Early Cinema Gateway
Other Themes
- Cinema Context
Exceptional resource for the study of the history of film culture in the Netherlands. It is underpinned by a database of cinemas and film programmes for the Netherlands, from the earliest years to the 1960s. The data from the programmes is connected to cast data from the Internet Movie database. This enables researchers to trace not only film titles but actors as well and map their exposure in various cities. Such enables researchers to analyse distribution patterns across time and territories. It is a model for other such projects that must now follow in its wake. - The History of Cinema Exhibition in Exeter 1895-1918
Text of a dissertation by Alex Rankin on the history of film exhbition in Exeter, 1895-1918. Part of the Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture site. - The London Project
A database of film businesses and cinemas in London before the First World War has been published by the AHRC Centre for British Film and Television Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. Its year-long 'London Project' investigated the nature of the film business in London 1894-1914 and the main output of the research is a database, which includes a map of London boroughs linked to database results. There are several businesses associated with Charles Urban. - National Fairground Archive
Informative site for the University of Sheffield's National Fairground Archive, written by Vanessa Toulmin, with plenty of details on fairground operators, especially those such as Randall Williams and George Green who presented film shows at fairground Bioscopes (a word taken from Urban's projector) throughout Britain in the early cinema period. - Netherlands Cinema History
A database of over 1,200 cinemas in the Netherlands and 3,100 people connected with them, from 1906 onwards, searchable by town and person. A proto-version of Cinema Context. In English and Dutch. - Plymouth Cinemas
History of cinema in Plymouth, Devon, by Brian Moseley, with good detail on film venues 1896-1909. - Utrecht Project
A history of film, radio and television in the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands, organised by Department of Film and Television Studies of Utrecht University in co-operation with the Netherlands Audiovisual Archive. It has useful information on Kinetoscopes and early travelling exhibitors such as Christiaan Slieker, as well as mapping the subsequent growth in cinemas in the city. In Dutch, with some English translation.