- Was there a film made on the Battle of Manila Bay?
- City, Nation, Cinema: Manila's Representation on Screen
Was there a film made on the Battle of Manila Bay?
written by Nick Deocampo (Nick Deocampo is the author of a forthcoming book, America’s Celluloid Empire: US Colonization and the Emergence of Cinema in the Philippines.)
Date published: June 13, 2008
Commodore George Dewey view in high res
One hundred ten years ago today, “a splendid little war” tangled our fate as a people with two of the world’s powerful countries. The Spanish-American War in 1898 that broke out between the old-time maritime power, Spain, and the new-kid-on-the block, the United States of America, brought the mighty US naval fleet to the Philippines. While intending to free the Spanish colony from tyranny (like in the case of Cuba), the US stumbled upon the Philippine Islands and later kept it as its colony. On that fateful first of May, the course of world history changed.
The triumph made by the American naval fleet over Spanish forces signaled America’s ascent as the new world power. It all happened on a moonlit night on 30 April of that year. Following the order for war, Commodore George Dewey and his naval convoy arrived at the mouth of Manila Bay. Having met no major Spanish resistance there, Dewey’s fleet entered the south channel at eleven P.M. with his ships in column formation. No major naval combat happened that night.
It was at daybreak on May 1 when Dewey’s fleet arrived just off Manila and, according to him, it was then that they were “fired upon at a quarter past five A.M. by three batteries at Manila and two near Cavite.”
In his biography, Dewey recalls the sea combat that followed: “The squadron then proceeded to the attack, the flagship Olympia under my personal direction, leading, followed at a distance by the Baltimore, Raleigh, Petrel, Concord, and Boston… The squadron opened fire at nineteen minutes of six A.M. While advancing to the attack two mines were exploded ahead of the flagship too far to be effective.”
Dewey describes his enemy’s resistance as “vigorous but generally ineffective.” The attempt made by the Spanish flagship Reina Christina under the command of Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasaron, Commander of the Spanish fleet, to engage Olympia in a close-range battle failed as the entire battery of the Olympia was concentrated upon the enemy ship. The Reina Christina later caught fire causing it to sink. Despite much firing, the Spaniards hardly inflicted damage on the invading American forces.
“At twenty-five minutes to eight A.M.,” recalls Dewey, “I ceased firing and withdrew the squadron for breakfast.” They left the battle arena with almost the entire Spanish armada in flames. It was at sixteen minutes past eleven A.M. when Dewey’s fleet returned to resume the battle but there was little left of the dissipated Spanish naval fleet. At half-past twelve P.M. the U.S. squadron stopped firing and at one P.M. Dewey’s fleet anchored off Manila.
Dewey won the battle and the American flag now flew on Pacific waters. For its part, the Philippines, once dominated by Spain for more than three hundred years, found a new master.
Two Filmmakers and a War
During the thick of battle between American and Spanish naval forces, a claim is made of two filmmakers filming the historic Battle of Manila Bay. The claim goes to say that aboard S.S. Baltimore were two filmmakers – American producer James Henry White and British cameraman Frederick W. Blechynden. Both were working for the film studio of inventor Thomas Alva Edison. They were on hand (or so they claimed) to witness the triumphant success of Commodore Dewey and took “a snapshot” coverage of the battle with their kinetoscope, an early form of moving picture device.
White made this claim in an article written by Charles Edward Hastings in The Moving Picture World on January 29, 1927. In it he recalled (or perhaps made it up) of how during their trip in the Orient, he and his partner accidentally were on hand to join the American forces on their way to war in Manila. White claimed they were “guests” of Commander Dyer aboard the Baltimore.
White recounts their date with history: “The action on the morning of May 1, 1898 was quick and decisive. From the Baltimore, I was enabled to get some splendid ‘shots’ during the action.” He describes how the US fleet opened fire shortly before 5 a.m. Half an hour later Dewey ordered the fleet out to sea, to breakfast, and back again to finish the job. This is when White makes the claim of shooting a film: “‘Patsy’ Holligan, flag officer for (Com. Dewey), gave us a lot of splendid details afterwards, regarding incidents on the flagship, and I hurriedly developed my negatives to show the officers of the fleet, before rushing them back to New York. These pictures were shown later in Huber’s Museum in New York City.”
