Andalusian Dance (1896) User Reviews

Old.

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 19 November 2009]

Robert Paul is a largely forgotten name today, but he was a major pioneer of British cinema, and was quick to grasp the commercial potential of cinema in ways that better known pioneers such as William Friese-Greene were not. He was more of a mechanic than a filmmaker making, with Birt Acres, his own camera on which to shoot films in 1895, and also Britain's first projector, the Animatograph, with which to screen them in 1896. Early in the 20th century he had a custom-made studio built in Muswell Hill.

This film survives today only as a Filoscope (a sort of flicker book made up of individual photos the figures on which, when the book is flicked, look as though they are moving) which was recently discovered in the Bill Douglas Centre in Exeter. It's not much to see, really, just a couple of Spanish dancers frantically doing their thing, but it holds a place in history as possibly being the oldest surviving film shot in Spain.

Andalusian Dance

[mechakingghidorah69 · 4/10 · 30 December 2016]

Henry Short, an associate and cameraman for Robert W. Paul, traveled to Spain and Portugal to make a 14-part film series, aptly named A Tour in Spain and Portugal. For many years, only one of that collection was believed to have survived: A Sea Cave Near Lisbon. However, in recent years, a second film was recovered due to its preservation as a novelty item called a Filoscope, essentially a flip book that could be used to simulate motion. In fact, a few titles from the R.W. Paul catalog were saved this way, as Short published several of his films in the Filoscope format. These books were able to be re-photographed and animated, allowing previously lost films to be seen again in the 21st century.

For world cinema buffs, Andalusian Dance is one of the oldest surviving films shot in Spain. The dancers are two sisters, Margarida and Amparo Aguilera, who both worked at the Teatro Real Coliseu, a place where Paul's films were on display at the time of this film's production. The two women dance back and forth across a room: one wearing a dress, the other a more masculine outfit. The film quality isn't the greatest, due to it having to be reconstructed from the Filoscope, but it is clear enough for the viewer to follow. Worthwhile mainly as a curiosity.