Tweet A Friendly Boxing Match (1896)

There's an entry for this title on both imdb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0229401/ and silentera.com http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/F/FriendlyBoxingMatch1896.html. Both indicate that it is a Lumiére production. I was unable to find an entry for that title at https://catalogue-lumiere.com/, which lists the company's entire output of 1,428 films, of which only 18 are missing. There are a couple candidates:

1. Boxeurs (1896) https://catalogue-lumiere.com/boxeurs/
2. Boxeurs en tonneaux (1897) https://catalogue-lumiere.com/boxeurs-en-tonneaux/

No. 2 seems more likely to be the film referenced by silentera and imdb as No.1 is a match between two professionals and No. 2 is more of a comedy. There is an imdb entry for Boxeurs en tonneaux so my guess is that A Friendly Boxing Match is a duplicate entry of the same film with an alternate title.

Does anyone know for sure?

Nope, but the second film in URL looks so good. It would be great to show it in 1080p video presentation, just like I've done it all before which is now showing at this site's 'Collection and Preservation' column.

No definitive answer to your question, but some rambling thoughts...

Charles Musser refers to a Lumière film titled A FRIENDLY BOXING MATCH in his The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907, and on p.599 lists it as another title for BOXEURS. Although he doesn't explicitly state any reason for this, his decision may have been based on the very early playdates associated with the film (which are seemingly too early for it to have been BOXEURS EN TONNEAUX).

I haven't seen any primary sources that employ the title A FRIENDLY BOXING MATCH. Rather, the earliest Lumière screenings by B.F. Keith during June/July 1896 included a film titled A FRIENDLY BOXING BOUT. The date is so very early that BOXEURS seems a likely option; however, like you, I struggle to see anything obviously 'friendly' about the fight in this short. The Fall 1897 Maguire & Baucus catalog would go on to include BOXEURS under the title BOXING MATCH, referring to it as 'A lively boxing bout between two first class artists.'

A further possibility might be Lumière #114, GÉANT ET NAIN (https://catalogue-lumiere.com/geant-et-nain/), which was certainly produced in time to have been circulating during June/July 1896. The Fall 1897 Maguire & Baucus catalog includes this one without an accompanying description under the title THE GIANT AND THE DWARF (CLOWNS).

As for BOXEURS EN TONNEAUX, it likewise appears in the latter late-1897 catalog without a description, as A BURLESQUE BOXING BOUT. The Lumiere number for it, #104, is sufficiently low... that I can't help wondering whether there might have been an earlier version of it than that shot circa Winter 1896. Certainly there have been a number of Lumières from 1896/97 of which three or even four variant versions, shot months apart and on different sets or locations, have turned up in archives. [One clear example is Lumière #116, the knockabout comedy JURY DE PEINTURE, listed as a Sept. 1897 title, but known to have existed in an earlier incarnation that played in France as early as July 1896; and at Mostly Lost 6 we saw yet a third version shot on a totally different set that was in use around Sept. 1897 - potentially an export version that ended up in the Maguire & Baucus catalog as A JURY OF PAINTERS. In other words: don't let the hyperorganized veneer of the Lumière Catalogue lull you into thinking that it really has all eventualities or all of the company's output completely covered... as you know well enough from previous 'uncataloged' extant prints!]

Good to hear from you Dr. Kiss! And thanks as always for taking the time to enlighten me with your vast knowledge of cinema. You probably don't have the time but I sure wish you would publish news about your latest research and discoveries on the internet. I'd be honored to facilitate.