time yet you get a good feel for the battle going on. The camera stays positioned behind the Japanese fighters as we see the Russian ships in the far distance. The action is nice and Edwin S. Porter's cinematography is pretty good all things considered. Certainly worth checking out.

For the era when this was filmed, this is a reasonably ambitious effort from Edison, but then it was directed by Edwin S. Porter who, a few months earlier, had single-handedly changed the course of cinematic history when he filmed The Great Train Robbery.

The film is a fairly simple recreation of a sea battle between Japanese and Russian ships during the Russo-Japanese war. The action is seen from the deck of the Japanese ship, with a half dozen or so Japanese sailors firing a massive cannon at Russian ships in the distance. They sink a couple, and take some damage in the process, and each time a Russian ship goes down the sailors wave their caps in admirably restrained celebration. It's nothing special by today's standards but is rather good for its day.