The Kiss in the Tunnel
An early example of film editing
Today we are watching the 1899 short “The Kiss in the Tunnel.” As per the British Film Institute, it is one of the oldest surviving examples of film editing. The phantom ride train footage was filmed at a different time and place than the interior shot, but thanks to the magic of editing and splicing, the short tells a complete story of a secret kiss undertaken in a train car, darkened during a pass through a tunnel.
The short was produced and directed by early film pioneer George Albert Smith, a member of what were known as England’s “Brighton School” of film producers. This group of filmmakers were one of the most prolific and influential of the early history of cinema, developing innovations in color-tinted films, trick photography, close-up shooting and zoom shots. “A Kiss in the Tunnel” is one of the first films to feature Smith’s wife, Laura Bayley. The pair met as stage performers—she as a burlesque and theatrical performer, he as a stage hypnotist. In addition to being married to an inventive filmmaker and starring in many of his productions, Bayley was also likely involved in creative development of many of her husband’s films, her skill evidenced by the many other films of her own that she directed and supervised. She has been identified as the world’s first female cinematographer, taking turns in front of and behind the camera. I rather love the story of a husband-and-wife performers-turned-pioneer-cinematographers working both together and independently on their own artistic visions and I hope someone makes a biographical movie about them some day. It should probably be a musical, but I’d be happy with a more dramatic interpretation too.
Wikipedia: The Kiss in the Tunnel
Wikipedia: George Albert Smith (filmmaker)
Wikipedia: Brighton School (filmmaking)
Women Film Pioneers Project: "Laura Bayley" by Tony Fletcher
Another time travel gif, I love it. Thanks Martini. I wonder if this was considered as "scandalous" as The Kiss from 1896. That short was called pornographic and had people reclining on their fainting couches everywhere. Were pearls clutched? Indubitably.
"And then they shut down the power all along the line
And we got stuck in the tunnel where no lights shine
They got to touchin' all the girls who were to scared to call out
Nobody was saying anything at all
We were waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world, waiting for the end of the world
Dear Lord, I sincerely hope You're coming
'Cause You really started something"
"Waiting for the end of the world", Elvis Costello