The '?' Motorist

I saw this film today along with quite a few other silent shorts at the German Film Museum in Frankfurt. And, if you want to see it, perhaps you'll want to stop by as well. It is among the best of the shorts they showed--mostly because it was so incredibly stupid--and I mean that in a very positive way! This film begins with some insane drivers out for a ride. A cop tries to stop them and he gets run over for his troubles. But, since this is a wacky film, he's okay AND the drivers begin doing nutty things. I loved seeing the trick shot where the car seemed to drive up the wall! Later, it even flew through space. This was pretty cheesy, but for 1906 it was great. Overall, an incredibly creative and silly film--one that elicited a few laughs when it was played today.

These people are clearly menace to society, and the civilization as a whole. They break all the laws. Even the laws of physics. Someone needs to stop them! Just look at the road rage at the beginning! Not to mention the off-roading on the rings of Saturn! That driver is a bad example for our youth, a danger to the elderly, and a disgrace on our community! This has to end!

This old curio is good fun to watch and is very creative in using the techniques available to film-makers at the time. It starts with a car driving along - in itself still something of a novelty then - and the car quickly gets involved in a series of fantastical adventures. It's filled with special effects that are excellent for the era, and that are still entertaining to watch. It gives the feeling of a free-wheeling, uninhibited approach, and yet the quality shows it to have been very carefully made. In its historical context it is also interesting, as a look at attitudes towards automobiles and the changes they brought.

Director Walter Booth's silent short follows a couple in a magical car as the they travel to the moon, hitch a ride on a comet, and take a spin on Saturn's rings before returning to Earth only to run afoul of the law. The film is one of a number of fanciful shorts produced by cinema pioneer Robert Paul. The substitution splices are quite good for the time (especially the switch between the live policeman and the dummy that gets run over). The animation and double exposures are less effective (e.g. the car is translucent and out of scale when it crashes into the courtroom). The images of the car circling Saturn are quaint but memorable. The film was remade and expanded by Booth (then working with producer Charles Urban) as 'The Automatic Motorist' (1911), which follows much the same story except that the car is driven by a robot chauffeur and the trip includes a visit to Saturn's interior and an underwater excursion.

Pros: 1. The quick cut edits help to give the short a suitable fun and upbeat feel. 2. The special effects are far ahead of their time, and they still hold up 114 years later. 3. The set design is beautifully quaint, especially the outer space setting.

Cons: 1. The plot makes little sense, and clearly most of the thought was directed to the special effects, instead of composing a compelling story. 2. The comedy completely misses , and whilst it may have been funny yesteryear, the the humour hasn't aged well. 3. The lack of intriguing characters makes it difficult to be properly invested.