This film is also known as, Footpads (1895). Three robbers (footpads), attack a sophisticated gentlemen, who is eventually rescued by a police officer, who is passing by the crooked scene. The film is directed by Edison competitor, Robert W. Paul, who made a lot of films with Birt Acres. Arrest of a Bookmaker (1895), was initially released in a Kinetoscope form in 1895, but did not get shown in a theater venue until 1896. Paul's films were initially treated as Kinetoscope clones, but he re-released all of his Kinetoscopes, in projected theaters in 1896, thus making them officially, theatrical motion pictures.
Arrest of a Bookmaker (1895), aka Footpads (1895), would become known as one of the first crime-dramas ever made. It also boasts, as being one of the earliest examples of creating realism, by utilizing the backdrop of a set. The background is a nicely painted depiction of a city-view, which creates an eerie feeling of a wet, dangerous, London night in 1895. The only drawback is, you can't tell, who the bad-guys are, the way they are all dressed and rolling around on the ground. It took me a couple of viewings to figure out what was going on. It is a quick 25 second film.
8.2 (B MyGrade) = 8 IMDB.
