A Wringing Good Joke (1899) User Reviews

Good-Natured & Amusing

[Snow Leopard · 23 June 2005]

While pretty simple, this is a good-natured and amusing version of what seems to have been a popular practical joke idea in its day (as a number of other short movies also used the same idea at around the same time). This version efficiently packs a lot into the fixed camera field, and the composition shows some planning behind it.

The simple but believable characters help in making it work. The oblivious grandfather napping peacefully, the bustling grandmother tending to her chores, and the impish young boy full of energy, are all readily identifiable to any audience.

The boy's "Wringing Good Joke" is no doubt impertinent and inconsiderate, yet the movie has a tone of good humor to it that makes it hard not to enjoy it. The boy's reaction also rings true, and it adds a good touch to the ending.

The "Gay" Nineties were not so gay after all!

[cricket30 · 7/10 · 25 February 2013]

Historians give each American decade its own nickname; the "Roaring Twenties" are the 1920s, of course (NOT the 1820s, which were car-less, or the 2020s, which will be on NBC, I think). This short is typical of 1890s U.S. humor--a time which supposedly was so much fun experts dubbed it the "Gay Nineties." Like many other Edison shorts, this one revolves around a sick "joke." Sonny ties gramp's chair to the item that's due next in the wringer while both grandpa's and grandma's backs are turned away. These hard-working ancestors collapse in a sudsy heap, no doubt breaking a hip or three and hastening the young lad's inheritance of their wash tub (which he'll probably pawn the first chance he gets for smokes or whiz-bangs). Like INTERRUPTED LOVERS, which glorifies the American Taliban of its day, or THE LONE FISHERMAN, in which the unsuspecting rube being filmed on the sly apparently drowns "for real" under the guise of a practical joke, this all is the sort of mean-spirited stuff you'd expect from a jerk who not only electrocuted an elephant--but filmed it for American entertainment. How sad.

Grandpa's Sleeping Again

[Michael_Elliott · 7 August 2015]

A Wringing Good Joke (1899)

An old man is sleeping in his chair. An old woman is using a hand crank washing machine but turns her back. A young boy sneaks in and ties the chair to the crank. The old woman begins to crank and sure enough the old man falls back and gets covered in water. A WRINGING GOOD JOKE was filmed in a variety of ways back in the early days of cinema. The effect here manages to get a decent sized laugh, although at just under thirty seconds there's certainly nothing ground-breaking here. I thought the set up was pretty simple and I'm sure this amused people back in 1899.