BFI

Also known by the rather more descriptive title Greasy Pole Game Aboard Ship, this film may well have been shot at the same time and location as Tetherball, or Do-Do (1900). Both films depict ways of whiling away the time aboard ship on a long voyage - in this case thought to be towards South Africa, the cameraman on board presumably intending to cover the then ongoing Boer War. The ship may have been the the Carisbrooke Castle, which docked in Capetown on 14 November 1899.

As with Tetherball, the rules are so simple that they barely need explaining - the two participants straddle a horizontal pipe that appears to be part of the ship's architecture, and belabour each other with pillows until one of the players falls off. The ease with which this is accomplished - the first vanquished player falls off without even being hit - suggests that the pipe has been heavily greased beforehand.

Michael rooke

*This film is included in the BFI DVD compilation 'R.W. Paul: The Collected Films 1895-1908', with music by Stephen Horne and optional commentary by Ian Christie.

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