White later adds that he and his companion had to “pass up” the opportunity of going with the American troops in the S.S. Oregon for the fight in Cuban waters, in order to “clean up” the Manila “shots.” Impressed by the adventurous trip of the movie cameraman and his companion, Hastings writes: White and Blechynden “stumbled across a perfectly good war, with a ripping naval engagement to top it off.”
The film made during that war (if indeed there was any), no matter if silent and short, was by no means inconsequential. For the Spanish-American War that broke out was one that radically changed the world’s balance of power.
Fact or Myth?
As pioneers of early cinema, White and Blechynden’s presence at the site of battle, while purely coincidental, brought them on the threshold of history both socially and cinematically. But despite White’s claims including another interview in 1904 printed in The Official Lantern and Cinematograph Journal, no film of his has survived to prove if truly there was any made about the historic battle. Its absence also raises doubts if there was truly a film made of the battle or it was merely a hoax.
Circumstances surrounding its making may not support White’s claim. Looking at how the Baltimore figured in the naval war, it is hard to imagine how the filming duo could have shot the event from the battered ship. Baltimore sustained the most number of damage coming from enemy fire. One wonders where White and Blechynden could have positioned themselves if indeed they were on board the ship taking their film footage?
But the presence of the two may not easily be ruled out. It is interesting to know that on board the Baltimore and other war ships were printing facilities and personnel to write eyewitness accounts of the historic battle. On the flagship Olympia, a paper entitled The Bounding Billow edited by Louis Stanley Young was printed. Another was Searchlight published on the Baltimore. With the presence on board of printing presses and journalists, one may be inclined to think, although remotely, that the two filmmakers may also had been on board.
But even while such thought may be entertained, the next question will be, how were the two able to leave the battle site to return to Hong Kong and be in time to board their ship on their return journey to the US? With Dewey imposing a naval blockade of Manila Bay, one is dissuaded to think that the two filmmakers were able to leave Manila Bay instantly. How could the two have rushed back to Hong Kong and board their ship that would return them home? Reports in a Honolulu paper announced the team’s arrival in Hawaii on May 9.
While White’s claim of being present during the Battle of Manila Bay provides an exciting possibility of the filmmakers being around to witness the historic battle, in the absence of any irrefutable proof (such as perhaps the existence of the film footage White claimed they shot; or a copyright claim of the said film; a program bill of the screening at Huber’s Museum; an advertisement about the film’s commercial showing; perhaps any such similar convincing document), White’s claim may be seen as one of the many myths surrounding early cinema.
While it is hard to prove the authenticity of White and Blechyden’s film, other films having the title “Battle of Manila Bay” have also been made. One such film was by the British filmmaking duo, J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith. Remarkably, the film was made in the same month the event happened. What makes their film differ from White and Blechynden’s is that this film was a re-enactment. With no claim of having been on the actual naval battle site, the filmmakers shot paper ships and engaged them in mock battle filmed in an upturned table-top. The shot was taken in a studio located at the rooftop of the American Vitagraph in New York City. In the same month, Blackton gave a lecture at Martha’s Vineyard titled, “With Dewey at Manila,” where he posed as an “eyewitness” in the said battle. Of course, he was not at the battle scene, and his lecture was a piece of fiction.
As late as 1913, another film having the same title, “The Battle of Manila Bay,” was produced by Francis Ford and distributed by Universal company. Contrary to what may be expected, the film was a “melodrama.” Its synopsis reads in part: “A two-part special offering of war, love and adventure, but mostly of war…It has pictures of the city (meaning Manila) under bombardment, in fact the story makes climaxes to have them properly ended by the fortunate coming of a shell, one of which in one instance, knocks a hole in the prison where the heroine is incarcerated. It is of the stuff that excites many patrons.” The synopsis declares, “The picture is exciting, not historical. The story is entirely melodramatic.”
American victory at the Battle of Manila Bay has been one of the celebrated themes in early American cinema. The triumph in reality became translated into success at the box office. From the “imagined” film claimed by White to the “mock” sea battle made by Smith and Blackton to the “melodrama” about the war produced by Ford, the story of how the Philippines was won by Americans has been a subject of much historical significance and commercial interest. In the films may be found the coming together of reality and fantasy through a piece of metal that may either spit fire and kill or throw light on screen and capture imaginations.
In both cases, in warfare as in cinema, America has shown its supremacy. The past one hundred ten years has much to tell us how far America has gone to attain its superpower status with the war it now engages in Afghanistan and Iraq. Its position as a global film power also remains unchallenged. It’s truly been one long journey since the battle of Manila Bay.