Explosion of a Motor Car
About Explosion of a Motor Car
A motor car blows up. The driver's and passenger's limbs fall slowly out of the sky. A policeman tries to fit the pieces back together.
Cast & crew
More about Explosion of a Motor Car
Cecil M. Hepworth directed this comic trick film, also called The Delights of Automobiling, in July 1900. Hepworth appears in it. Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline calls it one of the most memorable early British trick films. It uses Georges Méliès's stop-substitution trick and a delayed fall, with objects taking longer to land than they would. The BFI DVD Early Cinema: Primitives and Pioneers includes it.
Themes
Look
Hepworth stops the camera so the car can be replaced by a burst of parts, then lets the limbs drift down.
Technique
One of the earliest British uses of the stop trick, plus a comic delay on the falling limbs.
Preservation
Included on the BFI DVD Early Cinema: Primitives and Pioneers.
Notes
- A clip appears in Paul Merton's guide to early British film.
- The delayed fall later became a standard gag in animated films.
Scenes
- Limbs drift down long after the blast.
- The policeman tries to reassemble the passengers.
Influenced by
- Georges Méliès stop-substitution
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-explosion-of-a-motor-car)
- BFI DVD Early Cinema: Primitives and Pioneers
