The '?' Motorist

Dir: Walter R. Booth, Robert W. Paul

1906

*****

The '?' Motorist was to be one of the last films that Walter R. Booth made for the producer-inventor Robert W. Paul and lead to more elaborate fantasies that he would make for Charles Urban between 1907 and 1911, as well as drawing on a wide range of the visual tricks that he had developed over the preceding half-decade. It is by far my favourite of his short films and I would argue that it was/is one of his most remarkable. It is a brilliant premise; A policeman attempts to stop a reckless motorist, only for the driver to run him over and escape by driving up the walls of tall buildings, along the edges of clouds and even around the rings of Saturn. This was clearly a British effort to top Georges Méliès at his Sci-Fi/fantasy/comedy trick films. Méliès was an illusionist at heart who brought trick photography to life but I would argue that it was the films and stories of Walter R. Booth and Robert W. Paul that would have a longer lasting influence on modern cinema. It was certainly a huge influence on the Keystone Cops and indeed the rest of the later Keystone Comedies. It still amazing now, over a hundred years later and I’m still not sure how every effect was created. It’s also of a timeless humour, I still belly laugh at it, despite its age and how many times I’ve seen it. It’s a great legacy from the work of great men and certainly where I developed my love of silliness and the surreal when it comes to comedy.