1896 - France - Pistol duel between two men (Colorized)

📜 Original Content: supposedly France (Gabriel Veyre, 1896) but likely filmed in Mexico
This old clip has two men facing one another with pistols pointed. We see a group of spectators watching and then they fire with one man falling to the grass. It seems like this was staged in Mexico and presented to the audience as something happening in France.

Upscaled using Neural Network, User Input Colorised and manually Resounded by me (e.g. gunshot sound and ambience audio was added in by me after the fact)
This is full-format Video in (4:3) to be as detailed as possible.

#1899​ #recolor​ed #4K​ #upscale​ #France #duel​ #old #history

[Somerandomdude]

An average and peaceful duel routine in the morning

[Vishalp-of]

Video quality is 10 times better than hundreds of videos made of hovering alien ships in 2024

[Brandywine]

Im glad they could work things out and understand each others differences.

[carlocharisma]

This has a better quality than every sighting of a Big Foot over the last decades

[mendeth]

As a curious fact, in the country of Uruguay there was a duel law that existed between 1920 and 1992. If a person stained your honor you could challenge them to a duel, if they accepted. It was fixed where and when it was going to happen... what weapons could be used. ..and what rules had to be obeyed. It could also be established whether the duel was first blood or death. In other cases, this law allowed you to take justice into your own hands.

[PhuocTran-ykjq]

They're quickly grabbing the loot before he despawns

[flaviusaetius]

Not a phone in sight. People just living the moment... beatiful

[ЗвездыБольшойПротуберанец]

" "Duel au Pistolet (1896)".
Gabriel Veyre was working as a pharmacist in a small village south of Lyon when motion pictures first debuted in France. Seeing an opportunity for travel (and a pay raise), Veyre got a job with the Lumière brothers as a cameraman. In the summer of 1896, he was dispatched to Mexico along with a partner, Claude Ferdinand Von Bernard. The two men were immediately embraced by both the country’s ruling elite and the general public. They not only gave regular showings of imported motion pictures, to widespread acclaim, but also recorded and showed the first films to be taken in Mexico. Several of these included films of the Mexican president, General Porfirio Díaz.
The pair spent nearly six months in the country, and their activities were enthusiastically reported on by several newspapers. Their stay was, however, not entirely without controversy. In mid-December they visited Chapultepec Park and filmed a re-enactment of an actual duel. Veyre reportedly had the permission of authorities to film the scene. This may have been necessary, not because of the subject, but because the actors were playing two real-life political figures. Or it may simply have been because the filming took place near the presidential residence in Chapultepec Castle. However, despite the official approval, some journalists worried in print that the film would give a bad impression of the country to an international audience. ..
Several sources claim that this was a re-enactment of a duel that had taken place the day before the filming, between two government officials, but give no additional details. This seems unlikely to be correct for several reasons. It was most probably a recreation of a famous duel that had taken place in September 1894, between Colonel Francisco Romero and Jose Verástegui, the postmaster general (see left). Romero, approaching the house of Juan Barajas, a mutual friend, for dinner, had supposedly overheard Verástegui inside, insulting him to Barajas’s wife, Natalia. He later sent Verástegui a letter, accusing him of carrying on an affair with Natalia, and of having gained a foothold with the family by using his influence to get Barajas a government job. ..
However, in the end, the film apparently wasn’t shown publicly in Mexico. Veyre sent a print back to France, and traveled on to Cuba, and then to Venezuela, where he did show the film several months later. It had debuted in France early in 1897, under the title Mexique: un Duel au Pistolet. For what it’s worth, the inclusion of “Mexico” in the film’s title confirms that the Mexican journalists’ fears concerning the portrayal of their country were at least partially justified. ..
The print that exists of this film is absolutely pristine, but it genuinely stands out in a few other ways. Many viewers have commented on the naturalism of the duelist’s death, one of the first to be depicted on screen and very much in contrast to the melodramatic style that was more typical of this time. The victim doesn’t throw up his hands, clutch his chest, or stagger or roll around in the agonies of death. He simply falls over, letting the pistol drop. It’s no wonder, then, that some viewers might have mistaken this for the real thing. ".

Excerpts from a longer article. It’s funny to listen to people who write that this is AI, this short film could have been seen on TV in historical programs 20 years ago.

[hodgepodgeganoosh]

I like the sportsmanship of the winner. He had the graciousness to come over to his opp and say GG

[devamjani]

Galaos, one of the greatest mathematicians of his time, died in a duel at a very young age. He was a French mathematician whose contributions have a very big impact on modern mathematics. It is wondered by many how much more he would have contributed had he not died in that duel.

[susancorgi]

If this was fake, these men all deserve an oscar each.

[RoboticViper]

Imagine being the cameraman and realizing you forgot to hit record until AFTER the duel.

[DeadPixel]

In this duel reenactment, I like how the 'winner' appears concerned and disturbed afterward. That's very good attention to detail. In real life, the majority of duel participants did NOT want to actually kill. When insulted or disrespected, a man felt immense social pressure to challenge the other person to a duel. They feared loss of respect and status if they did not challenge their opponent to a duel. People would think they are soft and mentally weak. So they felt social pressure to offer a duel challenge, despite NOT wanting to do it.
And the person who received the challenge likewise did NOT want to accept the duel, but if they declined they would lose social status and respect from their community. People thinking they are cowards. So they felt like they were forced to accept the challenge, despite not wanting to do it. In most cases, neither man wanted to participate in the duel. Neither man wanted to actually maim or kill the other.
So it's a nice attention to detail that the duel winner in this video acts concerned and a bit shocked to see the outcome of his actions.

[sam]

I love how he walks over like "you good bro" before they take him away.

[lk]

0:10 "Now if you'll excuse me, i have an after funeral party to go to"

[tomlambert]

interesting how clear this video is from 1896 and we still can't see a clear image in a bank.

[spackerinternational]

. It's important to notice the victor and his friends did not stand atop the fallen screaming "WORLD STAR!"

[talhamirza]

*Gets back up*

"Yo yo, best 2 out of 3."

[lucas_vbe_]

I’ve done some research and its probably staged but its still an great representation how pistol duels were. I’m a history teacher to be and these were duels normally to settle arguments. In a lot of places these duels were accepted as a form of dealing with tensions. This was an popular way to deal with these in France, which is probably where the confusion comes from (including the style of clothing) In the majority of the time, duel winners weren’t punished as murderers because if the duel was fair, the matter had been solved privately. Although in some occasions (when the duel wasn’t fair) or some places this was still killing. Very interesting video!!

[hugoodonnell]

I admire the diligence in making sure his opp was finished, modern day attention spans could never