The Old Maid's Valentine
This film is not available to watch here yet.
About The Old Maid's Valentine
A calendar and a sheet of paper flap on an open-air set. Miss Pimple, played by Laura Bayley, opens a valentine on 14 February. David Fisher of the film's British record reads the message as "Just like Mama," and notes how hard the flapping sheet is to read. Her changing face is the rest of the action. A cat sits beside her and licks its paws.
Cast & crew
More about The Old Maid's Valentine
George Albert Smith directed this one-minute British comedy in 1900. Laura Bayley plays Miss Pimple.
Themes
Look
Smith frames Laura Bayley in a medium close-up on a set built in the open, so the valentine and the calendar move in the wind.
Notes
- Michael Brooke, writing for BFI Screenonline, calls it a facial: one performer in medium close-up, and the change of expression is almost the whole drama.
- Fisher points out that the moving paper and the calendar give away the outdoor set.
- He also suggests Smith may have smeared food on the cat so it would stay and wash itself.
Scenes
- Miss Pimple reads the paper and her expression shifts while the cat keeps licking its paws.
