Bioscope Cinematographic Camera
Bioscope Cinematographic Camera c.1903
Designed by early British film pioneer Alfred Darling of Brighton, this historic Bioscope Cinematographic 35mm camera features a polished mahogany body with brass binding, a leather strap and the original retailer’s plaque reading “The Bioscope Camera, The Warwick Trading Co. LTD., 113, 115, 117 Charing Cross Rd., London W.C.”
It has a hand-cranked mechanism with two 15-tooth sprockets, bakelite retaining guards, double-claw, four film magazines and a brass-bound Aldis Uno Anastigmat f/4.5 4in. Focus lens. The bedplate, magazine, interior and finder window are all stamped with the makers AD mark.
Alfred Darling was one of the first to manufacture and sell motion picture cameras beginning in 1896. This beautiful Bioscope camera was manufactured sometime after 1903. It is an early model before single frame options were introduced. It has its original still camera lens, as cinema lenses didnt exist yet either.
The Warwick Trading Company was incorporated in May, 1898 with Charles Urban as manager and Darling, handling production of the Bioscope and other Warwick equipment.
The Maker.
Alfred Darling was from the genesis generation, he was an engineer and a key member of the early film pioneers dubbed the Brighton School by French film historian Georges Sadoul.
Alfred Darling
Alfred Darling began his engineering business in Brighton in 1894 where he met a group of early ‘animated picture experimenters’ also living in Brighton and Hove, including G.A. Smith, James Williamson, and William Friese-Greene. They were later referred to as the “Brighton School” by French film historian Georges Sadoul.
Darling was an amazing machinist and engineer, he understood film movements and was adept at modifying them to meet different needs and avoid patent infringements. He began his work on these animated picture apparatus starting in 1895. Then with the Wrench firm in 1896, manufacturing and patenting film machinery. In 1897 he took out a patent, jointly with Alfred Wrench, for a camera with a variable shutter and a claw pull-down mechanism. By 1898 he became Urban's lead engineer at the Warwick Trading Company, leading improvements to the Bioscope and creating the small gauge 17.5mm Biokam projector for amateur use.
Darling's engineering business was doing so well, he invested in the Charles Urban Trading Company when it was formed in 1903, and he served as a company director.
Darling worked on many of the cameras built at the turn of the century, not only Urban’s but G.A. Smith, Williamson and even Prestwich had designs or parts from Darling. The cameras that he designed and built were among the most successful and reliable that were available at the time.
Warwick Trading Co.
In 1894 the London office of Maguire and Baucus was marketing films and projectors produced by Thomas Edison and In 1897 they added the rights to distribute films produced by the Lumière brothers.
Later that year, Charles Urban was was brought on as managing director and by 1898 he moved to a more suitable location and rebranded the company as the Warwick Trading Company. Urban was responsible for significant growth in the company's operations, and it became a highly regarded film producer and distributor. They distributed films from the Lumière brothers, George Albert Smith, James Williamson and Georges Méliès. The company also sold film equipment manufactured by Alfred Darling. At its peak, the Company either produced or distributed nearly three-quarters of the films exhibited in Britain.
Urban left the company in 1903, and started the Charles Urban Trading Company. Both companies sold versions of the Bioscope camera, but the earlier Alfred Darling versions are the most desirable and are highly sought after today.
By 1905, in an effort to add more exciting films to its library, Warwick Trading Co. recruited new and younger cinematographers like Maurice Liver, who was barely 20 years old and was participating the New York to Paris race. The photos above show him, perched on a car, in front of the company's offices, holding a Bioscope cinematographic camera in his hands.
Actuality Films
By 1903 Warwick Trading Company was producing over 500 films per year. Many of the films were “actuality films” or non-fiction footage of real events, people or places. Actualities, the predecessor of documentaries, were popular forms of entertainment from the early 1890s until around 1908.
The Bioscope played a big roll in the production of the actually films, one of Warwick Trading Companies film makers was Frank Ormiston-Smith who directed the film The Ascent of Mont Blanc; 15,781 Feet High in 1902.
The Ascent of the Matterhorn, 1901 (video courtesy of Mediatheque Mediathek)
It was films like these and the later films of explorers like Osa and Martin Johnson that allowed the public to see the world for the first time in motion.
The Bioscope- King of Animated Picture Machine
This fully equipped Bioscope cost £50 in the 1906 Catalog, which is £1750 in todays dollars. This is the larger more advanced tropical model with two dials, the upper is a ‘speed register’ to count the frames per second and the lower dial, the ‘film register’ measured the amount of film used. This model also included the front ‘light tester’ and brass reinforcements for “heavy” or tropical use.
“The Bioscope Is the handiest, most compact..and efficient machine obtainable.”
The many advantages of this Camera are so well recognised that it is unnecessary to enter into detail as to its scientific construction high finish and workmanship.
Excessive cold, hot, moist or dry climates do not affect the smooth working, the accurate operation, or warp the case or mechanism of BIOSCOPE CAMERAS.
These Instruments have stood the severest tests during many years by Explorers, Photographers and Film Makers in all Countries and Climates.
The Camera for the Practical Kinematographer.
Many important pictures have been secured with the BIOSCOPE Camera (which is self-contained and always ready for use) during the time it took operators of other makes of Cameras to thread their instruments and adjust their film boxes, in consequence of which delay they lost opportunities of securing photographic records of events which could not be delayed to suit the user of an antiquated type of kinematograph camera.
This Bioscope was found with a later beautiful cast aluminum and brass Motion Picture Apparatus Co. tripod and geared head. The tripod, made from maple with brass hardware was claimed to be lightweight and sturdier than the competition. The camera even includes its original brass key, which is stored under a clasp at the rear of the camera. These are typically lost and rarely seen with early cameras. The key was used to open the cameras side panels and attach the camera body to the head. The geared head includes its original pan and tilt handles.
The camera is in wonderful condition for 120 years old and includes four film magazines, several stamped with the AD logo. The original movement is intact and runs beautifully…it includes a glass pressure plate.
Alfred Darling made the most wonderful apparatuses…his work can be seen on many of the brands manufactured from the very beginning of the invention of the animated picture machines. When you see the AD logo embossed on the side of a camera, you can be assured you have a piece of history.
Charles Urban and his Bioscope, Warwick Trading Co. Trade Ad and page from Urban Bioscope Catalog
