A brief History: Barcelona en tranvía

(Barcelona by Tram)

Production date: 1908

This film is part of a documentary series on Barcelona directed by Ricardo de Baños (1884-1939). This pioneer of the new Spanish cinema makes multiple film reports on his native town and surroundings: The Parks (Los Parques) in 1907, A Bird's-Eye View of the Port (Barcelona y su puerto a vista de pájaro) and The Monserrat in 1909.

Ricardo de Baños directs his first film in 1904. He also authored numerous fiction films amongst which Blood and Sand (Sangre y Arena) in which he fosters the major national genres: filmed operetta (sp.: zarzuela), bullfighting films and regional fictions.

This exceptional cameraman captures with originality Barcelona's modernization through a subjective camera. For the Universal Exposition of 1888, Barcelona acquires important infrastructures, in which she takes much pride, such as: town gas, electricity and especially the tram.

The 1888 Exposition launches the first surge of Modernism, term chosen to designate Catalan Modern Art. Barcelona ranks as the artistic capital of Spain. The tram goes up the Paseo de Gracia, already bearing the stamp of the architect Antoni Gaudi I Cornet (1852-1926). The famous Casa Milà has been a building site for already two years. The tram then dashes to the heights of the new city.

The Editing Company Ricardo de Baños brought the standard print of a nitrate element in 1986 to the Spanish film archives of Madrid. A negative print of this same print was restored in 1997, the nitrate film base being in a very bad state.

The original music for this film was composed by Antonio Coppola in 2008.

See the film About the film