produced in fire; by ingenious devices the guns fire, shells burst in all directions, gaping holes appear in the sides and upper works of the ships engaged, until—when the din of battle has reached its height—the German cruiser 'Lutzow' blows up and sinks. One realises that here at least is one pictorial subject in which the Cinematograph is hopelessly outdone; the variety of noises, varying from the sharp bark of quick-firers to the boom of the heavy guns, which are here so wonderfully reproduced, are quite inadequately rendered by the conventional thumps on the big drum in the orchestra."
Before the resources of lance-work were fully understood,
the reproduction of famous buildings was a fruitful source of
subjects; those reproduced vary from the Crystal Palace itself
to Worcester and Salisbury Cathedrals, and from the Arc de
Triomphe to the Mosque at Delhi.
Natural catastrophes such as the Avalanche, the Eruption of Vesuvius, and the Destruction of Pompeii have been portrayed. The Wreck of the Eider in 1892, with the rescue of the passengers by the lifeboats, formed the subject of a popular set piece; another successful scenic showed a wreck with line-throwing rockets and transport of passengers by the breeches buoy.
In 1879 portraits in fire were reproduced for the first time, and since that date those executed have included almost all the Royal Personages of the day, many of which have been fired electrically from the Royal Box by the originals. Other eminent people reproduced range from King Cetewayo in 1882, the Maori King in 1884, Li-Hung-Chang in 1896, to Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford in 1920.
In 1887 what is known as the transformation set piece was introduced. Upon lighting, the piece exhibits a floral design in
