A Sea Cave Near Lisbon
About A Sea Cave Near Lisbon
A single shot looks out through the mouth of the Boca do Inferno, the Hell's Mouth cave west of Lisbon. Waves come in and break on the rocks. The camera was on a boat inside the cave. The shot lasts 13 seconds.
Cast & crew
More about A Sea Cave Near Lisbon
Henry Short directed and photographed it for R. W. Paul on 13 September 1896, during a five-week trip in Spain and Portugal with Paul's lightweight camera. It was first shown at the Alhambra Theatre, Leicester Square, on 22 October 1896, as the thirteenth item in the fourteen-film program "A Tour in Spain and Portugal." Paul's catalogue called it a photograph of a large cave on the Atlantic coast into which waves dash with great violence. It was still in the sales catalogue in 1903.
Themes
In film history
It was the most popular of the fourteen films in "A Tour in Spain and Portugal," and one of the early hits of British cinema. Wave films had been selling since Rough Sea at Dover in April 1896. This one puts the lens inside the cave.
Making
Paul wanted footage for the Alhambra contract that followed his Theatrograph projector, shown in London on 20 February 1896, the same day as the Lumières.
Reviews
The Era, the Daily Telegraph, and the Morning Post all singled the cave out when the Alhambra program opened. Paul's 1903 catalogue still said the film had not been equalled as a picture of waves.
Audiences
It was the hit of the fourteen-film tour program and stayed in Paul's catalogue into 1903.
Look
Henry Short set the camera on a boat inside the Boca do Inferno and framed the sea through the cave mouth.
Notes
- Short made 18 actualities on the trip, mostly in Cádiz, Lisbon, Madrid, and Seville.
- The Era called it one of the most beautiful realizations of the sea the paper had seen. The Daily Telegraph called it a picture of real beauty. The Morning Post ranked it among the strongest effects yet from the 'graphies.'
- Michael Brooke of the BFI describes the framing as an early case of composing a shot rather than only pointing the camera. He also calls it the first film of a cave.
Scenes
- A wave breaks across the mouth of the cave, filling the frame.
Influenced by
- Rough Sea at Dover (1896)
