Crude Set Comedy

1896
Silent
1m

A basic bit of early comic storytelling on film

This comic scene features two men in a makeshift bar, drinking and tormenting the pot boy. It's clearly a very early film and not easy to identify. An educated guess might lead us to Birt Acres, because of its early date. It appears to be filmed in the back garden of an urban street with a lace curtain standing in crudely for the wallpaper of a bar. There are some basic props and larking about, but no very clear narrative.

COMEDY. Two men, one with a pipe, and a boy on a set with a small table. The man with a pipe pushes the boy off-screen then pours a beer. Both men drink, then join arms and drink again. The man with a pipe takes an umbrella and hits the other man. The boy starts sweeping, but one of the men takes the broom and drives him off-screen. Then the other man takes the broom and forces him off-screen. (33 feet)

Victorian Mysteries

A selection of some of the most enigmatic of early British films. Can you help us unlock their secrets?

We can learn a lot about early films from producers' and exhibitors' catalogues, in contemporary accounts in newspapers or the trade press, or by examining the original celluloid film. But try as we might, archivists and historians sometimes draw a blank. Where and when was this film shot, and who by? Is it British? French? American? Egyptian?

We've collected here some of the earliest films in the BFI's collections, which we wish we knew more about. So grab your deerstalker and your magnifying glass, and put your observational skills to the test on this enigmatic assortment. Can you recognise a building, a landscape, a military uniform?