Robert Paul is a largely forgotten name today, but he was a major pioneer of British cinema, and was quick to grasp the commercial potential of cinema in ways that better known pioneers such as William Friese-Greene were not. He was more of a mechanic than a filmmaker making, with Birt Acres, his own camera on which to shoot films in 1895, and also Britain's first projector, the Animatograph, with which to screen them in 1896. Early in the 20th century he had a custom-made studio built in Muswell Hill.
This film was quite a hit in its day. Back then, as now, cute kids were practically guaranteed to pull in audiences, and this comical little short, filmed in August 1898, has three of them. It opens with a loving mother putting her two boys to bed. No sooner has she left the room than their mischievous older sister sneaks in and tickles their noses with a feather duster. Of course, the boys blame each other and a fight ensues. At one point the pillows that the boys use as weapons burst, creating a visually striking image as the room fills with feathers that Paul would use again and which foreshadowed Jean Vigo's use of the same effect in his Zero de Conduite.
This film was quite a hit in its day. Back then, as now, cute kids were practically guaranteed to pull in audiences, and this comical little short, filmed in August 1898, has three of them. It opens with a loving mother putting her two boys to bed. No sooner has she left the room than their mischievous older sister sneaks in and tickles their noses with a feather duster. Of course, the boys blame each other and a fight ensues. At one point the pillows that the boys use as weapons burst, creating a visually striking image as the room fills with feathers that Paul would use again and which foreshadowed Jean Vigo's use of the same effect in his Zero de Conduite.
