BFI

Originally published on Screenonline under the title Cyclists and Pony-Traps and a date of 1900, it now seems more likely that it was shot in Hyde Park some four years before, making it one of R.W. Paul's earliest actuality firms. The side of the road is lined with promenading onlookers, and the pace of the cyclists and pony-traps is gentle and leisurely, suggesting a Sunday outing of some kind.

Many of the cyclists are women, and wearing skirts. Although women had been riding bicycles since the 1880s, it was only towards the end of the 1890s that they could do so comfortably without wearing trouser-like garments such as bloomers, as the design of early bicycles made riding in skirts impossible. This had been controversial for observers and cyclists alike, the former because they were convinced that women in 'male' outfits or even split skirts were immoral in some way, the latter because wearing such garments suggested a radical political outlook that they might not possess.

Michael Brooke

*This film is included in the BFI DVD compilation 'R.W. Paul: The Collected Films 1895-1908', with music by Stephen Horne and optional commentary by Ian Christie.

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