It's been said, my friends, that history is being made all around us, each and every moment of each and every day.
While that might be true, I think it's equally true that we don't stop enough to appreciate these little bits and pieces as they take place in real time. We're too busy. We're too consumed with the business of living to notice that some happening may or may not turn out to be galactically significant in the day, weeks, months, or years ahead. Much like Roy Batty observed when he suggested that all of his moments would be lost like tears in rain, I've always tried to operate from the news desk from the perspective of drawing out these highlights and shining what little light I can on them from my humble perch. It may not be much, but I still think there's a hint of nobility in reminding us of what came before -- not necessarily of what came first -- so that we don't forget our own place in the cosmos.
That said, I'd like to draw your attention briefly to the fact that 1919's The First Men In The Moon turns an astonishing 105 years young today.
Having not been alive back then, I can't tell you whether or not this 50-minute feature went viral ... well, 'viral' being a term that might not mean today what it did back then. I don't know how audiences may have embraced it, celebrated it, or disdained it for what it was, a singular story about man's flight to our nearby satellite. What I can tell you is that it's firmly believed that not only is The First Men cited as being one of the very first adaptations of the H.G. Wells' novel but also it's said to be the very first full-length Science Fiction motion picture.
Again: this information could be amiss depending upon one's perspective. Coming from the mindset of preserving historical moments, I can only pass along that which I've either read or known to me personally. I'm well aware that there are shorter flicks that kinda/sorta claim the title of being 'the first SciFi movie,' and that's all well and good. As I said (or wrote, rather), The First Men is considered to be a full-length film -- clocking in at considerably longer than its competitors to the crown -- and I think that's something to keep in mind when debating.
Alas, the film is listed as presently lost to history. To the best of our collective knowledge, not a single print of it exists anywhere -- occasionally, old reels turn up in the most unlikely places, but so far that's not been the case -- and all we're left with at this point are images from released news clippings and the like. Let this be a cautionary message to those of you fledgling filmmakers out there -- always keep a backup copy somewheres other than 'The Cloud' as even that could be damaged in the event of some EMP when the End Times truly arrive.
So ... Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary to the visionaries who first took audiences to the Moon in this silent era production.
-- EZ
While that might be true, I think it's equally true that we don't stop enough to appreciate these little bits and pieces as they take place in real time. We're too busy. We're too consumed with the business of living to notice that some happening may or may not turn out to be galactically significant in the day, weeks, months, or years ahead. Much like Roy Batty observed when he suggested that all of his moments would be lost like tears in rain, I've always tried to operate from the news desk from the perspective of drawing out these highlights and shining what little light I can on them from my humble perch. It may not be much, but I still think there's a hint of nobility in reminding us of what came before -- not necessarily of what came first -- so that we don't forget our own place in the cosmos.
That said, I'd like to draw your attention briefly to the fact that 1919's The First Men In The Moon turns an astonishing 105 years young today.
Having not been alive back then, I can't tell you whether or not this 50-minute feature went viral ... well, 'viral' being a term that might not mean today what it did back then. I don't know how audiences may have embraced it, celebrated it, or disdained it for what it was, a singular story about man's flight to our nearby satellite. What I can tell you is that it's firmly believed that not only is The First Men cited as being one of the very first adaptations of the H.G. Wells' novel but also it's said to be the very first full-length Science Fiction motion picture.
Again: this information could be amiss depending upon one's perspective. Coming from the mindset of preserving historical moments, I can only pass along that which I've either read or known to me personally. I'm well aware that there are shorter flicks that kinda/sorta claim the title of being 'the first SciFi movie,' and that's all well and good. As I said (or wrote, rather), The First Men is considered to be a full-length film -- clocking in at considerably longer than its competitors to the crown -- and I think that's something to keep in mind when debating.
Alas, the film is listed as presently lost to history. To the best of our collective knowledge, not a single print of it exists anywhere -- occasionally, old reels turn up in the most unlikely places, but so far that's not been the case -- and all we're left with at this point are images from released news clippings and the like. Let this be a cautionary message to those of you fledgling filmmakers out there -- always keep a backup copy somewheres other than 'The Cloud' as even that could be damaged in the event of some EMP when the End Times truly arrive.
So ... Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary to the visionaries who first took audiences to the Moon in this silent era production.
-- EZ
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