The quality of the first full-length films was far enough from modern standards, and they are more a heritage of culture and part of history than a pastime, even for true moviegoers.
The first feature film was directed by Australian director Charles Tate and was called The Story of the Ned Kelly Gang. Unfortunately, only about ten minutes have survived from the sensational film of its time, which lasted more than an hour.
The film premiered in Melbourne, Australia on December 26, 1906, and made such a splash that it was shown for twenty years in cities in Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand. Almost a hundred years after the premiere, in 2007, UNESCO included "The Story of the Kelly Gang" in the list of "Memory of the World", recognizing it as the first full-length film in the history of cinema.
"The Story of the Kelly Gang" tells the story of a man who actually existed - Edward Kelly, an Australian robber who lived in the nineteenth century, was very famous for his numerous bank robberies and murders of representatives of the law.
Even during his lifetime, Kelly became a part of folklore, the Australians were divided into two camps: some considered him a criminal deserving the death penalty, while others ennobled him, making Ned Kelly a symbol of resistance to the colonial authorities.
In 1880, Edward Kelly was hanged for his crimes and buried in a common grave in the prison cemetery, despite the fact that a petition was presented to the court, which was signed by tens of thousands of Australians who stood up for Edward. Only in 2011, the remains of the famous robber, thanks to a DNA test, were identified, and Kelly's descendants demanded that the authorities perform a proper reburial. It is noteworthy that Edward was executed in Melbourne, the city where the premiere of the first full-length film about his life took place.
Just five years later, the first full-length film was also shot in Russia. It was called "Defense of Sevastopol", and Vasily Goncharov and Alexander Khonzhonkov became directors and screenwriters.
The "Defense of Sevastopol" covered the events that took place in the fifties of the nineteenth century, during the Crimean War. For greater reliability, not only military historians were involved in the filming, but also real veterans of the Sevastopol defense.
The premiere of "Defense of Sevastopol" took place on October 26, 1911 in Livadia, and its first spectators were Nicholas II and other representatives of the royal family. After the revolution, all scenes that the censors considered monarchical and religious were removed from the film, which significantly reduced the length of the film.
