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6/10
The Long Arm Of The Law
boblipton4 February 2019
A gendarmes on the streets of Paris has a most useful peculiarity. He can stretch his right arm out, seemingly hundreds of meters, to point a lady in the right direction or seize a law-breaking Apache in this amusing short comedy from Romeo Bosetti.

Technically, it's a clever combination of propwork and stop-motion animation that achieves this effect that is still amusing eleven decades after the film was originally released. However, once some one has made the obvious description -- it's the title of this review -- and seen its operation once, that's it. You've pretty much exhausted the gag. Bosetti's essay at a chase sequence with a real difference is funny. I also found it mildly creepy.
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8/10
Amazingly weird!
planktonrules24 May 2013
"L'agent a le bras long" is truly a film about the long arm of the law. In this ultra-weird French short, a policeman has an amazing arm--one that stretches up to at least 10-12 feet. At times, he uses it to be very helpful to the local citizens, and at others he uses it to enforce the law. Much of the film consists of him chasing a crook and then extending his arm to enormous lengths to capture the guy. It's all very strange and surreal--and also rather funny. Don't expect the best special effects in this one but they were great for 1909. Using some sort of arm extension device as well as a bit of stop-motion, Romeo Bosetti crafts a film that still manages to work today. Sure, today you could use CGI to make it look a lot more realistic, but still the film has help up well and makes you appreciate the serious effort it took to make this clever little comedy. Well worth seeing.
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