A growing source of silent era film information. This listing is from The Progressive Silent Film List by Carl Bennett. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

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The Battle of Manila Bay
(1898) United States of America
B&W : Short film
Directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith

Cast: [no cast].

American Vitagraph Company production; distributed by the [?] American Vitagraph Company or Edison Manufacturing Company? / Cinematography by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith. / [?] Kinetoscope 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format or Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format? / The production was shot on the rooftop of the Vitagraph offices at 140 Nassau Street in New York, New York, on 19 May 1898. One of Vitagraph’s earliest productions. Perhaps the earliest use of miniatures for motion pictures. Photos of ships were pasted to wood and floated in a tray of water. Blasts were simulated with pinches of gunpowder.

Drama: Actuality.

Survival status: Print exists in the George Eastman Museum film archive.

Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].

Keywords: Philippines

Listing updated: 22 August 2023.

References: Leyda-Before pp. 80, 93; Musser-Emerge pp. 254, 598; Slide-BigV pp. 9, 169; Slide-Early p. 14