The Airship, or 100 Years Hence
Screenshot
Directed byJ. Stuart Blackton
Written byJ. Stuart Blackton
Screenplay byJ. Stuart Blackton
Story byJ. Stuart Blackton
Produced byJ. Stuart Blackton
StarringJ. Stuart Blackton
Florence Lawrence
CinematographyJ. Stuart Blackton
Edited byJ. Stuart Blackton
Production
company
Distributed byThe Vitagraph Company of America
Release date
  • April 25,  1908 (1908-04-25)
Running time
137 metres (split reel): 4:59 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent

The Airship, or 100 Years Hence is an American adventure comedy-drama silent short film written, produced and directed by J. Stuart Blackton.[1] The film stars Blackton and Florence Lawrence. It was released on April 25, 1908 by The American Vitagraph Company; a partial print of The Airship, or 100 Years Hence is preserved in the Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress).[2] The Airship, or 100 Years Hence advertised that it would be "a forecast of a probable means of air navigation in the coming century."[3]

Plot

A young lady and a friend are observed entering an airship, which is loaded with ballast, sand bags, vegetables, and more. They laugh heartily, shake hands and are off. Another individual equipped with wings, in the clouds. Below, a Jewish man walking down the street, has some sawdust fall on him, then some vegetables. All the items are falling from the airship.

Other pedestrians including a policeman, stop and look upward, and are showered with vegetables. An air-cycle cop is summoned, who mounts his machine and flies upward.

The Jewish man reaches his pawn shop where a man comes in to pawn a pair of wings. The broker gives the loan, tries on his strange equipment, and soars up into the sky. In a collision, the air-cycle cop causing the broker to fall through space, lighting on the moon for a moment, then into the ocean. At the sea bottom, the broker flirts with mermaids, but a whale suddenly swallows him up.

On a passing ship, sailors are fishing and catch the whale, cutting it open to find the hapless broker.[N 1]

Cast

Production

Blackton was one of the first filmmakers to use the techniques of stop-motion and drawn animation, and is considered a father of American animation. The Airship, or 100 Years Hence was produced by the Vitagraph Company of America.[5]

Reception

In projections, The Airship, or 100 Years Hence was programmed with the split reel system, merged into a single reel with another short film produced by Vitagraph, True Hearts Are More Than Coronets.Phil Hardy in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies (1984) noted that "the film was never intended to be taken seriously."[6]

Aviation historian Michael Paris wrote, The Airship, or 100 Years Hence "... combined novelty and comedy."[3]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Blackton's plot involved elements of antisemitism, typical of the era.[4]
  2. ↑ During the period of work at the Vitagraph studio, J. Stuart Blackton ran the studio, as well as being involved in producing, directing, and writing its films. He even starred in some of his films, although it is unclear whether he is in The Airship, or 100 Years Hence.[1]

Citations

  1. 1 2 "Blackton, pioneer In movies, dies, 66. ex-Commodore of Atlantic Yacht Club here. Is victim of auto accident. A founder of Vitagraph. Producer of 'Black Diamond Express' thriller. Began as marine artist."The New York Times, August 14, 1941. Retrieved: May 28, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Vitagraph paper print fragments. No. 5." Library of Congress, (Congress.gov). Retrieved: May 27, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Paris 1995, p. 12.
  4. ↑ "Summaries: Plot; 'The Airship; or, 100 Years Hence' (1908)". IMDb via Moving Picture World synopsis. Retrieved: May 28, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Commodore Blackton, who went from riches to relief, dies at 66." Variety, August 20, 1941, p. 4.
  6. ↑ Hardy 1984, p. 30.

Bibliography

  • Hardy, Phil. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies. Woodbury, Tennessee: Woodbury Press, 1984. ISBN 978-0-78940-185-4.
  • Menville, Douglas, R. Reginald with Mary A. Burgess. Futurevisions: The New Golden Age of the Science Fiction Film. San Bernardino, California: Borgo Press, 1985. ISBN 978-0-87877-081-6.
  • Paris, Michael. From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-7190-4074-0.
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