image of person or book cover 1112792730215455929.jpg
Advertisement, The Mercury, 12 January 1901, p.3
form y separately published work icon Soldiers of the Cross single work   film/TV  
Issue Details: First known date: 1900... 1900 Soldiers of the Cross
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Sometimes called the world's first feature-length film, Soldiers of the Cross was more a multimedia presentation: a two-hour lecture, accompanied by songs and '220 limelight pictures and 17 cinematographe views' ('Town Talk', Geelong Advertiser, 4 October 1900, p.2). Other advertisements suggest it was 200 limelight pictures and 15 film segments.

Despite not being exclusively a film, Soldiers of the Cross was a significant early step in Australian film-making: the seventeen film segments (each ninety seconds long) were filmed exclusively for this production, using as cast members up to 150 members of the Salvation Army.

Soldiers of the Cross was usually billed as a lecture, but advertisements and reviews made much of the 'cinematographe' / 'kinematographe'.

The scenes showed the various martyrdoms of Christian saints. Contemporary reviews noted that 'Some of the films are wonderfully realistic, such as the stoning of Stephen, burning of Polycarp, throwing Christians to the tigers, and also the slaughter of the Christians in the Catacombs' ([Untitled], Daily Telegraph, 14 January 1901, p.2).

When creator Herbert Booth later left the Salvation Army, he negotiated to keep Soldiers of the Cross, and later toured it around the United States.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Before Hollywood, There Was the Salvation Army Barry Gittins , 2024 single work column
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 26 August vol. 34 no. 7 2024;

'For those of us born in the 20th and 21st centuries, movies are inherent to daily life. We automatically suspend our disbelief, buying into the premise of the plot so as to be transported without delay into other realms. For more serious viewing with documentaries and educational filmmaking, we can quickly choose to engage in the filmmakers’ efforts, accepting or rejecting their premise without any great cognitive efforts. We are accustomed to film. Be it on the big screen, on YouTube, TVs, laptops or phones. For generations, film as a visual medium has been there to tell our tales, relate our news and frame out ‘truths’. Yet it has not always been thus.' (Introduction)

Dead Heart : Australia’s Horror Cinema Geoff Stanton , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 31 October 2018;
Dead Heart : Australia’s Horror Cinema Geoff Stanton , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 31 October 2018;
Before Hollywood, There Was the Salvation Army Barry Gittins , 2024 single work column
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 26 August vol. 34 no. 7 2024;

'For those of us born in the 20th and 21st centuries, movies are inherent to daily life. We automatically suspend our disbelief, buying into the premise of the plot so as to be transported without delay into other realms. For more serious viewing with documentaries and educational filmmaking, we can quickly choose to engage in the filmmakers’ efforts, accepting or rejecting their premise without any great cognitive efforts. We are accustomed to film. Be it on the big screen, on YouTube, TVs, laptops or phones. For generations, film as a visual medium has been there to tell our tales, relate our news and frame out ‘truths’. Yet it has not always been thus.' (Introduction)

Last amended 15 Sep 2014 14:26:08
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