BFI

A remake of G.A. Smith's earlier The Little Doctor (1901), now thought lost, this continues the editing technique that he first explored in his films of 1900: Grandma's Reading Glass and As Seen Through A Telescope.

Again, we cut from medium shot to close-up and back to medium shot, though this time the close-up is presented in the same fashion as the others - i.e. without the circular black mask to differentiate it. Presumably, Smith believed that his audience would have grown more sophisticated and would be able to tell the difference between a medium shot and close-up without prompting.

Unlike As Seen Through A Telescope, there is little narrative as such - the children feed the kitten some medicine, they shake hands on completion and the little boy takes a bow, accentuated by his outlandish top hat.

Michael Brooke

*This film is included in the BFI DVD compilation 'Early Cinema: Primitives and Pioneers'.

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