THE AIRSHIP DESTROYER (1909)
Article 2816 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-22-2009
Posting Date: 4-29-2009
Directed by Walter R. Booth
Cast Unknown
Country: UK

An inventor is denied the hand of his true love by her father. However, he comes to the rescue when the country is invaded by attackers who drop bombs from zeppelins.

The special effects in this early silent aren’t convincing, but they are ambitious and fun. I especially love a sequence in which a biplane takes on the zeppelin in a dogfight, which features some very odd camera tricks. The story itself is pretty standard, but that hardly matters; it’s the special effects that really make this one a treat. It’s another movie I found on YouTube, which is proving to be a great place to find some of these old silent shorts.