Aerial Submarine
(from the Catalogue of Kineto Film Subjects)
For just short of a full year now, I've been reading film tie-ins from the silent era of sci fi. At a pace of about 1 a week, this has included digging up plays adapted to film, novels (photoplay novels with film scenes being a real treat when I can find them), the occasional script, etc. For the short films of the early silent period I've managed to uncover a few original synopses.
On my anniversary of sorts, I've come up with the single short film that I'm dying to see the most. Aerial Submarine, directed by Walter Booth way back in 1910, fortunately does exist at the British Film Institute. They just haven't chosen to release it.
Ah well. Here's the synopsis in any event:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AERIAL SUBMARINE.
Showing the future possibility of a Combined Submarine and Airship, utilised by the Pirates in sea and sky.
SYNOPSIS
Part 1-THE DISCOVERY. The pirates are detected by a boy and his sister through field glasses, discharging their ill-gotten booty from the Submarine. Kidnapped. The youngsters climb the cliffs with a hand camera and snapshot the Submarine. Detected by the Pirates, they are made prisoners, the camera being dropped on the rocks in the scuffle. The father finds the camera, develops the plate, and puts the authorities on the track of the pirates.
Part 2-THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. The boy and girl, prisoners in the Submarine, view the wonders of the deep through the porthole. In the Conning Tower of the Ocean Liner. The Lady Commander of the Pirates steers and issues instructions to The Torpedo Chamber; "Make Ready!" "Charge!" "Fire!" The Liner sinks. The divers enter the Water Chamber of the Submarine. The water slowly rises, and the doors of the Submarine are opened. Looting the Liner. Emerging from the Submarine in the depths of the sea, the divers make their way to the gap in the Liner's side and relieve the ship of her treasure. The men re-enter the water compartment, and the water subsides, disclosing their stolen goods.
Part 3-THE PURSUIT. The Naval Submarine chases the Pirate. Hard pressed, the Submarine makes for the surface and shoots into the sky. In the Clouds. The Pirate discharges a shell; it strikes the Naval Submarine, and she is destroyed. The flying Pirate takes a course over the mountains. A careless engineer drops a smouldering match near to a tin of petrol, and an explosion results, which stops the engines. The Submarine, robbed of her power, rapidly drops to earth and the Pirates swarm out in search of water; but too late. Explosion after explosion occurs, and ship and men meet with a well-deserved fate. The kidnapped children escape in the confusion of the moment, leaving the Aerial Submarine a total wreck.
No K 633 Code "SUBMARINE." Length 750 feet.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's a reason that this one is so high on my list. Aerial Submarine is Booth's loose sequel to 1908's Aerial Torpedo (a.k.a. Battle in the Clouds a.k.a. The Airship Destroyer). The earlier film is considered by many to be the first "serious" s.f. film. This I have seen; an inventor saves the day from an air attack with his aerial torpedo and wins his true love. The plot is basic and some of the effects are crude even for the time. (Variety correctly said"something a little more substantial looking than these toy arrangements could have been found."). Nonetheless, I can't help but be refreshed by the earnestness. These films by Booth have to be considered an evolutionary step foward somehow from all those featuring Inventor Crazybrains, Doctor Skinum, Professor Puddenhead, et al.
written: 10/13/2002
