Undressing Extraordinary; Or, The Troubles of a Tired Traveller

1901
Silent
2m

Entertaining example of early 'special effects'

In this effective and witty 'trick' film, a gentleman, tipsy and tired, tries to undress for bed, but each time he sheds a layer finds himself re-clad in a different costume. Filmmaker RW Paul was upfront in admitting this was a remake of an earlier film - in fact MéliÃ¨s Déshabillage Impossible from 1900; "an exceptionally fine edition of and already popular and entertaining subject'.

Paul makes some improvements with a variety of theatrical costumes and as the man becomes increasingly hysterical, a skeleton appears, before the bed itself disappears and feathers rain down. The actor is Walter Booth, who starred in many of Paul's early films.

Inventing Film Language

As with any new technology, it was film’s early adopters whose innovations and discoveries began to map out what is possible.

The first filmmakers had a lot to learn, but they learnt quickly, driven by their own creative ambitions and by audiences' hunger for novelty. Most of the techniques we know today were in place by the end of the Victorian period.

It was the Victorian pioneers who developed the essential building blocks of film; close-ups, pans and travelling shots; editing and principles of continuity. And their ambition spurred them to innovate numerous tricks and effects, from jump-cuts, to double-exposure and even split screen. Generations of later filmmakers would refine these methods, but the groundwork had already been done.