Language: Silent (123)

Mary Jane's Mishap

Got Fire! here, but no heroic rescues: the eugenicists were glad to see Mary Jane go...

Atypical of the era, includes four medium shots when other films included none or just one. The shots reveal the character of Mary Jane in that scene:

  1. a yawning (and probably inattentive) sleepyhead
  2. a careless simpleton, smudging her face while polishing shoes
  3. a playful airhead, goofing with her mistake
  4. the most dangerous type of fool: winks to the camera showing she is pleased with her 'clever' idea of lighting the stove with paraffin
Even more atypically, all of the shots remain within the narrative. Thus, we know all this about Mary Jane that morning without the aid of narration or symbols, but solely through the skillful use of both pantomime and camerawork.

A Daring Daylight Burglary

One of the models for 'The Great Train Robbery'and 'The Bold Bank Robbery'. Also provides an early taste of the police procedural, in the form of a detailed rendering of emergency medical assistance for the injured policemen (a digression that, regrettably, breaks the pace of the chase).

Happy Hooligan

Happy's jam is iced by the heat, but he has the last laugh.

Desperate Poaching Affray

'Alas, my hat...'. Desperate, gun-toting, upper-class posse chases desperate, gun-toting, hat-fetishist poachers.

Pioneering, popular, and influential, this is a fast-paced no-frills thriller. Fight scenes are not the stylized choreography of today, but rough-and-tumble brawls more suitable to men who are “desperate”.

The one distraction comes from one poacher's hat, that naturally takes flight in its own direction. Instead of leaving it behind, as his partner wisely did, the poacher repeatedly pauses from his flight to recover his beloved hat - leaving audiences with a clear message: crime in hats doesn't pay.

The Melomaniac (Le Mélomane)

A music lesson, using telegraph wires - and the teacher's head. Must be a French thing... [Star Film 479-480]

The Kingdom of the Fairies

Méliès masterpiece, accompanied by an original composition [Star Film 483-498]