How It Feels to Be Run Over | 1900 | Short, Comedy, Trick film

Title: How It Feels to Be Run Over | 1900 | Short, Comedy, Trick film Director: Cecil M. Hepworth Studio: Hepworth Manufacturing Company Starring: May Clark, Cecil M. Hepworth Release Date: July 1900 Runtime: 1 Format: Silent, black-and-white Country: United Kingdom Language: Silent Genres: Short, Comedy, Trick film --- Chapters: 00:00:00 Country road setup 00:00:10 Horse-drawn carriage passes 00:00:25 Automobile approaches 00:00:40 Collision imminent 00:00:50 Final intertitle --- Summary: On a quiet country road, a horse-drawn carriage passes the stationary camera without incident. Moments later, a motorcar advances directly toward the lens as its occupants wave frantically, culminating in a cut to a sardonic title card that reads, “Oh mother will be pleased.” The film delivers a concise shock gag while hinting at contemporary unease about the new technology of the automobile, using a single setup to immerse the audience in a first-person brush with danger. --- Background: Directed by British pioneer Cecil M. Hepworth and produced by his Hepworth Manufacturing Company, this one-minute trick film exemplifies early cinema’s fascination with startling effects and direct address. Hepworth appears as the driver, and the closing quip is presented via an early intertitle—part of the film’s punchline and a hallmark of its playful tone. --- Trivia: Some circulating prints omit the word “Mother” from the closing intertitle, leaving only “Oh, will be pleased.” Screen Archive South East lists a surviving duration of 00:01:04:17 and identifies the work as black-and-white and silent. BFI notes that Hepworth himself drove the contraption used on screen, which was prone to overbalancing and nearly swerves away before “impact.” Hepworth produced another automobile-themed short the same year, Explosion of a Motor Car, often discussed alongside this film in early motorcar “trick” cinema. --- Public Domain / Rights: Original Release: July 1900 Original Studio / Distributor: Hepworth Manufacturing Company Copyright Status: Public Domain Renewal: No --- Hashtags: HowItFeelsToBeRunOver CecilHepworth SilentFilm PublicDomain BritishCinema TrickFilm ShortFilm 1900sCinema This video was sourced from Internet Archive. Originally uploaded by jake@archive.org. https://archive.org/details/silent-how-it-feels-to-be-run-over