With 'The Impossible Convicts (1906),' director G.W. Bitzer has some fun with reversing footage, in a manner reminiscent of when I first discovered editing software back in 2002. A group of convicts in prison dress are marched backwards down into their cells and locked in. They stage a desperate prison escape, which morphs vaguely into a Marx Brothers-like farce, with the guards chasing the prisoners, and characters emerging from different cells to those they entered. Like an Escher etching, time and gravity don't obey the rules; sometimes they move forwards, and sometimes in reverse. This three-minute film ostensibly unfolds in one shot, and if you blink you'll miss the shot transitions, and for a dreamlike moment wonder why everybody has suddenly started moving backwards. For its eccentric and novel approach, and its stone staircase that moves when kicked, this early short film (available in the "Unseen Cinema" box-set) is worth your time.
4 Reviews
You Shouldn't Leave Before You Arrive
boblipton5 August 2018
It's a cute little trick film from Biograph, largely arranged by taking Billy Bitzer's footage of convicts and guards around the cells and running them backwards.... but, if you look carefully, not entirely.
The technique of making time seem to run backwards was a well-established technique in film production, and was frequently used to raise a laugh. That was, of course, an editing issue -- although at this stage, the various specialties of movie production were not as clearly separated as they might be today when listening to the closing music of the latest megasuperblockbuster. You may not know what a previs editor does, but it's good to know he or she gets a proper credit; likewise the producer's personal driver.
Anyway, it's a funny and confusing film as people run around backwards and forwards and escape and are recaptured, as if Escher were working in time rather than space.
The technique of making time seem to run backwards was a well-established technique in film production, and was frequently used to raise a laugh. That was, of course, an editing issue -- although at this stage, the various specialties of movie production were not as clearly separated as they might be today when listening to the closing music of the latest megasuperblockbuster. You may not know what a previs editor does, but it's good to know he or she gets a proper credit; likewise the producer's personal driver.
Anyway, it's a funny and confusing film as people run around backwards and forwards and escape and are recaptured, as if Escher were working in time rather than space.
A bit more than just running the film backwards.
planktonrules4 November 2011
This is an odd little experimental film from a collection of discs entitled "Unseen Cinema: 1884-1941: Disc 2". I'll be blunt and say that most of the films in the set would hold no interest to the average viewer but cinemaniacs and lovers of the surreal would probably enjoy these films---particularly if they allow themselves to appreciate silent movies.
This is a film that is deceptive. At first it simply looks like they filmed something and played it backwards--no biggie. But, later the film begins to play forwards and switches back and forth to make a very strange film. Enjoyable in a way but just plain strange. While I can really appreciate what the folks were trying to do with this short film, I can't really rate it as it's so unique and so experimental it defies a numerical score. Odd indeed.
This is a film that is deceptive. At first it simply looks like they filmed something and played it backwards--no biggie. But, later the film begins to play forwards and switches back and forth to make a very strange film. Enjoyable in a way but just plain strange. While I can really appreciate what the folks were trying to do with this short film, I can't really rate it as it's so unique and so experimental it defies a numerical score. Odd indeed.
2 Early Shorts
Michael_Elliott28 February 2008
Impossible Convicts (1905)
*** (out of 4)
Interesting short about four convicts who try to escape from jail. The technique used here is that the film was shot in a few takes with the action-taking place backwards. This makes for some nice scenes as well as a unique feel.
Thieving Hand, The (1908)
** (out of 4)
Very interesting, if not totally successful comedy about a one-armed man who buys a fake arm, which turns out to have a life of its own. The special effects and set design are terrific in this short and pretty much ahead of their time but the "laughs" just never come due to some timid direction.
*** (out of 4)
Interesting short about four convicts who try to escape from jail. The technique used here is that the film was shot in a few takes with the action-taking place backwards. This makes for some nice scenes as well as a unique feel.
Thieving Hand, The (1908)
** (out of 4)
Very interesting, if not totally successful comedy about a one-armed man who buys a fake arm, which turns out to have a life of its own. The special effects and set design are terrific in this short and pretty much ahead of their time but the "laughs" just never come due to some timid direction.
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