Sporting Colliers and the Bobby (c.1901)

1901
Silent
2m

A policeman breaks up a gambling den, but is caught pocketing the proceeds.

Comedy may not be the truest reflection of public attitudes to the police in the early 20th century, but the 'bobby' is often the butt of the joke. Here, a policemen is tipped off by an irate citizen that men from the colliery are gambling on his land. When he scares off the gamblers he is seen picking up the coins by the 'picker-up' - the boy who pays out the bets in the game of Pitch and Toss.

Fiction and Comedy

The other face of Edwardian local film specialists Mitchell and Kenyon.

For historian Rachael Low, writing in the 1950s, Mitchell and Kenyon was a minor film company, best known for some "faked topicals of the South African War". Thanks to the great 90s rediscovery, we now know that M&K’s specialty was non-fiction. But we also have more of their fiction than before: alongside the works presented here are some 80 more held elsewhere.

Alongside films recreating contemporary events, including the second Boer War and the 'Boxer rebellion' in China, are more straightforward short comedies and dramatic sketches. Together, they illustrate the kinds of entertainment enjoyed by British filmgoers around the turn of the 20th Century.