How to Stop a Motor Car
About How to Stop a Motor Car
Village police try to stop speeding cars. One constable, Claude Whitten, is run over and comes apart. He puts himself back together. A much heavier officer takes his place. The next car bounces off that man, and the people in it are arrested. Cecil M. Hepworth drives. T. C. Hepworth plays the inspector.
Cast & crew
More about How to Stop a Motor Car
Percy Stow directed this trick comedy for Hepworth. Silent Era dates the British release to June 1902. The Hepworth catalogue lists it as 100 feet (30 metres), number 291 in the 1903 catalogue. In the United States it was called Policeman and Automobile.
Themes
Technique
Substitution cuts take the constable to pieces under the car and then put the limbs back.
Notes
- T. C. Hepworth, who plays the inspector, was Cecil Hepworth's father.
- Silent Era dates a U.S. release to February 1903.
- Silent Era lists the film as in the public domain in the United States.
Scenes
- The car runs the constable down and his limbs scatter.
- He reassembles himself.
- A heavier officer stops the next car by simply standing there.
