Michael_Elliott Spanish Bullfight (1900) The title should tell you all you need to know in regards to the plot. This clocks in just under a minute and we see a bull go after several people in the ring trying to get at it. There's certainly nothing overly special about this film but it's worth noting that the cinematography is actually extremely good for the time that this was made. It's also worth noting that it seems the director made sure that the "performers" knew what they could and couldn't do in the frame. I say this because it seems everyone involved tries to make sure that the bull doesn't go out of the frame so this here is something that makes this film stand out.

JoeytheBrit While this film is technically competent for its time the subject matter, it has to be said, is one not worthy of the celluloid wasted upon it. The pomp and glamour of the bullfight is mere gaudy dressing to disguise the morally repugnant cowardice of its practitioners and, as another reviewer has already noted, shorn of its glamorous trappings the ritual is exposed for what it is. Gaily uniformed men on horses taunt a bull already weakened for the kill. Dazed and bewildered, its blood glistening on its flanks, the helpless creature lunges blindly at its tormentors. The brave taunter of the bull is safe though; it is the horse on which he is mounted that bears the brunt of the doomed bull's horns...

bob the moo I watched this film on a DVD that was rammed with short films from the period. I didn't watch all of them as the main problem with these type of things that their value is more in their historical novelty value rather than entertainment. So to watch them you do need to be put in the correct context so that you can keep this in mind and not watch it with modern eyes. With the Primitives & Pioneers DVD collection though you get nothing to help you out, literally the films are played one after the other (the main menu option is "play all") for several hours. With this it is hard to understand their relevance and as an educational tool it falls down as it leaves the viewer to fend for themselves, which I'm sure is fine for some viewers but certainly not the majority. What it means is that the DVD saves you searching the web for the films individually by putting them all in one place – but that's about it.Like many viewers of this film when it came out, I have not actually seen a bull fight for myself and as such the "event" captured here offers interest if not moral neutrality. The capturing of the action is very clear and well framed to keep the bull in shot without moving the camera. Frustratingly as is often the case it feels like we are seeing a snippet of something rather than the "something" in its entirety but this is probably for the best. I'm sure some will dislike this for what it captures but at least nothing too brutal is shown here and indeed a lot of it is dull! Overall though, it is nice to see a static event captured that is more than a train pulling into a station, even if some modern viewers will not appreciate the actions being captured here.

Snow Leopard The photography - in particular, the composition - in this early short feature is very good, but the choice of material is possibly less so. It's one of the earlier examples of the many movies that have combined technical skill with subject matter that some viewers will find uncomfortable.The movie shows about a minute or so of footage from a bullfight, and in technical terms, it is quite successful. The footage survives in surprisingly good condition, and it films the events from what seems to have been a carefully chosen vantage point. You can clearly see a portion of the crowd in the foreground, then the main action, and then, in the background, a pretty clear view of the crowd on the other side of the arena.While formal development of techniques like deep focus photography may have been a much later innovation, this is one of a number of very early films that show that even very early film-makers had the idea, without necessarily using a specific term for it, of trying to take a clear picture of both a foreground and a distant background.In its content, the movie covers a popular but somewhat inhumane activity, which lessens its entertainment value except for those who would not be bothered by it. (And indeed, some viewers would find nothing objectionable about it at all.) The footage does not, in fact, contain any particularly brutal sights, but the nature of the material being filmed would diminish for some viewers the satisfaction that otherwise could be had from the good quality technical aspects of the movie.