Buy Your Own Cherries

R.W. Paul was better at humour; his one-scene comedies, such as "The Countryman and the Cinmatograph" (1901), "A Chess Dispute" and "An Extraordinary Cab Accident" (both 1903), as well as "The '?' Motorist" (1906) are some of the best of their kind. This foray into melodrama, "Buy Your Own Cherries", on the other hand, displays the typical insipid qualities of the genre within a some four-minute timeframe. Due to its short runtime and historical situation of being made over 100 years ago, it's not a waste of time, but I don't recommend it. On the other hand, if you like melodrama or want to see its early incarnations, this is a good find.

Reportedly, this is based on a magic lantern slideshow of a few years prior. The set designs of the film are about as elaborate as a magic lantern slide, too. It involves a lower-class drunkard who hits his wife and puts fear into his children, but soon apologizes and finds God (only four minutes remember). He then quits drinking and buys his own cherries. It's a condescending and classist advertisement for religion and the temperance movement. That's typical of Victorian and Edwardian Britain, but it's no excuse, either. After our protagonist finds God and temperance, his family transforms from living in a somewhat dirty home of penury to a decorated home and apparent middle-class lifestyle. Our protagonist showers his family with gifts.

This film is, however, notable for its fine continuity as an early story film; the transitions between the six shots are clean cuts. One shot is even an insert of the temperance pledge, which makes the film's message more blunt. R.W. Paul was an important pioneer of film technique.