Film History, Volume 21, pp. 122–136, 2009. Copyright © John Libbey Publishing ISSN: 0892-2160. Printed in United States of America ‘The modern Elixir of Life’: Kinemacolor, royalty and the Delhi Durbar The modern Elixir of Life Luke McKernan rowned heads were crucial to the development the Coronation Durbar held in Delhi ostentatiously and identity of the early actuality film. In Britain, displayed the continuity of imperial power from one Cin particular, they provided glamour, exclusivity reign to the next. These rites of passage were re- and guaranteed audience appeal. They were a corded by one film manufacturer in particular, the popular subject for export, and a means to mark the Natural Color Kinematograph Company, whose particular British-ness of the emergent film industry. identity, central product and fortune were to a sub- This coincided with a policy of increased visibility for stantial extent bound up in these royal events. The the British royal family. Public ceremonial was under- Natural Color Kinematograph Company had been stood to have great value in binding together nation formed in 1909 by the Anglo-American Charles and empire in the late Victorian era. Ceremonials Urban to exploit the Kinemacolor process for produc- marking events in the lives of the monarchy had ing natural colour motion pictures.3 Kinemacolor was always existed, of course, but, as David Cannadine an additive colour process, employing a rotating filter states, ‘in the late nineteenth century they were pro- with red and green sections on both camera and pelled onto a much higher plane of efficiency, self- projector, and with a filming and projection speed of consciousness and ostentation’, carried along further around thirty frames per second. It had been in- as the empire expanded.1 Manufactured spectacu- vented by George Albert Smith and patented in No- lars such as the Delhi Durbar of 1877, held to proclaim vember 1906. Two years later, in May 1908, the first the new Queen Empress, and the Golden Jubilee of public demonstration of Smith’s invention took place Queen Victoria’s reign in 1887, expressed an imperial in London at Urbanora House, Wardour Street. Within feeling through pageantry, colour and extravagant less than a year, Kinemacolor, as it was now officially display, with royalty as its focal point. Mass-produced named, was commercially released to the public at and distributed visual media, including newspapers, the Palace Theatre in London on 23 February 1909.4 photography, and film, played a central role in dis- Up to the First World War it was the only natural seminating the imperial message. As early as 1897, motion picture colour process most audiences could Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London see.5 became a showcase for the emergent motion picture Kinemacolor’s reputation was built on the non- industry, as established film manufacturers secured fiction film. The colour process was unsuited to stu- positions along the procession route, and pride in the event transferred to pride in the young film industry that had come together to honor the occasion.2 Luke McKernan is Curator, Moving Image, at the British Library. His publications include Yesterday’s Royalty nurtured the emerging British film in- News: The British Cinema Newsreel Reader (2002) and dustry, especially during the years 1910–1911, when Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema (1996). This essay is a series of major royal events were enthusiastically adapted from his doctoral thesis, ‘"Something More covered by several topical and interest film busi- than a Mere Picture Show": Charles Urban and the Early Non-Fiction Film in Great Britain and America, nesses. The funeral of Edward VII, the coronation of 1897–1925’ (2004). Correspondence to George V, the investiture of the Prince of Wales and [email protected] FILM HISTORY: Volume 21, Number 2, 2009 – p. 122 ‘The modern Elixir of Life’ FILM HISTORY Vol. 21 Issue 2 (2009) 123 dio work because it absorbed too much available funeral which give an extraordinarily good idea light, which limited the range and quality of its dra- of what the procession was like, a far better matic productions.6 Its strength was built on the view, indeed, than was probably enjoyed by actuality film, whose natural colours supported Kine- many people in the huge crowds. As the public macolor’s claims to depict reality to a degree that … was entirely dressed in black on the two could not be matched by any rival – whether it be the days of the processions the contrast in colour monochrome newsreels or the artificial stencil-colour between the Kinemacolor pictures and the offerings of the world power in motion picture pro- more familiar illusions produced by the Kine- duction, the French firm Pathé. The Natural Color matograph is not as marked as would