Rough Sea at Dover

Infobox Film
name = Rough Sea at Dover


image_size = 150px
caption = Screencap from "Rough Sea at Dover"
director = Birt Acres
Robert W. Paul
producer = Birt Acres
Robert W. Paul
writer =
narrator =
starring =
music =
cinematography = Birt Acres
editing =
distributor =
released = January 14 1896
runtime = 39 seconds
country = United Kingdom
language = Silent
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0000030

"Rough Sea at Dover" (also known as "Rough Seas at Dover", "The Beach at Dover" [ cite web|url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/R/RoughSeaatDover1895.html| title=A Rough Sea at Dover|work=Silent Era PSFL|accessdate=2007-04-09| format=HTML ] and "Sea Waves at Dover") is an 1895 British short black-and-white silent documentary film directed and produced by Birt Acres and Robert W. Paul.

The film premiered on January 14 1896 at the Royal Photographic Society in Hanover Street, London. This was the first public screening of a film in Britain and followed a month after the first such screening by the Lumière Brothers in Paris. Following its successful screening in London the film was taken to the United States where it was shown on April 23 1896 at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York with a series of American movies made by the Edison's company.

Despite the simple nature of the plot "Rough Sea at Dover" became one of the most popular and widely-screened early British film. [ cite web| url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/442891/index.html |title=Rough Sea at Dover| work=Screenonline| accessdate=2007-04-09| format=HTML ]

Plot

The film consists of two distinct shots of different locations which have been edited together. It is not possible to tell with certainty whether these were edited together in the original release version. The first shot is of the rough sea as heavy waves crash against Admiralty Pier in Dover. The second shot is from a different location along a riverbank showing a view of fast-flowing water. It has been speculated that this second half of the footage has been taken from a film made by Acres late in 1895. [ cite web| url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/22348?view=synopsis| title=Rough Sea at Dover| work=BFI Film & TV Database| accessdate=2007-04-09| format=HTML ]

Current status

Given its age, this short film is available to freely download from the Internet. It has also featured in a number of film collections including "The Movies Begin - A Treasury of Early Cinema, 1894-1913". [ cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000030/sales |title=Merchandise |work=Internet Movie Database |accessdate=2007-04-09 |format= HTML ]

References