An Interesting Story
Live action, UK, 1905
Director: James Williamson
Language: Silent
Colour: Black and white
Runtime: 5 minutes
Short Synopsis
An early silent comedy in which we follow a man so engrossed in his book he is dangerously oblivious to what happens around him which results in some funny accidents and mishaps.
Long Synopsis
This silent comedy, filmed by early film pioneer J.Williamson, charts the mishaps of a man so involved reading 'an interesting story' that he cannot concentrate on anything else.
First we are shown him sat at his breakfast table, so engrossed in his book that he pours coffee into his hat. As he leaves his house, still reading, we follow him on a journey littered with similar comic events: he falls over a maid cleaning steps; walks through some girls' skipping rope as they play; bumps into a donkey pulling a cart; walks into the only other person on a quiet street and eventually walks into the path of a steam roller by which he is flattened. As he lies on the road two cyclists appear and, using their bicycle pumps, re-inflate him. Dusting him off, they give him his hat and, book in hand, seemingly unscathed, he resumes his journey.
Background information
About the film and the film-maker
The South East of England was at the forefront of the development of the UK film industry in the years 1896 to 1905, and as a member of the 'Hove Pioneers' James Williamson is an important early film-maker. Not only does 'An Interesting Story' introduce us to the beginnings of film as a medium, it also provides an intriguing portrait of late Victorian England.
Born in Scotland in 1855, Williamson moved to Hove in 1887. Here he owned a chemist shop and photographic business where he processed film for other early filmmakers. During this time he became familiar with new photographic technologies and began production of his own features in 1897, often working with his friend and cohort G A Smith.
Williamson's films are now considered innovative because they offer a narrative - something relatively absent from other works of this early period. They also provide evidence of the shift in acting style from the pictorialism common in earlier films to the naturalism that now dominates. The relative modernity of the film fiction in An Interesting Story makes it a significant film from the early 1900s.
From 1902 Williamson's films were available in America, where, it is claimed,
they influenced film-makers towards narrative construction built from a number of shots.
For more information about Williamson see Screenonline
Teaching materials and additional materials
The teaching materials have been developed by practising teachers to provide a springboard for your own work with your pupils. Feel free to use and adapt them appropriate to your pupils' needs.
The additional materials, provided by the film-makers, can be used to develop your work with the film and deepen pupils' understanding of the process of film-making.
