Films online
Below is a guide to films produced by Charles Urban which can be viewed online. Those titles available on Screenonline can only be seen by registered UK schools, colleges and libraries.
View from an Engine Front - Ilfracombe (UK 1898 p.c. Warwick Trading Company)
A 'phantom ride' taken from the font of a train passing through the Devonshire countryside. Available on YouTube.
Panorama of Calcutta (UK 1899 p.c. Warwick Trading Company)
Travelling shot along the Hooghly river, India, though the the city it shows is Varanasi (Benares), not Calcutta. Available on YouTube.
Cheese Mites (UK 1903 p.c. Charles Urban Trading Company)
F. Martin Duncan's microcinematographic film of cheese mites, showing the tiny creatures moving about a piece of Stilton cheese, which was the star attraction of Urban's 'Unseen World' shows. Available on the BBC News site.
Tartans of Scottish Clans / Woman Draped in Patterned Handkerchiefs (UK c.1906)
Two Kinemacolor test films, demonstrating the effects of the colour system by photographing tartans (note that this is a composite approximation of Kinemacolor, not true Kinemacolor, which can only be seen in projection). Available on YouTube.
A Diabolo Nightmare (UK 1907 d. Walter Booth p.c. Charles Urban Trading Company)
Comedy about a man who brings ruin to himself through his obsession with the diabolo toy (a craze of the time). Available to UK schools, colleges and libraries only through Screenonline.
Dreamland Adventures (UK 1907 d. Walter Booth p.c. Charles Urban Trading Company)
Fantasy where three children and their toys travel to the Arctic. Available to UK schools, colleges and libraries only through Screenonline.
A Juvenile Scientist (UK 1907 d. Walter Booth p.c. Charles Urban Trading Company)
A young boy wreaks revenge on his parents through tricks concoted by his chemistry set. Available to UK schools, colleges and libraries only through Screenonline.
The Sorcerer's Scissors (UK 1907 d. Walter Booth p.c. Charles Urban Trading Company)
Dazzling trick film involving a pair of scissors, coloured using stencil colour. Available to UK schools, colleges and libraries only through Screenonline. An extract is freely available from the Moving History site.
When the Devil Drives (UK 1907 d. Walter Booth p.c. Charles Urban Trading Company)
Fantastical trick film in the Georges Georges Méliès style. Available to UK schools, colleges and libraries only through Screenonline.
Willie's Magic Wand (UK 1907 d. Walter Booth p.c. Charles Urban Trading Company)
A boy takes his father's magic wand and causes special effects chaos. Available to UK schools, colleges and libraries only through Screenonline.
The Airship Destroyer (UK 1909 d. Walter Booth p.c. Charles Urban Trading Company)
Proto-science fiction with Britain invded by bomb-dropping airships. Available to all from Europa Film Treasures, and to UK schools, colleges and libraries only through Screenonline.
Pageant of Romney, Hythe and Sandwich (UK 1910 d. G.A. Smith p.c. Natural Color Kinematograph Company)
Kinemacolor record of a pageant held in the Kent towns celebrating their past. The film was not released owing to errors in the colour photography (note that this is a composite approximation of Kinemacolor, not true Kinemacolor, which can only be seen in projection). Available to UK schools, colleges and libraries only through Screenonline.
The Acrobatic Fly (UK 1910 p.c. Kineto)
A re-issue version of The Balancing Bluebottle (1908), where flies perform extraordinary tricks, juggling corks, miniature dumbells, and most startlingly a ball with another fly on top. Available on YouTube.
The Birth of a Flower (UK 1910 p.c. Kineto)
A famous time-lapse study of flowers filmed by Percy Smith, shown here with colour tinting. Available on WildFilmHistory.
The Strength and Agility of Insects (UK 1911 p.c. Kineto)
A further retitled and reissued version of The Balancing Bluebottle (see The Acrobatic Fly above), plus other similarly dextrous animals, including a scorpion, an ant and a grasshopper. Available on WildFilmHistory.
Fight for the Dardenelles (UK 1915 d. Percy Smith p.c. Kineto)
Rudimentary but imaginative animation used to explain military manouevres in the Dardanelles. Available to UK schools, colleges and libraries only through Screenonline.
Oyster Fishing in Whitstable, England (USA 1920 p.c. Kineto Company of America)
Originally a pre-World World War film (the date is unclear), the film was re-issued in America as part of the Charles Urban Movie Chats series. Available on YouTube.