Early movies often had descriptive titles, as they were so short that they usually consisted of a mere incident rather than an actual plot. "Ladies' Skirts Nailed to a Fence" contains more plot than usual for this period. Two women in elaborate Victorian dress (including skirts that reach the ground) are gossiping against a fence. Two skivers in workmen's clothes, who apparently have nothing better to do, creep up against the opposite side of the fence. They pull the hems of the ladies' skirts through to their own side, and nail the skirts to the fence palings. SPOILERS COMING. When the ladies discover they're caught, they pull down the fence.
This knee-slapper is significant for two reasons. It contains the earliest known example of a reverse-angle shot, although the actual set-up is a cheat. We first view the action from the women's side of the fence, then a cut brings us round to the men's side. In modern film editing, such reverse angles are commonplace. What makes this a 'cheat' is the fact that everything *except* the camera has been reversed: the actors and the scenery (specifically the fence) have turned round between shots, which surely must have been easier to manage than bringing the heavy camera rig to the other side of this set for a true reverse angle.
This film is also notable because the two female characters are played by male actors, got up in skirts, bonnets and shawls. Very little attempt is made to disguise their male gender. Audiences in 1900 would likely have been distressed to see men grabbing women's skirts (and restraining women's movements), so the action has been made more acceptable - and more obviously humorous - by casting men in the female roles. This film is arguably an early example of male stunt doubles for female characters, a practice that remained commonplace into the 1940s.
'Ladies' Skirts Nailed to a Fence' seems to be an early attempt at a moving-picture version of the seaside-postcard brand of humour which is so popular in Britain, yet which has never caught on elsewhere. The most famous (and prolific) practitioner of seaside-postcard art was the great Donald McGill. If you think that cheeky postcard cartoons are too lowbrow to merit serious attention, you should read George Orwell's splendid essay on Donald McGill.
The print of this film which I viewed (in the collection of the British Film Institute) had its original title leader missing, and a new title substituted. This may have been an unscrupulous showman's attempt to pirate someone else's film and conceal the evidence of his theft. The film's new title is 'Women's Rights', which strongly indicates that the new title was inserted during the early reign of George V (or the late reign of Edward VII), when Englishwomen were strongly agitating for the right to vote. A sizeable portion of Britain's male population were actively hostile to the suffragist movement at this time, and a phrase like 'women's rights' would have elicited an automatic (sarcastic) laugh in some quarters. So, this film is significant in cinema history, and its title change is significant as social history. With either title, I'll rate this movie 6 points out of 10. It doesn't set out to achieve very much, but it fulfils its intentions.
This knee-slapper is significant for two reasons. It contains the earliest known example of a reverse-angle shot, although the actual set-up is a cheat. We first view the action from the women's side of the fence, then a cut brings us round to the men's side. In modern film editing, such reverse angles are commonplace. What makes this a 'cheat' is the fact that everything *except* the camera has been reversed: the actors and the scenery (specifically the fence) have turned round between shots, which surely must have been easier to manage than bringing the heavy camera rig to the other side of this set for a true reverse angle.
This film is also notable because the two female characters are played by male actors, got up in skirts, bonnets and shawls. Very little attempt is made to disguise their male gender. Audiences in 1900 would likely have been distressed to see men grabbing women's skirts (and restraining women's movements), so the action has been made more acceptable - and more obviously humorous - by casting men in the female roles. This film is arguably an early example of male stunt doubles for female characters, a practice that remained commonplace into the 1940s.
'Ladies' Skirts Nailed to a Fence' seems to be an early attempt at a moving-picture version of the seaside-postcard brand of humour which is so popular in Britain, yet which has never caught on elsewhere. The most famous (and prolific) practitioner of seaside-postcard art was the great Donald McGill. If you think that cheeky postcard cartoons are too lowbrow to merit serious attention, you should read George Orwell's splendid essay on Donald McGill.
The print of this film which I viewed (in the collection of the British Film Institute) had its original title leader missing, and a new title substituted. This may have been an unscrupulous showman's attempt to pirate someone else's film and conceal the evidence of his theft. The film's new title is 'Women's Rights', which strongly indicates that the new title was inserted during the early reign of George V (or the late reign of Edward VII), when Englishwomen were strongly agitating for the right to vote. A sizeable portion of Britain's male population were actively hostile to the suffragist movement at this time, and a phrase like 'women's rights' would have elicited an automatic (sarcastic) laugh in some quarters. So, this film is significant in cinema history, and its title change is significant as social history. With either title, I'll rate this movie 6 points out of 10. It doesn't set out to achieve very much, but it fulfils its intentions.
