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| The Little Match Seller James Williamson | 1902 | 3 mins 15 secs In a snowy street, a girl asks for help from a passing gentleman, is attacked with a snowball by a boy, is ignored by the lamplighter. She strikes a match on the wall and the light of the match causes the wall to become transparent and room behind to become visible. She strikes a second, third and fourth match, then expires. An angel lifts the girl's spirit to heaven. A policeman finds her body. There may have been only one literary adaptation on film before this (R W Paul's Scrooge, 1901). Williamson shows considerable skill in aligning the double exposures, especially of the plate of food, which appears to move into the girl's hands and the policeman's lantern beam is also superimposed. The continuing fall of snow is impressive. The girl is probably Williamson's daughter Lilian, who was then 12, and the boy Tom Williamson, then 10, who later appeared as Our New Errand Boy. Unfortunately this copy of the film is mis-dated 1912. |
Page created 5 February 2009
Film: public domain; Text © David Fisher