Arte - Mysteries in the Archives Series 1 (2009) Part 1 1910 Buffalo Bill

Mysteries in the archives, ten investigations into ten events of the twentieth century that have marked our memory and our imagination. What do the archival images tell us? What are their origins, their hidden meaning? The documentary collection “Mysteries in the Archives”, directed by Serge Viallet, airs in Arte to satisfy our curiosity. Ten unpublished surveys reveal the secrets of audiovisual archives. “Images tell stories, we tell the story of images.” Viallet examines films that are often forgotten or ignored, shot during historical events Marilyn Monroe's tour of Korea in 1954, the American atomic tests at Bikini in 1946, the crossing of the Atlantic by aviator Charles Lindbergh in 1927, the entry of General de Gaulle into Paris in 1944, the funeral of John F. Kennedy in 1963 … All of them fulfill a decisive function in the great evolutionary narrative of the television epic. Viallet skips over and over again the sequences, zooms in on details, explains the meaning of this or that object, draws the eye to what to see behind the facade. By highlighting the deceptions, staging and editing, these documentaries are also an opportunity to review technical means and their evolution. Mysteries in the archives is a collection aiming to uncover and rediscover known or unpublished images that bear witness to our history. The audiovisual document becomes a piece of evidence that it is up to us to question, to make people talk. The image is scrutinized, dissected, and often, Mysteries in the archives takes our gaze away from what the camera operator had seen or expected. Each episode is constructed as an investigation. Some are about cheerful and amusing topics, others are about more solemn, momentous events. Serge Viallet, a true detective of the image, reveals a multitude of new elements and significant anecdotes hidden behind the story as it was shown to us in cinemas and then on television. Meticulous investigations are undertaken - film is rummaged, sifted through and sorted, examined frame by frame and analyzed until it finally reveals its secrets. This collection includes all 10 episodes of season 1.

Part 1 1910 Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill was, by reputation, the greatest buffalo hunter of all time. His celebrity included a stint as cavalry scout for George Armstrong Custer, the general killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. But film of William F. Cody shot as early as 1894 and through 1916 presents another image of Buffalo Bill. These images reveal his friendly relations with American Indian tribal chiefs. Footage of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, which toured the United States and Europe for more than 30 years, documents its early, considerable influence on a film genre that still fascinates movie goers the Western.

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