The Charles Urban Trading Company specialised in travel, educational and scientific films. It was formed in 1903 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

by the Anglo-American film producer

Charles Urban Charles Urban (April 15, 1867 – August 29, 1942) was an Anglo-American film producer and distributor, and one of the most significant figures in British cinema before the First World War. He was a pioneer of the documentary, educational, propa ...

, who struck out on his own after five years at the

Warwick Trading Company The Warwick Trading Company was a British film production and distribution company, which operated between 1898 and 1915. History The Warwick Trading Company had its origins in the London office of Maguire and Baucus, a firm run by two American ...

. The slogan of the Charles Urban Trading Company was 'We Put the World Before You'. The company made its name with coverage of the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

of 1904-5 from Joseph Rosenthal (with the Japanese) and George Rogers (with the Russians). Other notable cameramen working for Urban were Charles Rider Noble (filming in the Balkans), H.M. Lomas (Malaya, Borneo, hunting films), John Mackenzie (the Balkans), mountaineer F. Ormiston-Smith (Switzerland, Sweden), and the naturalists F. Martin Duncan and

F. Percy Smith Frank Percy Smith (12 January 1880–24 March 1945) was a British naturalist and early nature documentary pioneer, who explored time-lapse photography, microphotography, microcinematography, and animation. Biography Percy Smith was the son ...

. The CUTC also made fiction films, including several

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

and trick films made by

Walter R. Booth Walter Robert Booth (12 July 1869 – 1938) was a British magician and early pioneer of British film. Collaborating with Robert W. Paul and then Charles Urban mostly on "trick" films, he pioneered techniques that led to what has been descri ...

. Charles Urban ceased to have any connection with the company (beyond his name being used) after 1910. It ceased production during the First World War. A 1957 copy of the film shot by the Charles Urban Trading Company of the 1906 Warwick Pageant in the grounds of

Warwick Castle Warwick Castle is a medieval castle developed from a wooden fort, originally built by William the Conqueror during 1068. Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England, situated on a meander of the River Avon. The original wooden motte-an ...

was deposited some time ago in the Warwickshire County Record Office, and has recently been transferred to DVD (2007).

References

Film production companies of the United Kingdom Mass media companies established in 1903 1903 establishments in England Mass media companies disestablished in 1914 1914 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1914 British companies established in 1903 {{UK-media-company-stub