Was this actually the first British story film as long as a reel? What are we to make of Paul's BUY YOUR OWN CHERRIES! from 1904? Certainly there was nothing new about story films as long as a minute. Melies had been producing them in France as long before as 1899, and THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY was released in the US eighteen months before this.
Whether or not it is the first British story film as long as a reel -- a question which seems a trifle specific and nit-picky to me -- this is a well-produced work, covering the crimes of the notorious Charles Peace, who burgled and killed and escaped from the police and died on the gallows. It uses the "chapter heading" style of film making, in which a title tells you what you are about to see, and then shows it. Even so, there are a couple of incidents that look puzzling to me. This indicates that Walter Haggar -- who plays Peace, as well as having written and directed the movie -- expected his audience to know his subject's story, a quarter of a century after he met the hangman.
Or perhaps he anticipated that some one would not be familiar, and ask.... and that would keep people talking about the picture. Haggar was certainly a talented and forward-thinking film maker. I can believe that.
Whether or not it is the first British story film as long as a reel -- a question which seems a trifle specific and nit-picky to me -- this is a well-produced work, covering the crimes of the notorious Charles Peace, who burgled and killed and escaped from the police and died on the gallows. It uses the "chapter heading" style of film making, in which a title tells you what you are about to see, and then shows it. Even so, there are a couple of incidents that look puzzling to me. This indicates that Walter Haggar -- who plays Peace, as well as having written and directed the movie -- expected his audience to know his subject's story, a quarter of a century after he met the hangman.
Or perhaps he anticipated that some one would not be familiar, and ask.... and that would keep people talking about the picture. Haggar was certainly a talented and forward-thinking film maker. I can believe that.
