Police in the Year 2000
About Police in the Year 2000
In a city of the year 2000, two officers patrol in a propeller-driven airship. Through a telescope they spot muggers, burglars, and a dog taking sausages from a butcher. Long clamps lift each one into the ship. When the onboard lockup is full, the craft lands on the police-station roof and drops the prisoners down a funnel.
Cast & crew
More about Police in the Year 2000
Gaumont released the short in France on 28 May 1910. The company left the director uncredited. Eugène Bréon plays the officer at the bow, Clément Mégé the officer at the stern, and Marcel Perez, also known as Marcel Fabre, the safe-cracker.
Themes
Background
The short was sold as a look at policing in the year 2000, with a dirigible standing in for a patrol car.
Technique
One shot puts a stencil in front of the lens so the view through a single telescope looks like a pair of binoculars.
Preservation
Prints survive. Gaumont issued it in 2009 on Le Cinéma premier, Volume 2.
Notes
- The French title is La police en l'an 2000.
- A German reference lists the running time as 4 minutes.
- In 2009 Gaumont included it in the DVD set Le Cinéma premier, Volume 2.
- By 1910 Pathé and Star Film had already made longer trick films of airships, submarines, and rockets. This Gaumont short uses almost none of those tricks.
Scenes
- Clamps on poles hoist a sausage-stealing dog into the gondola.
- The airship dumps its prisoners through a funnel into the station.
Also available
- Gaumont DVD Le Cinéma premier, Volume 2 (2009)