naturally Kinematograph Company’s triumph was its colour be the case, and in some of the views the red records of the royal ceremonials of 1910–1911, of the soldiers’ tunics is practically the only new where for producer and audience fidelity to nature note. But in others the greens and blues of through colour came to be equated with fidelity to the some of the foreign uniforms, the red, white crown and the imperial idea. It also meant for the and blue of the Union Jack, the gold of the company, as for other purveyors of visual media at Royal Standard, and the green of the trees this time, very good business [Fig. 1]. produce an extraordinarily faithful copy of the actual scenes.8 Something more than a mere The Times’ dissection of the projected images picture show into the realistic reproductions of individual colours Royal favour was first shown towards Kinemacolor would become a familiar critical response to Kinema- on 6 July 1909, when King Edward VII and Queen color, as audiences responded to open invitations Alexandra saw a programme of Kinemacolor films at from Kinemacolor publicity to analyse the films for a house party held at Knowsley, Lancashire, at the their colour values. For the Morning Advertiser, ‘Some invitation of the Earl of Derby. George Albert Smith clouds effects are reproduced with remarkable deli- presented the programme and was introduced to the cacy, whilst the colours of the flags fluttering at King and Queen. The films included the King filmed half-mast against that background were not more at Kensington the previous month, and a film taken clearly distinguishable as the scenes themselves’, at Knowsley, ‘which unfortunately was taken in a bad while the Morning Post felt that the film was ‘espe- light’. ‘Very good, very good’, the King was reported cially successful in reproducing the red uniforms of to have said.7 the soldiers’. Sporting Life called the film, ‘something Edward died less than a year later, and his more than a mere picture show – it is a beautiful funeral, which took place on 20 May 1910, provided record of surely the most pathetic comparisons in the occasion for the first of the major Kinemacolor vivid and sombre colours England has ever seen’. newsfilms of royal ceremonial. The event established Delicacy of effect, vivid yet sombre, something more a benchmark for such films through its creation of a than a mere picture show: the tones of Kinemacolor surrogate experience, its marketing, exhibition and had successfully captured the mood of the moment.9 studied reception. The day of the funeral was over- The funeral of Edward VII was the first notable cast, problematic even for those filming in mono- Kinemacolor production and a marked financial suc- chrome. Nevertheless, the Kinemacolor production, cess, aided by the expansion of Kinemacolor exhibi- first shown at a charity matinee at the Palace Theatre tion across Britain. The first provincial Kinemacolor on 27 May 1910 (where Anna Pavlova and a troupe shows took place in Nottingham and Blackpool on of Russian dancers were also on the bill), generated 24 March 1910, and by the time of the release of the much press interest and overwhelmingly warm funeral film in May there were Kinemacolor shows in praise for the colour effects, its realism being re- Blackpool, Burton-on-Trent, Derby, Glasgow and marked upon repeatedly. The Times report noted Nottingham; other towns soon followed.10 Urban had that the film’s verisimilitude gave a sense of experi- initiated a nationwide advertising campaign in sup- ence that was perhaps greater than for those who port of five touring ‘companies’ that would take Kine- were there: macolor programmes to the major towns and cities [I]t is now possible for visitors to the Palace to of the country (over 130 in all), where they took up look at pictures representing the late King’s residencies of one to four weeks. Kinemacolor pro- FILM HISTORY: Volume 21, Number 2, 2009 – p. 123 124 FILM HISTORY Vol. 21 Issue 2 (2009) Luke McKernan mostly half-hour turns in an evening’s variety pro- gramme. A continuous programme of only Kinema- color film (predominantly non-fiction in character) in a London theatre was a risky venture. It was also difficult to set up, as no suitable London theatre seemed to be available. Eventually Urban selected the one theatre that was free, though it was far from the ideal choice. The Scala Theatre stood between Charlotte Street and Tottenham Court Road. It seated only 920, and its isolated location to the north of London’s main theatre-land made it an awkward proposition. How- ever, its relatively small size suited the projection of Kinemacolor, whose picture brightness would be adversely affected by too long a throw.13 Urban leased the Scala originally for one year from 22 February 1911 on a basis of 20 per cent of box office Fig.