The Countryman and the Cinematograph (1901)

Directed by

Robert W. Paul

Genre

comedy film, silent film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1 min

Rating

5.4 of 10 from 44 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A country man visits a cinema for the first time. He reacts with confusion and surprise to the moving pictures on the screen. His responses become the main focus of the comedy.

lightheartedplayfulsimplewhimsicalamusingold-timeyobservational

What happens

The Countryman and the Cinematograph (also known as The Countryman's First Sight of the Animated Pictures) is a 1901 British short silent comedy film, directed by Robert W. Paul, featuring a stereotypical yokel reacting to films projected onto a screen. The film "is one of the earliest known examples of a film within a film", where, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "the audience reaction to that film is as important a part of the drama as the content of the film itself". In 1902, a remake of the film, Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show, was produced at the Edison Company, directed by Edwin S. Porter. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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