Comic Encounter in the Djurgården
About Comic Encounter in the Djurgården
Outside the Novilla dance hall on Djurgårdsslätten, a man crashes a bicycle. The bicycle is stolen. He shouts for help. A drunk staggers through, a fight breaks out, someone gets a light for a cigarette, and a man dances with an umbrella. Ladies, children, and loose dogs cross the frame. Max Skladanowsky staged it with actors from Stockholm’s Tivoli. The German title is Komische Begegnungen im Tiergarten zu Stockholm. The opening card reads that a comic film shot in Stockholm follows.
Cast & crew
More about Comic Encounter in the Djurgården
Skladanowsky directed, wrote, photographed, and produced the strip during an August 1896 visit. He and his brother Emil were showing Berlin variety films at Kristallsalongen in Stockholm’s Tivoli, next to Novilla. Swedish Wikipedia times the film at one minute and says it was never shown in Sweden. Two camera positions are used. The second shows Novilla’s entrance. The production is German. The ground is Swedish.
Themes
Background
The brothers had shown moving pictures at Berlin’s Wintergarten in November 1895. This strip was made the next summer, on the Stockholm trip.
Making
Skladanowsky set the camera on the amusement ground, called the Tivoli actors over, and packed a crash, a theft, and a fight into one minute.
Look
Skladanowsky used two setups. The second frames the entrance of Novilla.
Preservation
The strip survives. It was not exhibited in Sweden when it was made.
Notes
- It is the first film shot on Swedish ground.
- The players are professionals from the Tivoli, not passers-by.
- Skansen is on the same island. The camera is at Novilla, not inside the museum.
- A still used on the Swedish page is the view of Novilla’s door.
Scenes
- The cyclist goes down and the bicycle is taken.
- A man dances with an umbrella between the fight and the dogs.
