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Filmed: Spring – June 6th 1897 Location: Lyon-France These films show members of the 99th Infantry Regiment demonstrating Savate & Baton. These demonstrations are not sparring sessions. They are an exchange of techniques for the camera, in the form of a flow drill. In the Savate demonstration you can see that the practitioner on the left is aware of the camera position, and motions the other practitioner back into the frame of the camera. Sparring in this era was conducted on a “touch point system” along the same lines as fencing and points were scored for making contact, and the aim was not to seek a knock out. *The copies of these films are “cams”, which is why they are of low quality. They are presented as interim copies until better copies come along. *Footnote: Digital copies are available for viewing at the French CNC (National Center for Cinema). The CNC website states that they provide access to digitized films on individual consoles in their audiovisual room P, at the National Library of France for researchers. To my knowledge, this viewing service is not provided online.
