BFI

This actuality record of horse-drawn fire engines leaving the Metropolitan Fire Brigade headquarters at Southwark Bridge Road, south London, is one of two similar films that the Warwick Trading Company made in 1899, the other being Brighton Fire - Arrival of the Brigade.

The second film is more interesting in terms of film grammar for its use of two separate shots joined together, but it's arguable that neither of these shots are as well-composed as the single one that makes up this film. The entrance to the fire station is shot from an angle, and the camera is placed at a sufficient distance to capture the horses turning to the right after they leave the station, after which they run past the camera.

With the first fire engine (there are three in total) billowing smoke as it passes the camera, and a crowd streaming into the road after the fire brigade has passed, the film displays constant visual dynamism and although it's clearly far less sophisticated than James Williamson's Hove-shot Fire! (1901), it nonetheless doesn't suffer unduly from the comparison.

Michael Brooke

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