New Brooklyn to New York via Brooklyn Bridge, No. 1

New Brooklyn to New York via Brooklyn Bridge, No. 1 (1899)

Edison bragged that this movie would have the greatest view of the Brooklyn Bridge. As with many railroad pictures from this era, the camera is placed at the tip of the train and we basically just get a view of it going down the tracks. I've seen dozens of these types of films and perhaps hundreds but they always entertain me. For starters, it's a great way to get to see major cities in the form that they were during this era. We don't get too many visuals here but we do get an almost 3-D like view as the train is rolling down the tracks with portions of the bridge on both sides. I can imagine a few people getting a headache when viewing this back in the day. It's certainly nothing ground-breaking but it's fun and worth viewing.

It's a phantom rain ride, as they came to be known, or a panoramic view, as they were called at the time. Back then, any moving shot was considered a pan shot. It was only the year that this was made that cameras were first produced that could swivel on their mounts. This made the modern pan shot.... well, not possible, since the cameraman and assistants could pick up the camera and turn. It certainly made it practical.

The other commenter has admitted that he enjoys these phantom train rides, and there's no disputing taste, admitted the man who watches hundreds of B westerns. Certainly, the part of the film in which the train enters the metal gridwork has a symmetric beauty. I'm just not as fascinated bye genre as he.