Earliest martial arts film footage?

**Hooded Justice** · Posted On: 6/07/2010 11:34am

Originally Posted by CodosDePiedra

I'm not exactly sure why, but there is something very French looking about the quality of motion in old savate videos. I guess it's the ballet influence.

YouTube- OLD FRENCH BOXING SAVATE 29.03.1934

I've always enjoyed this one. Not bare knuckled but funny and french. Definitely seems to be some ballet influence in there.

Also found this old boxing vid.

YouTube- Old Boxing Video

A neat vid with a french lady

YouTube- Lady kicker

**DdlR** · Posted On: 6/07/2010 1:02pm

Originally Posted by Hooded Justice

Also found this old boxing vid.

YouTube- Old Boxing Video

This is typical of very early boxing footage, a "re-enactment" of an actual contest performed by the boxers involved in the original fight. Again, it comes down to the evolution of film itself as a medium; during the late 19th century it was necessary to have filmed subjects brightly lit against a dark background to get the exposure right. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison%27s_Black_Maria .

A number of champion boxers from this period made a lot of money performing the same sort of reenactments live on stage on the vaudeville circuit.

**Gosai** · Posted On: 6/20/2010 6:23pm

I realize that this post doesn't add much to the topic at hand but really... the more I see these old Savate films the more I REALLY want to learn it. Sadly, I'm fairly certain there aren't any schools in my neck of Ohio.