Aeroplane Contests at Rheims (1909) User Reviews

Very excellent sky pictures

[deickemeyer · 6 January 2015]

This picture may be looked upon in some sense as a sequel to the Gaumont release of September 7, "First Airships Crossing the English Channel," and the Urban-Eclipse operators have been equally as successful as the Gaumont photographers. This picture is sure to be popular in virtue of the fact that several very excellent sky pictures of the aeroplane have been secured. The film was exposed when the machines were comparatively near the camera and the result is that the aeroplane on the screen looks so large that you could pick out the details of their construction and see the aviators at work. The principal aviators of the world are shown in their flight and the picture concludes with a fine view of Bleriot's smashed aeroplane, the accident to which nearly cost his life. All the incidents of the preparation, ascension and actual flight are shown in this interesting picture, which, as we have already said, is a photographic success in virtue of the fact that the audience obtains a very good view of the machine in flight with the image of the principal object of a good size. In many of these pictures the principal object is photographed too far from the lens to render the picture sufficiently large on the film. But this is not the fault of the present film, which is certain to please and interest all who see it. – The Moving Picture World, October 2, 1909