In the kingdom of shadows

One hundred years ago, audiences first encountered the magic of moving pictures. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary sources, most of them reprinted for the first time since their original publication, In the Kingdom of Shadows examines the reception and impact of cinema before the First World War. Adopting a thematic rather than chronological approach, each chapter looks at a specific aspect of the reception, exhibition and numerous applications of film - The First Sight, The Uses of Cinema, Cinema and Authority, Sex, Death and Religion, Art and Artifice, The Biograph in Battle, Cinema and Royalty, Both Sides of the Camera, The Fairground Bioscope and Penny Gaff to Picture Palace. Introductory essays for each chapter serve to place a selection of contemporary extracts and illustrations in context. As appendices, additional chapters present the result of recent research by recognised authorities in the study of early cinema.