Looking Backward:
An Introduction to Chapter Eight of
"Moving Pictures, How They are Made and Worked"
By Frederick A. Talbot, 1914


Mr. Frederick A. Talbot was an author of a diverse collection of books covering such varied topics as "The Railway Conquest of the World", "Steamship Conquest of the World", "Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War" and "The Canadian Boy's Annual" to name a few. In 1913 he wrote a book titled, "Practical Cinematography and Its Applications", followed in 1914 by the book presently under consideration, "Moving Pictures; How They are Made and Worked." Mr. Talbot's forte seems to have been that of the intrepid observer, a generalist who in a less forgiving era may have been called an author of all trades and master of none. Be that as it may, his books on motion pictures have to be among the first to be published on this then relatively new and burgeoning field.

Chapter Eight of "Moving Pictures…" recounts laboratory operations during that period in which motion pictures were exploding on the popular conscience and becoming very BIG BUSINESS. Undoubtedly taken from observations of average laboratory practice, the processes of developing negatives using techniques which have long been abandoned are well described. Though not explicitly stated, but obvious from our 21st century vantage point are the foibles of these techniques. The following highlights the source of certain flaws seen in negatives and prints from this period:

On pages 77 - 78, pay attention to the discussion of what is commonly called, "Rack and Tank developing." In spite of the methods described, rack and tank developing does not produce uniform development in a negative or a print. This can usually be seen as lightening of the image where the negative is wrapped around the end of the rack. The same effect is seen on a positive as a darkening of the image. In the projected image the defects are seen as a periodic change of density based upon the physical length of the rack and the depth of the developing tank. Watch for this "density bump" in the next early silent film you see.

On page 78 there is a discussion of drum developing. This method also does not produce truly uniform developing. The most common defect of this technique is what is called "Bromide drag" which is evidenced by a low-density smearing effect following dense objects. Bromide is a byproduct of developing which if not quickly dispersed in processing retards development of the image. The effect is most commonly seen in positive images but can happen in negative development if agitation is not sufficient. The screen effect will then be the opposite of what I described above for positives.

Page 79 describes several things which are still employed in black and white processing today to wit: silver recovery from fixers. Mr. Talbot suggests that the major point of this is to recover silver, but in fact just as important or more so is that the removal of dissolved silver salts lengthens the life of the fixing solution substantially and promotes consistent and rapid fixing of the image.

It is interesting to note that the developing agents suggested are for the most part still in common use. This is also true for the fixer, though in this text sodium thiosulphate is referred to as hyposulphite of soda! Talbot's remarks on drying conditions are still true and practiced much more rigorously then in Talbot's day.

Attention should by paid to page 80's comments regarding different developing conditions for different sections of film depending on what the exposures were in a given day or location. Though this is not so widely practiced today, "pushing or pulling" a negative in processing is still with us if needed.

In the next to the last paragraph on page 80, mention is made of the lab perforating the film used for positive prints. While this is uncommon today, the practice is occasionally employed to produce certain stocks which are no longer directly available from the manufacturer.

From the bottom of page 80 to the top of page 85 two relatively thorough examinations of printers are described. Each of these printers fall into the category of "Step Printers," that is, each frame is sequentially stepped through the printer and individually exposed. While this type of printer is still in use today for highly specialized purposes, it is not common today for the manufacture of release prints nor for intermediate films formerly used as duplicate negatives or fine-grain positives in black and white or their color film equivalents.

The Newman-Sinclair printer described on page 81 is quaint in its omission of takeup equipment; the film(s) being dumped into a box as it exits the printing aperture! Otherwise, though primitive, the machine exhibits most of the features found on a typical step printer today with one major exception: there is no provision for cueing or changing exposures shot-to-shot! This is a "one light" printer in its purest form.

A Williamson printer is described beginning on page 82. This machine is considerably more sophisticated than the Newman-Sinclair and does provide takeup apparatus as well as a rugged and well thought-out approach to machine construction and darkroom use. Means are provided for shot-to-shot exposure changes though quite different from today's way of doing things! In fact, one of the devices employed to change the amount of light employed is resistance dimming which cannot provide an instantaneous change of light. Thus one of the giveaways of this is a "sliding" from one light value to another, i. e. a fading-up or a fading-down from one shot to the next. Watch for this when viewing prints from this period.

Once again the concept of a skilled developing operator is emphasized on page 85 using various agitation techniques during the development of positive prints. While this concept flourished until the late 1920's, the introduction of talking pictures brought an end to it. Sound tracks required that prints be developed at a uniform speed and in a totally predictable fashion. Essentially this locked the development of positives to a single desired gamma not a multiplicity of gammas as was the case previously.

Also on page 85 a brief mention is made of portable processing outfits appropriate to develop motion picture film in the wild. A more "modern" version of this was the "Morris Tank" widely used during World War II for reconnaissance, gun-sight aiming point films and other purposes.

Finally, a brief and strangely informed observation is made of the processes of fiction film production as well as a recommendation to the home movie enthusiast to send his developing and printing out to professionals rather than to attempt to do this work himself! My response to this admonition: "No guts, no glory!"

Page 76-77 (pdf)
Page 78 (pdf)
Page 79 (pdf)
Page 80-81 (pdf)
Page 82 (pdf)
Page 83 (pdf)
Page 84-85 (pdf)
Page 86-87 (pdf)

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