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Would-Be Conjuror, The (1900)
 

BFI

Main image of Would-Be Conjuror, The (1900)
 
35mm, black and white, silent, 65 feet
 
Production CompaniesBamforth Company
 Riley Brothers

A yokel is so impressed by a conjuror's magic trick that he attempts to repeat it on his wife. She is rather less impressed.

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Like the near-contemporary The Countryman and the Cinematograph (d. R.W.Paul, 1901), The Would-Be Conjuror pokes fun at the credulousness of country yokels unable to grasp the difference between illusion and reality - in this case, taking a magician's conjuring trick all too literally.

Structurally, the film is based on two shots of similar length and content: the magician performs the trick, and the yokel attempts to repeat it on his wife - with consequences that can clearly be foreseen from her very first appearance: her no-nonsense expression and rolling pin readily to hand clearly indicate who calls the shots in this particular relationship. In this respect, she's a close relative of the terrifying battleaxes commonly featured in the seaside postcards that made Bamforth's reputation.

Michael Brooke

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Video Clips
Complete film (1:21)
GALLERY / SCRIPTS / AUDIO
SEE ALSO
Bamforth and Co.