The Sick Kitten

This isn't the most engaging of films, but it is important in the development of cinema technique because of the way in which pioneering British filmmaker George Albert Smith transforms what would otherwise be a flat and somewhat dull film with the simple insertion of a close-up. The film shows two children and a couple of cats, one of which is supposed to be unwell. The cat sits on the girl's lap as a boy in an over-sized hat fetches a jug. The girl spoon-feeds medicine to the little kitten and it is at this point that Smith switches to a close-up of the kitten so that we can see it happily licking its medicine from the spoon. The film then returns to what was the establishing shot to show the boy removing his hat and bowing. It's no great shakes,and is fairly unremarkable when seen today, but it has a place in cinematic history.

It certainly did not take long for cats to break into the movies.

Here we see a kitten sitting in some kind of homemade cat bed when a little girl picks the kitten up and begins to rock her, making it look as though the cat is ill. A little boy in a top hat enters the room, inspects the situation, leaves, and then returns with a bottle of something labeled "fisik". The little girl gets a tablespoon of the "fisik" and feeds it to the kitten who eagerly gobbles it down.

The cat is neither sick nor being fed medicine, for the kitten is not fighting whatever it is they are feeding to her. The mother cat - I assume because of size and resemblance - comes to see what is going on and quickly leaves. She obviously does not think her offspring is in danger.

George Albert Smith was the director, the British counterpart to George Melies as far as experimenting with different techniques for special effects during the early days of cinema. He also patented Kinemacolor, which was the world's first commercial cinema color system, in 1906, which was extremely successful for a time, in spite of the extra equipment needed for projection.

Some might say this rather simple film was an experiment in magic, as you must be a magician to get a cat to eat something if it is not their idea. I say that as a lover and owner of cats for decades.

It's so simple and plain. Acting is perfect. Story line is marvelous. Cats are magnificent as always. I rate this movie 10/10.

What "planktonrules" does not realize about this film is that while it is nothing exceptional, it is a perfect example of breaking down a scene into several different shots, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT WE'VE GOT TODAY! Remember, lots of early films did not feature closeups OR different perspectives when showing a specific scene! So when George Albert Smith made films like this, he automatically paved the road for the films of today.

The film "Sick Kitten" is an exact remake of Smith's earlier film "The Little Doctors"--a film which is apparently lost that supposedly featured the exact same structure and story-line. What we're shown for less than a minute is a girl feeding medicine to a kitten--who is supposed to be sick. Despite its very simple plot, even today this a cute little home movie--though NOT a documentary due to the blank backdrop which shows it is staged.

Known as "The Sick Kitten", the 55 seconds short film presents a boy and girl taking care of two kittens, one of them apparently sick is fed with a spoonful of milk. I use the word apparently because it's very easy to notice the kitten isn't sick, the way she/he drinks the milk with so much energy, almost attacking the spoon and by the way cats aren't so easy to deal with specially with a spoon.

George Albert Smith's "The Little Doctor and the Sick Kitten" works like a small magic trick. There's a problem to be solved (sick kitten), there's one solution (boy playing the doctor bringing the milk) and everyone gets happy and clapping at the ending. There isn't much to be said that this is one of cutest things ever filmed and more than 100 years later is still here for all of us to see it. Mention must be made about the quality of the film which is still impressive even for being from the early ages of film, the images are brilliantly presented, not grainy at all, you can see each scene with precision.

Well, I guess that's it. Now watch it. 10/10