The Sick Kitten

Known as "The Sick Kitten", the 55 seconds short film presents a boy and girl taking care of two kittens, one of them apparently sick is fed with a spoonful of milk. I use the word apparently because it's very easy to notice the kitten isn't sick, the way she/he drinks the milk with so much energy, almost attacking the spoon and by the way cats aren't so easy to deal with specially with a spoon.

George Albert Smith's "The Little Doctor and the Sick Kitten" works like a small magic trick. There's a problem to be solved (sick kitten), there's one solution (boy playing the doctor bringing the milk) and everyone gets happy and clapping at the ending. There isn't much to be said that this is one of cutest things ever filmed and more than 100 years later is still here for all of us to see it. Mention must be made about the quality of the film which is still impressive even for being from the early ages of film, the images are brilliantly presented, not grainy at all, you can see each scene with precision.

Well, I guess that's it. Now watch it. 10/10

This isn't the most engaging of films, but it is important in the development of cinema technique because of the way in which pioneering British filmmaker George Albert Smith transforms what would otherwise be a flat and somewhat dull film with the simple insertion of a close-up. The film shows two children and a couple of cats, one of which is supposed to be unwell. The cat sits on the girl's lap as a boy in an over-sized hat fetches a jug. The girl spoon-feeds medicine to the little kitten and it is at this point that Smith switches to a close-up of the kitten so that we can see it happily licking its medicine from the spoon. The film then returns to what was the establishing shot to show the boy removing his hat and bowing. It's no great shakes,and is fairly unremarkable when seen today, but it has a place in cinematic history.

I watched this film on a DVD that was rammed with short films from the period. I didn't watch all of them as the main problem with these type of things that their value is more in their historical novelty value rather than entertainment. So to watch them you do need to be put in the correct context so that you can keep this in mind and not watch it with modern eyes. With the Primitives & Pioneers DVD collection though you get nothing to help you out, literally the films are played one after the other (the main menu option is "play all") for several hours. With this it is hard to understand their relevance and as an educational tool it falls down as it leaves the viewer to fend for themselves, which I'm sure is fine for some viewers but certainly not the majority. What it means is that the DVD saves you searching the web for the films individually by putting them all in one place – but that's about it.

Having seen Smith use new techniques with his last few films this one was a bit of a letdown at first to me. It shows two children giving medicine to a sick cat and that's it. However only after reflection did I realise what was worth noting about it and, again, it is not the material (although the cat is cute). No Smith does two things of importance herein. Firstly he gets natural performances from the children and the cat, clearing that old saying had not been coined in his day. More importantly, although the film is one scene, it is broken up with close-ups on the action edited together to give the impression that it is all one continual time frame. OK this is nothing new and indeed it is so ordinary now for so long that I didn't even notice that it was happening in the same way as we don't notice breathing until we think about it.

So not a brilliant film but yet again an example of Smith experimenting with methods and devices in his films. The material is weak otherwise with only the cute and natural performances being of merit.

It certainly did not take long for cats to break into the movies.

Here we see a kitten sitting in some kind of homemade cat bed when a little girl picks the kitten up and begins to rock her, making it look as though the cat is ill. A little boy in a top hat enters the room, inspects the situation, leaves, and then returns with a bottle of something labeled "fisik". The little girl gets a tablespoon of the "fisik" and feeds it to the kitten who eagerly gobbles it down.

The cat is neither sick nor being fed medicine, for the kitten is not fighting whatever it is they are feeding to her. The mother cat - I assume because of size and resemblance - comes to see what is going on and quickly leaves. She obviously does not think her offspring is in danger.

George Albert Smith was the director, the British counterpart to George Melies as far as experimenting with different techniques for special effects during the early days of cinema. He also patented Kinemacolor, which was the world's first commercial cinema color system, in 1906, which was extremely successful for a time, in spite of the extra equipment needed for projection.

Some might say this rather simple film was an experiment in magic, as you must be a magician to get a cat to eat something if it is not their idea. I say that as a lover and owner of cats for decades.

Okay, in 1903 this must have been considered a pretty good film. Back then, many of the films lasted only a minute or two and consisted of very mundane everyday activities--hence this dull film about a little girl feeding her sick cat. However, unlike many of the other raters, I STILL cannot rate this movie any higher than a 4 because there actually were GOOD films with plot, sets, acting and imaginative camera-work that should be elevated far above the boring drivel that was flooding the nickelodeons. Georges Méliès' films (not just his very famous LE VOYAGE DANS LE LUNE) were head and shoulders above the dull fare of the day. And this cat film is certainly one of those dull (but rather sweet) films.