How It Feels to Be Run Over
As the camera looks down an open road, a horse and carriage approaches, and passes by to one side of the field of view. Soon afterwards, an automobile comes up the road, straight towards the camera. As it gets nearer, the occupants start to wave frantically, but can a collision be avoided?
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- Cast:
- Cecil M. Hepworth
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Reviews
i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
Even if you don't want to know how it feels to be run over, this is still a very creative little film. Made by the Hepworth Manufacturing Company it is one of the first uses of self-reflectivity in film, as both the camera and the cameraman have an important role in the joke. Even the people of today couldn't think up such a creative idea, and we'd never actually know how it feels to be run over, (unless, of course, we really did get run over, but let's hope not).The camera is set up so we're looking down the country road. A horse and buggy passes to one side and goes off the range of the camera. Down the middle of the road comes a motor car. It swerves toward the camera and collides with the cameraman, thus making us feel as though we are being run over. I am glad we can know how it felt without it being a painful experience, so it's a good thing they made this. Well, enough of that, let's get on.What follows is a series of titles cards that flash on the screen, delivering the punchline: "Oh, Mother will be pleased!" These titles cards are believed to be the first intertitles ever put in a film. So for 1900 this is a pretty clever film that not only has a remarkable use of subtitling, but also puts the idea of self-reflectivity to a rather creative use. The early film audiences might've been freaked out by this, don't forget the shot of the train arriving in the station which received that reaction. Only here, they warned us. Okay, I'll shut up. Ground-breaking film because of the intertitles and also very creative for 1900. A good minute with a good, original gag.
How It Feels to Be Run Over (1900) I really love to watch these older movies but, to be honest, very few of them really stand out because the majority of them either feature someone dancing, boxing, walking, standing around or just doing something that we've seen in other films. This one here is at least original and lives up to its title. The camera is set up at the end of a road when we see a carriage go by. We then see another carriage coming straight towards the camera and crashing into it. This gives you the idea of being ran over.Funny? Not really but at least the film was somewhat creative and especially when compared to other films from this era. I really don't think the film was all that funny but I can imagine it scaring a few people who saw it back in 1900.
I have to say this 45-second black-and-white silent short movie from 115 years did not do too much for me. I prefer most of the director's other works that I have seen. Cecil M. Hepworth is one of Britain's very early filmmakers and here he asks the audience the question in the title. well how did it feel? Watching this did not feel too good. A bit of a nothing movie and the final twist does not really save the thing either. Maybe it would have been more interesting without the massive spoiler in the title. I'm not sure. But I am sure that this is a pretty weak film for 1900 looking at with what the likes of Méliès, Lumière etc. and even Hepworth himself already came up with. Mostly superior to this very forgettable 4 seconds.
Interesting early short in which an out of control motor-car drives straight towards the camera, obviously in an attempt to create the sort of panic that accompanied showings of the Lumiere brothers film of a train arriving at a station. The film itself is a pretty basic one shot clip, as was standard at the time, but of interest is the fact that before the main action a horse drawn carriage trots harmlessly past the camera. An early example of an establishing shot and an attempt to lure the audience into a false sense of security perhaps.