在这部未来的空中战争短片/科幻片中,The Airship Destroyer is playing on the ever-recurring fear of invasion. All the same, the futuristic aspect of the threat makes it very original. For that matter, this film is subject to a particular destiny.
Six years after being first shown, it is projected again in 1915. At that time, the terror of zeppelin air raids hangs over England. Several bombings claim very many lives in Yarmouth and King’s Lynn. London is also aimed at. It is only in 1917 that the creation of anti-airship incendiary bullets and of a special regiment in the Royal Air Force contains the deadly raids. 1,500 British subjects are victims of this modern war instrument foreshadowed in this film.
The airships are made using special effects. The animation and the models are the work of a master: the underestimated Walter. R. Booth. Before even contributing to the early stages of cinema, Booth exercises his creativity and exuberant imagination as an amateur magician. From 1889 on, he produces films containing “tricks” that allow him to combine traditional drawing and animation techniques. His taste for science fiction feeds on numerous inspirations, particularly on the French Georges Méliès and Jules Verne.
In 1906, Booth joins the Charles Urban Trading Company. This producing company favors films that cover news, travel, science and natural history. Its founder, Charles Urban, born in the United States to German emigrant parents, radically develops cinema in England. His company supports Booth who sets up his studio in his garden of Isleworth. However, after a few years, Booth gives up and takes on advertising. His work remains unfortunately ignored, as does the rest of his career.
The original element is a dyed print on nitrate film base, which went from a private collection to the Deutsche Kinemathek in the sixties. It was reprinted at the Studio Cine laboratory using the Desmet color restoration system in 2003.
Section 1: Preparation. The Aero camp. Loading supplies. Start of the airships. The inventor of the airship destroyer. His love story. The parting. The alarm. The aero fleet in full flight. The aerial torpedo and its inventor. Section 2: Attack. In the clouds. Dropping live shells from the firing deck of an airship. The chase. High angle firing from a gun on an armored motor car. Total destruction of the car. Railway wrecked by the aerial fleet. Shelling the signal box. The heroic operator meets death at his post. The fight in the air. Airship versus aeroplane. Wreck of the aeroplane. The burning of a town by the aerial fleet. Thrilling rescue of his sweetheart by the inventor. Section 3: Defense. The inventor with the assistance of his sweetheart sends his airship destroyer on its mission of vengeance. The torpedo, steered through the air by wireless telegraphy. One flash and the airship is doomed. It falls, a mass of scorching fire, into the waters of a lake.
