This programme of short comedies and nonfiction films from 1915 is a cinematographic manifesto of the true spirit of Il Cinema Ritrovato and especially of the section A Hundred Years Ago. Four out of the five films are incomplete; none of them will ever make it into official film histories or become available on Dvd. All of them possess some particular quality, something surprising or beautiful or enjoyably silly: in Lady Baffles, the detective disappointingly is not a duck, as the more imaginative among you might expect, but this is compensated for by the wonderful episode titles – The Dread Society of the Sacred Sausage, The 18 Carrot Mystery, etc.
When if not now, and where if not here, will these films ever be screened and find the audience they deserve? Gentle viewer, it’s now or never.

Mariann Lewinsky