The Kleptomaniac

With all due respect to the person

who commented on the 1905 film the Kleptomaniac by criticizing it for being confusing, he/she is misunderstanding what the viewing experience would have

been in a storefront nickelodeon theater in 1905. People would be talking and at least some of the audience would have seen the film before. At key points members of the audience would inform others of what was going on if they missed it on the screen. In other words: it was an active, interpretive audience that did not demand the sort of visual cues we count upon now. The film makers would have been aware of this.

This interesting short feature actually could have been a lot better with a couple of improvements. Some of the sequences have a lot of detail, but at times not all of it is clear. To a large degree, this is simply the consequence of the limitations of the old 'tableau' format, and this is probably about as good a film as almost anyone could have made at the time out of the relatively involved story.

The story starts by showing two women, from different social classes, who commit similar crimes, and it then follows the way that they are dealt with by the authorities. It is a worthwhile attempt at social commentary, and one of the things that makes it interesting is that you could tell almost the same story today, with practically the same point. Given the limitations imposed by the technique, the story is told fairly well. It is mostly straightforward, although there is one clever image that expresses without words the film-makers' commentary on the situation.

A rich woman enters Macy's and steals some items. She is caught, but she soon finds herself freed because she can pay. The poor mother who steals a loaf of bread from a shopkeeper to feed her starving children in their miserable novel, gets a different sort of justice.

" The law, in its majestic equality," wrote Anatole Francs, "forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." Except, as this sardonic short subject informs us, it does not. The scales of justice find that a loaf of bread weighs far more than a bagful of gold.

Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Company made "The Kleptomaniac" on the heels of another social problem drama "The Ex-Convict". Rightfully, Charles Musser and the other commentators on the "Edison: the Invention of the Movies" DVD set find these films an intriguing development in the use of motion pictures, for commentary on issues of social conscience and injustice. In a decade, the cinema had gone from novelty to the regular production of one-reel story films. "The Ex-Convict" and "The Kleptomaniac" go beyond using the story film for entertainment, to employing it to make a message for or a commentary on society.

"The Kleptomaniac" makes its message through contrasting parallel stories (told back to back without crosscutting). First, a high-society lady steals a garment, for which she receives leniency. Second, a poor mother steals bread, for which she is imprisoned. A final tableau shows blind justice holding a tipped scale with a bag of gold on one side and a loaf of bread on the other. The film consists of 11 shots, in addition to title cards, told in the tableau style. Some of the title cards seem unnecessary-making mention of the obvious; whereas, busy, seemingly irrelevant actions in the store and courtroom are left without description within the film proper. Yet, back then, exhibitors would provide lecturers to describe such scenes and the film overall to audiences, and those lecturers could use the Edison Company catalogue descriptions as a template. Thus, as with most early films, this narrative wasn't intended to be entirely self-contained. "The Kleptomaniac" remains an interesting early social commentary picture, well told and with a clear message, which has always seemed to be too relevant. There's also extensive use of panning within the multiple shots of characters' entries and exits from and to carriages and buildings.

Kleptomaniac, The (1905)

*** (out of 4)

Another political statement from Edison that still rings true one-hundred years after being made. A rich woman steals a fur piece while a poor woman steals a loaf of bread for her starving child. In court, the rich woman gets off while the poor woman has her daughter taken away and is thrown in jail.

Ex-Convict, The (1904)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Wonderful little short about an ex con finding it impossible to find people that trusts him enough to give him a job. This all changes when he saves a young girl from being ran over by a car. This here runs just over nine minutes and it's rather amazing at how much detail they squeeze in. There's no doubt the film is a political statement saying cons should be forgiven once their time is served but the ending is quite sad and very touching.

Strenuous Life; Or the Anti-Race Suicide (1904)

** (out of 4)

Another Edison short, boring as hell and I'm really not sure what it was about. The most interesting thing was the "warning" at the start of the film that other filmmakers are not allowed to use clips from this film in their film.