Simply A Masterpiece

Powerful

Highly Overrated But Still Good

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

A skirt was lifted in this 1901 film by notable movie pioneer Edwin S. Porter. The movie runs for roughly 90 seconds and that is already too much I would say for the content. The times where we would be happy with watching people in the streets are over in the film industry. There needs to be something more by 1901 already to keep the masses entertained. The final plot twist that answers the question in the titles wasn't bad, but it also wasn't very great to make up for the boredom from before. I cannot say that this is one of the best films from its time, although it's probably among the more known ones looking at the number of votes the title has. This may be because it's somewhat sexually explicit going by the standards of the early 20th century. Not enough though. Not recommended.

Here we have a short directed by Edwin S. Porter. In it a young couple steadily walks toward the camera from the background. When the two are almost directly in front of the camera, we have the payoff. The woman's skirt is blown up-around her ankles, revealing the undergarment around her calves. A very poor film, even for the standards of 1901. It takes too long for any things remotely interesting happens in the film. The cameraman has to shue several passersby out of the way, and a young boy stands in the background, watching the entire thing unfold. When one first watches the film, the viewer doesn't even know what we are watching, a slice of life shot or a planned performance.I give it a 3 out of 10. The guys were cranking them out as fast as possible, but you would think they could have done better than this.

Just discovered on the Internet Archive site this very early piece of film from the Edison Manufacturing Company with pioneer Edwin S. Porter presiding as director. The title says it all as a stationary camera depicts several people walking, most of them unaware that they're being filmed. The last couple to walk toward the camera seem to be doing so deliberately. They are Alfred C. Abadie-the studio cameraman-and Florence Georgie. When Ms. Georgie walks on the sidewalk grate, her skirt lifts a little causing some embarrassment. Not too much, however, since she laughs if off along with Mr. Abadie as the film comes to a close...This little more than a minute short is pretty quaint by today's standards but also a little fascinating in seeing what New York looked like in the early twentieth century with the way people dressed and the attitudes about propriety (a.k.a. etiquette) that seemed so important then. Compared to Marilyn Monroe's more famous versions of this situation in both The Seven Year Itch and her pinup pose, this bit was probably not too controversial. Still, anyone who saw this in 1901 might've thought of something that later became the title of a Cole Porter tune, "Anything Goes!"

This short film starts with around forty seconds of people living their lives on 23rd Street in New York. In the distance we see a man constantly watching the camera. He made me wondering if the scene was about him. Other people walk by, some react like they are told to move out of the frame. Then a couple walks into sight and when the woman steps over an air duct her skirts lifts up, showing us her legs. The couple laughs it off and walks on. The short film ends with a young boy turning his laughing head towards the camera.One has to see this short film from the Edison Manufacturing Company as if it is 1901. When you see a women walking in a bikini top these days not so many people are surprised, but back then it was somewhat different. What we see in this short could also be the inspiration for Marilyn Monroe's lifting skirt in 'The Seven Year Itch', a scene considered by many as sexually charged. For a short film from the early days 'What Happened on 23rd Street' is pretty amusing.