Charles Urban Trading Company

The Charles Urban Trading Company was a London-based British film company established in 1903 by the Anglo-American producer Charles Urban. It emerged after Urban left the Warwick Trading Company, where he had spent approximately five years, and became the principal vehicle for his independent film activities. The company operated during the formative period of cinema, when production, filming on location, exhibition and the distribution of short subjects were often closely connected. Its public identity was expressed through the slogan “We Put the World Before You,” reflecting an emphasis on presenting distant places, contemporary events, natural phenomena and scientific subjects to audiences who could not experience them directly. The company specialized in travel, educational and scientific films, areas that were commercially important in the early non-fiction cinema market. Its cameramen worked across several regions and pursued subjects ranging from military events and geography to wildlife, hunting and mountaineering. The company’s most prominent news-gathering achievement was its coverage of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Joseph Rosenthal filmed with Japanese forces, while George Rogers worked with the Russian side, giving the company access to material from opposing fronts in a conflict that attracted intense international interest. This work exemplified the logistical and editorial ambitions of early actuality-film producers, although the images were necessarily shaped by the restrictions and risks of filming during wartime. Charles Urban Trading Company productions also drew on a broad network of specialist operators. Charles Rider Noble filmed in the Balkans; H. M. Lomas worked in Malaya and Borneo and produced hunting material; John Mackenzie also covered the Balkans; and the mountaineer F. Ormiston-Smith filmed in Switzerland and Sweden. Naturalists F. Martin Duncan and F. Percy Smith contributed expertise in animal and natural-history subjects. Their work helped establish the company’s association with scientific observation and visual access to environments that were difficult for ordinary audiences to reach. Although non-fiction was central to the company’s identity, it did not restrict itself to factual films. It produced fiction subjects as well, including trick films and early science-fiction material associated with Walter R. Booth. Surviving or documented titles include A Canine Sherlock Holmes, The Acrobatic Fly, To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly, The Clown and His Donkey, The Third Round, The Cheese Mites and Willie’s Magic Wand. These productions show the company’s participation in the period’s experimentation with staged illusion, comic situations, special effects and fantastical premises. Urban’s direct connection with the company ended after 1910, although his name continued to form part of its identity. The business ceased production during the First World War, bringing its active filmmaking period to an end. Its historical legacy survives through surviving films, archival records and later preservation work. A copy of the company’s film of the 1906 Warwick Pageant, held by the Warwickshire County Record Office, was transferred to DVD in 2007. The company is therefore significant not as a modern operating brand but as an early British film enterprise that combined international actuality filmmaking, educational cinema, natural-history recording and popular fictional experimentation.

The Charles Urban Trading Company was founded in London in 1903 by Charles Urban, an Anglo-American film producer who had previously spent about five years with the Warwick Trading Company. Its creation reflected the changing structure of the early film industry: companies increasingly sought to produce, acquire and circulate short films for exhibition, while specialist subjects such as travel, science and current events offered an alternative to purely theatrical fiction. Urban’s company adopted the slogan “We Put the World Before You.” The phrase summarized its principal commercial and editorial proposition. Rather than presenting only staged entertainment, the company aimed to bring images of foreign countries, military events, natural environments and scientific phenomena to cinema audiences. It became particularly associated with travel, educational and scientific films, and its work depended on cameramen who could operate in difficult and geographically dispersed locations. The company’s most notable news-film assignment involved the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Joseph Rosenthal filmed with the Japanese, while George Rogers filmed with the Russians. Recording material from both sides of a major international conflict gave the company an important place in the development of early war actuality films. The work also demonstrated the practical challenges of early location cinematography, when cameras, film stock and processing equipment had to be transported into environments with limited infrastructure and significant physical danger. Other operators broadened the company’s geographical and subject coverage. Charles Rider Noble filmed in the Balkans, and John Mackenzie also worked in that region. H. M. Lomas filmed in Malaya and Borneo and was associated with hunting films. F. Ormiston-Smith, a mountaineer, recorded material in Switzerland and Sweden. The naturalists F. Martin Duncan and F. Percy Smith contributed to the company’s scientific and natural-history output. Together, these contributors gave the company a portfolio that combined expeditionary filmmaking, geographical record, wildlife observation and popular education. The company was not exclusively a producer of non-fiction. It also made fiction films, including trick and science-fiction subjects. Walter R. Booth was associated with several of these imaginative productions. Titles such as The Acrobatic Fly, To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly and Willie’s Magic Wand indicate an interest in visual transformation and cinematic illusion, while A Canine Sherlock Holmes, The Clown and His Donkey and The Third Round illustrate the company’s participation in comic and narrative filmmaking. The Cheese Mites likewise belongs to the period’s fascination with unusual close-up or enlarged views and novelty subjects. Urban ceased to have a connection with the business after 1910, except that the company continued to use his name. This marked a separation between the founder’s personal career and the corporate identity that had been built around him. The company ultimately stopped production during the First World War. Its end occurred as the film business was undergoing major changes in production scale, distribution and exhibition, making the company a representative example of an earlier, more specialized phase of British cinema. The company’s historical importance is also supported by preservation activity. A copy of its film of the 1906 Warwick Pageant, filmed in the grounds of Warwick Castle, was deposited with the Warwickshire County Record Office and transferred to DVD in 2007. Such surviving material provides evidence of the company’s role in recording public events and local spectacle, in addition to its better-known international and scientific subjects.

