British Film Institute

First advertised in July 1905, this James Williamson comedy short is in a similar rough-and-tumble vein to The Dear Boys Home from the Holidays (1904), Our New Errand Boy and Brown's Half Holiday (both 1905). Although the surviving print has no credits or titles, the two mischievous schoolboys in the film bear a marked resemblance to Williamson's sons Tom and Stuart, though their role in this particular story is relatively minor. The other parts are uncredited.

In terms of style and structure, The Rival Barbers is almost a return to Williamson's one-shot roots - aside from a brief sequence inside the shop where the barber appears to be trying to shave off the innocent bystander's eyebrows after assuming that he was responsible, the whole film takes place with the camera facing the shop exterior, the offending advertisement permanently on display.

Michael Brooke

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