Lost World: The sea lost its sails, the rivers their washer-women, the fields their shade trees, the streets their animals and pedestrians, humans their co-existence with livestock and grown-ups their games with children. Farewell, Early Cinema: Soon the cinema would lose some of the production genres which had characterised the first decade of the century. After 1910 the féerie would melt away, merging into costume dramas and animation. But in 1909 there were still some wonderful examples, such as Segundo de Chomón’s fantastically innovative Voyage sur Jupiter (see Colour Programme I) and the classical – it even has a ballet scene – Le Philtre maudit. Pictures with sound on disc came to an abrupt end when at their peak – the reason being over-production and a consequent collapse in price, with production costs exceeding sales revenue. Messter, until then the major German producer, retired from the market in autumn 1909.

Most of the sound on disc pictures have come down to us in silent form. Christian Zwarg, music historian and a collaborator on the German Discography, undertook the job of tracking down, for a whole series of such films from the Filmarchiv Austria and the Deutsche Kinemathek, the singers, songs and actual recordings, and to synchronise them again to the action. We thank him for giving new life to some unique records of Vienna and Berlin musical comedy. To see and hear Henry Bender as “Po-Po-Policeman” in the Schutzmannslied gives us new insight into the Berlin of Kaiser Wilhelm.

Mariann Lewinsky