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A cross between Cecil Hepworth's The Bathers (1900) and W.R. Booth's Undressing Extraordinary: The Troubles of a Tired Traveller (1901) in both content and technique, James Williamson's The Puzzled Bather and his Animated Clothes was one of a number of trick films that the Hove-based pioneer made in 1901, others including The Big Swallow and The Magic Extinguisher. The Puzzled Bather is a deceptively simple piece of work (certainly by comparison with Undressing Extraordinary and its elaborate supernatural visions), but on closer examination it becomes apparent that a great deal of planning must have gone into matching the various jump cuts and reverse motion sequences, and the unidentified actor deserves particular credit for holding his position so consistently between shots that the transition is almost seamless. The first part of the film foreshadows the much more celebrated sequence in Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr (US, 1924) where Keaton climbs into a projected film and is challenged by its editing. Unlike Williamson's puzzled bather, Keaton was at the mercy of the background scenery instead of his clothes, but the principle is otherwise the same. Michael Brooke
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Complete film (1:15)
