his Victorian duel between knife-wielding women was taken from an existing stage production, thought to be the Drury Lane theatre melodrama ‘Women and Wine’. The actresses are believed to be Edith Blanche and Beatrice Homer. All titles on the BFI Films channel are preserved in the vast collections of the BFI National Archive.
The fatal outcome.
The fatal outcome of the Cavallotti-Macola duel. Three years later, Fels-Eöry would appropriately write in his Safe Outcome of the Sabre Duel: “There is no more dangerous manner of attack than when one charges, full tilt, at his adversary, to which we can truly say, that only his enemy’s sword will be capable of arresting him, onto which he will fall.”
The Cavallotti-Macola duel is yet another vivid example of the disastrous consequences that can befall a martial artist when offense is given greater priority over defense during an actual combative encounter with sharp weapons.
RIVISTA CULTURALE 