• 2007

  Warwick Pageant film transferred to DVD

  [1]Charles Urban Trading Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The preserved copy of the 1906 Warwick Pageant film was transferred to DVD by the Warwickshire County Record Office.

• 1910

  Charles Urban’s direct association ends

  [1]Charles Urban Trading Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Urban ceased to have a connection with the company beyond the continued use of his name.

• 1906

  Warwick Pageant filmed

  [1]Charles Urban Trading Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The company filmed the Warwick Pageant in the grounds of Warwick Castle.

• 1905

  Russo-Japanese War coverage continues

  [1]Charles Urban Trading Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The company’s war actuality work continued through the 1904–1905 conflict and became one of its most notable achievements.

• 1904

  Russo-Japanese War coverage begins

  [1]Charles Urban Trading Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Company cameramen Joseph Rosenthal and George Rogers filmed from the Japanese and Russian sides respectively during the war.

• 1903

  Company founded in London

  [1]Charles Urban Trading Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Charles Urban formed the Charles Urban Trading Company after leaving the Warwick Trading Company.

An early specialist film producer and distributor positioned around showing audiences distant places, current events, scientific subjects and visual spectacles. Its slogan emphasized worldwide access through motion pictures.

• Travel film

  Travel and geographical films

  Location-based films showing foreign countries, landscapes, cities and journeys. These subjects formed part of the company’s central promise to give cinema audiences visual access to places beyond their ordinary experience.

• Educational and scientific film

  Scientific and natural-history films

  Films concerned with natural phenomena, animals and scientific observation. Contributors including F. Martin Duncan and F. Percy Smith helped give this part of the catalogue specialist natural-history credibility.

• News and war film · 1904

  Russo-Japanese War actuality films

  Actuality footage recorded during the 1904–1905 war, with Joseph Rosenthal filming alongside Japanese forces and George Rogers working with Russian forces. The material represented the company’s international news-gathering capability.

• Fiction and special-effects film

  Walter R. Booth fiction and trick films

  A group of staged films incorporating comic situations, visual tricks and early science-fiction ideas. Documented examples include The Acrobatic Fly, To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly and Willie’s Magic Wand.

• Event film · 1906

  1906 Warwick Pageant film

  A film recording the Warwick Pageant held in the grounds of Warwick Castle. A surviving copy was later preserved through the Warwickshire County Record Office.

• 1904

  Undertake coverage of both sides of the Russo-Japanese WarOther

  Background

  The Russo-Japanese War created strong international interest in contemporary visual reporting.

  Action taken

  Joseph Rosenthal filmed with Japanese forces and George Rogers filmed with Russian forces.

  Aftermath

  The assignment became the company’s most prominent example of international actuality filmmaking.

  Source

• 1903

  Build an independent specialist film companyStrategy

  Background

  After approximately five years with the Warwick Trading Company, Charles Urban established his own London business during the early expansion of cinema.

  Action taken

  The company focused its identity and catalogue on travel, educational and scientific subjects while also producing fiction and trick films.

  Aftermath

  This specialization gave the company a recognizable non-fiction and educational profile, supported by international cameramen and location assignments.

  Source

1. 1Charles Urban Trading Companyen.wikipedia.org