Let Me Dream Again | 1900 | Comedy, Short

Title: Let Me Dream Again | 1900 | Comedy, Short Director: George Albert Smith Studio: G.A. Smith Starring: Tom Green, Laura Bayley Runtime: 1 minute Format: 35mm, black-and-white, silent Country: United Kingdom Language: Silent Genres: Comedy, Romance, Short --- Chapters: 00:00:00 Dream encounter 00:00:20 Flirtatious revelry 00:00:40 Blur into awakening 00:00:50 Domestic reality 00:01:05 Trying to return to sleep --- Summary: A middle-aged man enjoys an intimate, playful evening with a younger woman, sharing drinks and affection. The image gradually slips out of focus and the scene shifts. He awakens in bed beside his wife, who rebuffs his misplaced kisses meant for the dream companion. Disappointed, he turns away and tries to recapture the dream, contrasting fantasy’s allure with everyday reality. --- Background: Directed by Brighton School pioneer George Albert Smith, this short is an early two-shot narrative notable for its transition between dream and reality achieved by defocusing the first shot and refocusing the second. The film stars Smith’s wife, Laura Bayley, and stage comic Tom Green, and was produced at Smith’s Hove studio and distributed in Britain by the Warwick Trading Company. --- Trivia: Laura Bayley, who plays the young woman, was married to director George Albert Smith. The film’s dream-to-reality transition uses focus pulling rather than an optical dissolve, an innovative technique for 1900. The bed scene was staged with the bed set upright against a wall to simulate a lying position while the actors stood. Warwick Trading Company handled distribution, reflecting Smith’s long association with Charles Urban’s enterprises. The concept was quickly remade in France by Ferdinand Zecca as Dream and Reality . --- Public Domain / Rights: Original Release: August 1900 Original Studio / Distributor: G.A. Smith / Warwick Trading Company Copyright Status: Public Domain Renewal: No --- Hashtags: LetMeDreamAgain GeorgeAlbertSmith LauraBayley SilentFilm BritishCinema PublicDomain 1900sCinema BrightonSchool This video was sourced from Internet Archive. Originally uploaded by George Albert Smith. https://archive.org/details/let-me-dream-again-1900-directed-by-george-albert-smith