Those Awful Hats (1909)

Directed by

D. W. Griffith

Genre

comedy film, silent film

Country

United States

Runtime

3 min

Rated

NR

Rating

6.1 of 10 from 57 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In a crowded movie theater, people keep getting annoyed by women wearing big hats that block the screen. Slapstick comedy follows as viewers try to see the film.

playfullightheartedslapstickbriefperiod-piecemildly-frustratingdistractingcomic-chaos

What happens

Those Awful Hats is a 1909 American short comedy film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Mack Sennett and Flora Finch. It was released on January 25, 1909 by Biograph Studios. The film takes place in a small, crowded movie theatre while a film is in progress. The patrons are perpetually distracted by people -- primarily women -- wearing large, ostentatious hats that obstruct everyone else's views of the screen. Slapstick disorder ensues. The film ends with a title card reading, "Ladies Will Please Remove Their Hats." Archivist David Shepard of Blackhawk Films explained how G. W. Bitzer photographed the film: "The image in the theater and the image on the theater screen were photographed separately, and the final effect was achieved by double printing and use of a traveling matte." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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