As Seen Through a Telescope

As Seen Through a Telescope
Screenshot from the film
Directed by	George Albert Smith
Produced by	George Albert Smith
Cinematography	George Albert Smith
Studio	G.A. Smith
Distributed by	Warwick Trading Company
Release date(s)	September 1900 (1900-09)
Running time	42 secs
Country	United Kingdom
Language	Silent

As Seen Through a Telescope (AKA: The Professor and His Field Glass) is a 1900 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring an eldrly gentleman getting a glimpse of a woman's ankle through a telescope. The three-shot comedy, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "uses a similar technique to that which G.A. Smith pioneered in Grandma's Reading Glass (1900)," and although, "the editing is unsophisticated, the film does at least show a very early example of how to make use of point-of-view close-ups in the context of a coherent narrative (which is this film's main advance on Grandma's Reading Glass)." "Smith's experiments with editing," Brooke concludes, "were ahead of most contemporary film-makers, and in retrospect it can clearly be seen that he was laying the foundations of film grammar as we now understand it."^[1][2]

Production

The film was shot in Furze Hill, Hove, England outside the entrance to St. Ann's Well Gardens, where Smith had his studio.

Synopsis

An old gentleman is shown on a village street, looking for something through a field glass. Suddenly, he levels the glass on a young couple coming up the road. The girl's shoe string came loose, and her companion volunteers to tie it. Here the scene changes, showing how it looks through the old man's glass. A very pretty ankle at short range. Scene changes back again and shows the old fellow tickled to death over the sight. The couple, who, by the way, caught "Peeping Tom," come toward him, and as the young man passes behind him, he knocks off his hat and kicks the stool on which he is sitting, from under him, making the old chap present a rather ludicrous appearance, as he sits in the street

References

1. ^ Brooke, Michael. "As Seen Through a Telescope". BFI Screenonline Database. http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/444530/. Retrieved 2011-04-24. 
2. ^ Fisher, David. "As Seen Through a Telescope". Brightonfilm.com. http://www.terramedia.co.uk/brighton/brighton_films_telescope.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-24. 

External links

• The Professor and His Field Glass at the Internet Movie Database