Anyone aware of a film or photo of a real swordfight? Where the participants actually intend to harm one another? Not talking reenactors/roleplayers/martial arts practitioners, but something along the lines of a turn-of-the-century duel, military encounter, etc. Thanks for any info!
That’s a tall order. I can’t think of very many situations in the age of photography and small firearms where that scenario would ever unfold, except as snuff entertainment where one or both of the participants were compelled by force. I guess there may be a handful of incidents in the last 150 years where some old school duelists shunned pistols for blades but a duel is the kind of (usually illegal) secret back-alley event where cameras would almost certainly be forbidden by those involved.
For that matter, is there any example on film of two equally armed people fighting to the death? And if there is, what kind of cameraman would film it instead of trying to break it up or get help.
Soldiers as recently as WWII still carried swords into battle, though those probably tended to be dress blades. I suppose it’s possible that two people might have ended up dueling, though the odds of that happening and a cameraman being there seems like a stretch.
With how common sword play is in TV and movies these days it would be really interesting to see what a real fight looked like.
Jack Churchill doesn’t know what the hell you’re talking about. 
P.S. Google the name if anyone is not familiar. Well worth it.
I suspect that most such fights were a lot more asymmetrical than what you see in movies. One guy gets close enough to the other guy, reacts quicker, sticks his blade in the other guy’s chest before the other guy has a chance to, and the fight is over.
OMG!
pure unfiltered badass!
Granted, SCA isn’t real but nobody is pulling any punches, everyone is swinging for hard contact kill shots if it was a real sword.
For example.
There is tons of video out there showing SCA guys getting tossed around hard, and without armor in the way, those shots can break bones even with rattan sticks we use for weapons.
Yep, that’s my assumption. I’m guessing just about all swordfights without any third-party interference were very, very short.
I have two still photographs of two real duels to “first blood.” One was the 1958 duel between the Marquis de Cuevas, the owner of a ballet company, and a retired ballet dancer named Serge Lifar. The result:
Blair, W. Granger “Marquis Pinks Dancer in a Ballet with Swords on the Field of Honor” New York Times 31 March, 1958: pg 1.
The second one was between two Deputies of the French Assemblée Nationale, on April 20 or 21 (sources vary on the date), 1967, between Gaston Defferre, the Socialist mayor of Marseille, and René Ribière, a Gaullist. The result:
Time Magazine 28 April, 1967.
Both of the photographs are very, very boring, showing the two men en garde in mid-duel.
I don’t think it’s easy to characterize a typical fight in that manner. Several sword duels I’ve read about nearly went to the point of each contestant collapsing from exhaustion with no blood shed (fighting purely defensively, you can keep going for a long time without injury against even a much better fighter). In some cases duelists have been able to take several highly grievous wounds which didn’t slow them down until after the fight was over, when they died. But yes there were cases where a much better swordsman was able to dispatch person after person with very little effort, such as is reputed for Jean-Louis Michel of France. IIRC in one stupid and pointless military set of “tests” he very quickly and effectively defeated more than a dozen men in succession, leaving a radius of bleeding, dying bodies.
If what you’re saying however is in effect swordfights were not like The Princess Bride then you’re correct. (And as a competitive and historical fencer I get really tired of people IRL chiming in with “but I always heard the swordfights in The Princess Bride were realistic!” No, it was mediocre at best.)
The best I could think of was this 1967 epee duel, though neither was killed or seriously wounded. Apparently one of the duelists was the Mayor of Marseilles.
Coupla other videos of French duels are linked to on that same youtube page—it seems a number of them were over bad theatre reviews. :dubious:
Edit: Curses! Beaten to the punch! I demand satisfaction!
I’ll add there are some grainy still photos out there reputed to be of the setup, contest, or aftermath of duels, and I think many of them are of dubious authenticity. There is one really gruesome photo I’ve seen from the early 1900’s of a man with his brain exposed and sliced in two from a sabre duel he lost, which is supposed to be real, but it can’t be 100% confirmed by me.
Generally speaking, especially due to the illegality of duels in most places after the age of portable cameras, contestants in a duel didn’t want their actions recorded in any way which could identify them to authorities.
No satisfaction needed - I’ve never seen that video, and had no idea it was on Youtube. I am in your debt for posting the link to it (salutes Ranchoth).
Around 1974 or so one of our high school history teachers had some color films of Heidelberg student duelists (looked to be early 60’s vintage based on clothing ) going at it with real sabers which he played for the class.
The duelists were regularly scarred up (sometimes severely) in these duels. I think the expectation was that they would go at it hammer and tong until blood was drawn. IIRC the school did not sanction these duels. They were held by by certain student societies.
I’m not sure where you could find these films today. Some of the student’s faces looked like roadmaps.
Here’s a wiki on "academic fencing"which is apparrently what the above is all about.
You would definitely see real sword fights today on Parts of Indonesia and the Philippines, I’ve seen news footage of people wandering around protesting armed with the types of weapons you expect to see in some kung fu movie, in that part of the world I’m quite sure real combat would happen occasionally.
Pics or it didn’t happen. 
More likely the people they attack would either be unarmed or (unfortunately for them) have a concealed firearm. I think an Indiana Jones scenario is probably a lot more likely result than one-on-one combat between two swordsmen.
I have a hard time calling that a “real” dual when the swords have balls at the tip so they can’t be used to stab the other guy. Punk ass bitches. 
The Art is Serious Business. As Molière famously said, “Is yo frontin’ nigga, or is yo a bitch ?”
Touché!