cinema
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Godbert Lawley and the Original Victorian B-movie Collection #4
We return to the fascinating universe of Godbert Lawley’s B-movies. This time we have included stills from what we believe to be the first zombie movie ever made. It’s called The Workhouse Dead and it played for 6 consecutive years every Halloween to an audience of around fifty viewers in a tent. These viewers would…
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Godbert Lawley and the Original Victorian B-movie Collection #3
We’re keeping things short and sweet today. Here are some more stills from the movies of Godbert Lawley. Our research suggests that many of the actors, sets, stories and props were recycled. However, they were reworked to such a degree that a casual viewer would never detect it. We believe that the images in this…
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Godbert Lawley and the Original Victorian B-movie Collection #2
An interesting fact about Godbert’s movies is that the overwhelming majority of the staff were not only alcoholics, but were largely drunk on set. According to one interview, he said that the reason for this is that alcoholics are not only cheaper (because they can be paid in alcohol), but they also make better stuntmen.…
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Godbert Lawley and the Original Victorian B-movie Collection #1
In a short period of time, Godbert made, or attempted to make, around 50 horror movies. These were funded by wealthy businessmen who predicted the silver screen boom. Each movie was around 3 minutes long and many of them were scrapped for reasons unknown. Fortunately some did survive and made their way to the underground…
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Victorian Art House Cinema Stills Collection #2
We would first like to thank our restoration team for doing an outstanding job salvaging the reels we have recently received. Your work is vital to the continued success of this project. These stills come from a 4 hour-long silent movie based on Dostoevsky’s Notes From Underground. Like all arthouse cinema produced in London back…
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Victorian Arthouse Cinema Stills Collection #1
Today we present some fascinating stills from an early example of arthouse cinema. The movie is called Witch House and was released in the underground theatre and cinema network in 1899. Photograph #9 is of the visionary director and producer Conrad Pitt who inspired a huge shift towards avant-garde narratives and techniques. The Victorian movies…
Welcome to the Victorian Underground Project 