Films online
Below is given a guide to films produced by Charles Urban which can be viewed online, in chronological order. The links take you to the relevant videos, or you can play the embedded videos provided here. Those titles available on Screenonline can only be seen at registered UK schools, colleges and libraries.
View from an Engine Front - Barnstaple (UK 1898 p.c. Warwick Trading Company)
A 'phantom ride' taken from the front of a train passing through the Devon town of Barnstaple. Available on YouTube.
View from an Engine Front - Ilfracombe (UK 1898 p.c. Warwick Trading Company)
A 'phantom ride' taken from the front 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.
Nankin Road, Shanghai (UK 1901 p.c. Warwick Trading Company)
Street scene in Nankin filmed by Joseph Rosenthal around the time of the Boxer Rebellion in China. Available on YouTube.
Cheese Mites UK 1903 p.c. Charles Urban Trading Company)
F. Martin Duncan's microcinematographic film of cheese mites, featuring himself as the scientist viewing the tiny creatures moving about a piece of Stilton cheese through his magnifying glass, which was the star attraction of Urban's 'Unseen World' shows. Available on BFI Player and YouTube.
Living London (UK 1904)
A brief extract from one of the two suriving sections of Urban's original nine-part, 2,500-ft documentary, an exceptionally observant view of London life. Held by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Extract available on National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
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.
Great Victoria Falls, Zambezi River (UK 1907 d. Joseph de Frenes p.c. Charles Urban Trading Company)
Travelogue filmed by Joseph de Frenes as part of the Urban-Africa expedition, showing scenes around the Victoria Falls. Available from Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire.
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.
A Trip through British North Borneo (UK 1907 d. H.M. Lomas p.c. Charles Urban Trading Company)
Travelogue showing scenes of indstry in British North Borneo. Available from Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire.
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.
Tartans of Scottish Clans / A Scottish Lass (UK 1909)
A Kinemacolor test film, demonstrating the effects of the colour system by photographing tartans, followed by an early Kinemacolor official release, also demonstrating tartan cloth, featuring G.A. Smith's daughter Dorothy. Available on YouTube.
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 BFI Player and on the Internet Archive.
A Dash to the North Pole (UK 1909 p.c. Kineto)
Fragments from an original film of the 1903-05 William Ziegler North Pole expedition, led by Anthony Fiala. The filmed was re-issued by Urban in 1909. Available on YouTube.
To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly (UK 1909 d. Percy Smith p.c. Kineto)
Use of an animated model spiders to demonstrate how it spins a web. Available to UK schools, colleges and libraries only through Screenonline.
Glasgow and the Clyde Coast (UK 1909 p.c. Kineto)
Travel film to Scotland, sponsored by the London & North Western Railway. Available to UK schools, colleges and libraries only through Screenonline. A clip from a 1912 reissue version is available on the Scottish Screen Archive site.
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.
A Day in the Life of a Coal Miner (UK 1910 p.c. Kineto)
Documentary (with dramatic elements) on the coal mining industry in Wigan, Lancashire. Available to UK schools, colleges and libraries only through Screenonline.
Aerial Submarine (UK 1910 d. Walter Booth p.c. Kineto) Another ingenious piece of science-fiction from Walter Booth, in which two children are kidnapped by a priate submarine which can also fly. Available via BFI Player.
The Automatic Motorist
S.S. Olympic (UK 1911 p.c. Kineto)
A short section from a spectacular record documenting the construction of S.S. Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic (the copy of the film in the BFI has German titles, which is why they've published just this 67-second section - the original is 5-6 minutes). Available on YouTube.
An Otter Study (UK 1912 p.c. Kineto)
Natural history film including scenes of an otter swimming underwater and of the camera team setting up its tank enabling the filming to take place. Available on YouTube.
Montego Bay to Williamsfield, Jamaica (UK 1913 p.c. Kineto)
Train journey through Jamaica, showing landscapes and local industries. Available from Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire.
Britain Prepared (UK 1915 p.c. Gaumont/Jury's/Urban)
Documentary featured on Britain's war preparedness, showing army training, shipbuilding, munitions workers, and the Royal Navy at sea. Available from the Imperial War Museum
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.
The Battle of the Somme (UK 1916 ph. J.B. McDowell/Geoffrey Malins p.c. British Topical Committe for War Films) The greatest film with which Urban was associated, the documentary feature recording the battle of the Somme in 1916, filmed by J.B. McDowell and Geoffrey Malins and edited by Urban and Malins for release by the government-sanctioned British Topical Committe for War Films. Available from the Imperial War Museum.
Village Life on the Mountains and Lakes of Switzerland (USA 1921 p.c. Kineto Company of America)
Beautiful Switzerland travelogue made by Swiss filmmaker Milton Ray Hartmann for Charles Urban. Available on YouTube.
The Four Seasons (USA 1921 p.c. Kineto Company of America) A pioneering natural history documentary feature, filmed for Urban by Raymond Ditmars, showing the changes in nature over the four seasons. Available in downloadable form under a CC licence from Open Images (copy has Dutch intertitles).