Champs de Mars | 1900 | Documentary, Actuality

Title: Champs de Mars | 1900 | Documentary, Actuality Director: James H. White Studio: Edison Manufacturing Co. Release Date: August 1900 Runtime: 1 Format: 35 mm; silent; black-and-white Country: United States Language: Silent Genres: Documentary, Actuality, Short --- Chapters: 00:00:00 Opening panorama across the fairgrounds 00:00:20 Pavilions on the Champ de Mars 00:00:40 Visitors and traffic on the grounds 00:01:00 Base of the Eiffel Tower --- Summary: An actuality filmed at the 1900 Paris Exposition, Champs de Mars presents a sweeping panoramic survey of the exhibition grounds on the Champ de Mars. From a single camera position, the operator executes a broad circular pan that takes in prominent pavilions, crowds of visitors, and activity across the site, culminating in a closer view of the Eiffel Tower’s base with the Trocadéro in the distance. The film functions as a concise record of the Exposition Universelle’s architecture and public spectacle at the height of the Belle Époque, emphasizing movement, scale, and the novelty of cinematic observation in the early documentary tradition. --- Background: Produced by the Edison Manufacturing Co. and directed by James H. White, Champs de Mars was shot in Paris during the Exposition Universelle of 1900 as part of Edison’s “Paris Exposition, 1900” series of actuality films. Contemporary catalog descriptions highlight the extended pan across the grounds and the concluding view at the Eiffel Tower, a motif echoed in companion titles such as Palace of Electricity and Panorama of Eiffel Tower. --- Trivia: Champs de Mars is one of roughly thirty titles Edison issued in its Paris Exposition, 1900 series. AFI’s synopsis notes a single-camera, approximately 300-degree pan capturing pavilions, visitors, and traffic before ending near the Eiffel Tower’s base. Edison’s catalog described the subject as showing “all the prominent buildings” along the Champ de Mars, concluding with the Trocadéro beyond the Tower. A paper print of the film survives in U.S. collections, with contemporary records listing it as silent, black-and-white, on 35 mm. Released alongside related views of the fair, including Palace of Electricity and Panorama of Eiffel Tower, it forms a compact visual survey of the Exposition’s central site. --- Public Domain / Rights: Original Release: August 1900 Original Studio / Distributor: Edison Manufacturing Co. Copyright Status: Public Domain Renewal: Unknown --- Hashtags: ChampsDeMars ParisExposition1900 Edison JamesHWhite SilentFilm Documentary Actuality PublicDomain This video was sourced from Internet Archive. Originally uploaded by jake@archive.org. https://archive.org/details/silent-champs-de-mars