The manner in which this short film from Edison company filmmaker James H. White is shot is both awkward and faintly amusing, due to how the camera is placed in order to capture the action. It had only been a little while ago, a year or less, that the Edison company had stopped production in filming vaudeville performers and dancers, and they, not being professional photographers like the Lumière Brothers, appeared to be struggling some with how to properly compose a picture. There were good compositions, such as in "American Falls from Above, American Side" (same year), or the "Morning Alarm" films. This is one case where the Lumières simply would have done better, perhaps by shooting from a side angle as in "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat". What was done here just didn't succeed, and the result is somewhat humorous to see.
The composition at first appears to be quite good, as the mounted police charge of the title gallops forward in the distance. Unfortunately, they are headed right towards the camera, so that by the end the entire force is brought to a stop where they just sit awkwardly on their horses in front of the camera while the last five seconds or so run out. There is simply something off in the way it was pulled off that doesn't settle right, and the fact that they had to stop before hitting the camera is particularly funny - a diagonal angle would have worked better if not quite as effectively. Nonetheless, it is an interesting glimpse of history as always, capturing police officers that would otherwise be forgotten today.