I suppose today 'The Amorous Shoe Clerk' would be a more accurate title for this one-scene comedy film from film pioneer Edwin S. Porter. It's quite an amusing little skit, featuring an early screen kiss and an early use of the close-up. Apart from this and, as another reviewer has pointed out, the need for care in the timing to make the joke work, the film is fairly unremarkable. Nevertheless every film, no matter how short, deserves at least ten lines according to the powers at IMDb, so here I am typing away and hoping for the best before I press the Preview button... Damn... Porter sort of faded away, you know. He was the biggest thing in movies during much of its first decade but, like Griffith 20 years later, he failed to evolve in line with the cinema. (surely that must be enough?)
Review of The Gay Shoe Clerk
