A Nymph of the Waves

A Nymph of the Waves (1900)

This early film takes less than a minute and shows a woman in a long white dress dancing as the image behind her moves at way too fast of a speed. Again, it's important to remember when watching these early movies that they didn't feature any type of story but they were simply made for people to watch for a nickle. With that in mind, there's certainly nothing too special here, although there's no question that "dance" movies were quite popular with the public since so many of them were made. This one here certainly doesn't stand out among the crowd so those interested in these early movies will be the only ones that need to check this out.

Of the three ocean-themed cine-dance superimpositions directed by Frederick S. Armitage for the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (the others being 'Davey Jones' Locker (1900)' and 'Neptune's Daughters (1900)'), 'A Nymph of the Waves (1900)' was the most impressive. The scenario is reasonably straightforward. Armitage superimposed existing footage of dancer Catarina Bartho (from the film 'M'lle. Cathrina Bartho (1899)') over the image of water from 'Upper Rapids, from Bridge (1896).' The result is that the dancer appears to be performing a burlesque dance routine on the surface of the water, twirling and kicking as the waves appear to lap about her ankles. The effect is actually quite convincing, and the water flowing steadily from left to right creates the pleasant illusion of camera movement in the opposite direction. 'A Nymph of the Waves' can be found in the "Unseen Cinema" box-set, in the volume "Viva La Dance: The Beginnings of Cine-Dance."