This is not, spelled n-o-t, the only film of the original Diaghilev Ballets Russes. I know of two others and have seen short clips from one of them. Bless the managements and staff of some of the newsreels archives in Europe and in America. The problem with restorations of this material is who will pay for it, since it's in the Public Domain, apparently excepting out-takes which exist.
hi KenViewer. as i mentioned in the text accompanying the upload, there is the amateur film of lifar in 'les sylphides' with corps de ballet rehearsing outdoors. i always imagined there was other film like this. do you recall what the ballets/dancers were in the two other clips you know of? i'm told there is privately held amateur footage of nijinsky dancing at a party in the US, as principles did from time to time, according to Richard Buckle in 'nijinsky' and 'diaghilev'. cheers
i said it incorrectly, nick; of course the image is much older than the voiceover; but i wondered whether it were part of maybe an early 1930s documentary type feature or something to that effect. :)
hi numberonefilmfan - yep, i think you are right about it becoming part of something else, like o documentary film - and yes absolutely i'd love to know what else was included. in the french newsreel compilation in which i found the footage, there was film of the car in which isadora duncan's 2 out-of-wedlock children (Deirdre and Patrick) died being pulled from the Seine on April 19, 1913. cheers
The costume differences may not mean much, as we don't know the circumstances behind why they were filmed etc. What confuses me about this little film is that in 1916 there was of course no sound film, so this has to have been made after the fact (say circa 1928-1930) and to have been part of a larger film or feature; I'd be really interested to see what came before and after! :)
hi numberonefilmfan. yes, i agree the costume differences are not necessarily significant, just interesting to note. as i mentioned in the accompanying text.
i suspect the date of 1916 is right, given the quality of the film and compared with film of Pavlova at the same time. i feel the voice-over was added much later - the words generated perhaps by an archivist and then read over the footage when prepared for showing.
This is not, spelled n-o-t, the only film of the original Diaghilev Ballets Russes. I know of two others and have seen short clips from one of them. Bless the managements and staff of some of the newsreels archives in Europe and in America. The problem with restorations of this material is who will pay for it, since it's in the Public Domain, apparently excepting out-takes which exist.
KenViewer 5 months ago
hi KenViewer. as i mentioned in the text accompanying the upload, there is the amateur film of lifar in 'les sylphides' with corps de ballet rehearsing outdoors. i always imagined there was other film like this. do you recall what the ballets/dancers were in the two other clips you know of? i'm told there is privately held amateur footage of nijinsky dancing at a party in the US, as principles did from time to time, according to Richard Buckle in 'nijinsky' and 'diaghilev'. cheers
nickwallacesmith 5 months ago
i said it incorrectly, nick; of course the image is much older than the voiceover; but i wondered whether it were part of maybe an early 1930s documentary type feature or something to that effect. :)
numberonefilmfan 5 months ago
hi numberonefilmfan - yep, i think you are right about it becoming part of something else, like o documentary film - and yes absolutely i'd love to know what else was included. in the french newsreel compilation in which i found the footage, there was film of the car in which isadora duncan's 2 out-of-wedlock children (Deirdre and Patrick) died being pulled from the Seine on April 19, 1913. cheers
nickwallacesmith 5 months ago
The costume differences may not mean much, as we don't know the circumstances behind why they were filmed etc. What confuses me about this little film is that in 1916 there was of course no sound film, so this has to have been made after the fact (say circa 1928-1930) and to have been part of a larger film or feature; I'd be really interested to see what came before and after! :)
numberonefilmfan 5 months ago
hi numberonefilmfan. yes, i agree the costume differences are not necessarily significant, just interesting to note. as i mentioned in the accompanying text.
i suspect the date of 1916 is right, given the quality of the film and compared with film of Pavlova at the same time. i feel the voice-over was added much later - the words generated perhaps by an archivist and then read over the footage when prepared for showing.
what do you think?
nickwallacesmith 5 months ago