The Glue
About The Glue
A poacher coats twigs with birdlime to catch thrushes, then runs from a gamekeeper and leaves the bucket. A boy paints the stuff on a flight of steps, a bench, and the saddle and handlebars of a bicycle. People stick and fight their way loose. The cyclist runs the boy down into the pot, and the boy crawls off with the bucket stuck to his backside.
Cast & crew
More about The Glue
Alice Guy directed this outdoor Gaumont comedy. French sources date it to 1906; 1907 is the year given for the United States release, under titles including The Glue, Glue for Birds, and Tommy and the Gluepot. The surviving picture runs about four minutes, and the damaged bicycle crash suggests the original was longer.
Themes
Making
Guy stages the gags in a real street and garden: steps, a bench, and a bicycle, with no painted backdrop.
Preservation
A print survives. Damage is heaviest in the shot where the cyclist loses control and knocks the boy over.
Notes
- The French title is La Glu. A German title was Stickphaste.
- The whole film was shot out of doors, with no studio interior.
- The poacher's lime-smeared twigs are meant for thrushes. The boy is the one who turns the bucket on people.
- Part of the cyclist sequence is badly damaged in the print that was available by 2008.
Scenes
- Passers-by stick to the coated steps and the bench.
- The cyclist hits the boy, who flees on all fours with the glue pot fastened to him.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-la-glu-aka-the-glue)
