The Airship Destroyer
| The Airship Destroyer | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Walter R. Booth |
| Produced by | Charles Urban |
|
Release date
|
1909 |
|
Running time
|
20 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language |
Silent film English intertitles |
The Airship Destroyer (originally titled Der Luftkrieg Der Zukunft, also titled "The Aerial Torpedo", "The Battle of the Clouds" {UK} and "The Battle in the Clouds" {US}) is a 1909 British silent science fiction film directed by Walter R. Booth.
A fleet of airships begin an attack on England, bombing an armoured vehicle, a signal box and a town. An inventor and his assistant are preparing to launch a missile in defence. A biplane attempts to shoot down one of the airships, but is destroyed itself. One of the airship's bombs lands on the home of the inventor's lover, whose hand in marriage he had unsuccessfully asked her father for earlier in the day. The inventor rushes to the house and rescues his lover, although her father is dead. Returning to the missile launch site, the inventor successfully destroys the airship. The film ends as the couple embrace.
Walter R. Booth, who had a background as a magician, was an early pioneer of special effects in film and also of animation. The airships were created using a mixture of cutout animation and models.
The Airship Destroyer was originally released in 1909. It was re-released in January 1915, during World War I, at a time when Britain was suffering aerial bombings from German Zeppelins.
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