The Extraordinary Waiter (1902)

Directed by

Walter R. Booth

Genre

comedy film, silent film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1 min

Rating

4.8 of 10 from 5 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A brutish colonialist tries and fails to destroy a blackfaced waiter. The film plays as a slapstick comedy but its racial elements make it uncomfortable to watch today.

comiclightheartedfrustratinguncomfortableplayfulearly-cinemashortstagey

What happens

The Extraordinary Waiter (AKA: Diner and Waiter Comic) is a 1902 British silent comic trick film, directed by Walter R. Booth, featuring a brutish colonialist failing to destroy a blackfaced waiter. The film "makes for somewhat uncomfortable viewing," but according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "it's just about possible to read this as a metaphor for the rather more widespread frustrations arising from British colonial rule (the Boer War was still a current issue), though it seems unlikely that this was intentional on Booth's part." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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