The Thieving Hand

Amusing little fantasy about a man who buys an artificial arm and discovers it picks everyone's pocket. Blackton was a leading exponent of trick shots in early American films -- like Melies, he had been a stage magician, and the stop-motion effects are slickly done.

When it came to "trick films" of the early 1900s, Frenchman Georges Méliès was the clear forerunner, not only for his two major masterpieces {'A Trip to the Moon (1902)' and 'The Impossible Voyage (1904)'}, but also his huge catalogue of minor gimmick shorts, a cinematic extension of his stage magician acts. On the other side of the Atlantic, director Stuart J. Blackton must surely have been the American equivalent, most notable for producing perhaps the first ever animated cartoon {see 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906)' or perhaps even 'The Enchanted Drawing (1900)'}. 'The Thieving Hand (1908)' is impressive because, above all else, it is most concerned with its story, something akin to what Chaplin would be doing a few years later, and tries carefully to keep the camera tricks – mostly substitution cuts – as inconspicuous as possible. The film has recently been restored from its only surviving copy, and is accessible on the excellent "Treasures from the American Film Archives" DVD, albeit minus the final seconds, which are believed lost.

When a one-armed street-peddler graciously returns a lost ring to a grateful philanthropist, he unwittingly discovers that every blessing is a disaster in disguise. The man is rewarded with an expensive mechanical arm from the local "limb store," but it doesn't take long for him to realise that this new appendage has been programmed with a life of its own. As the peddler honestly goes about his daily business, his left hand discreetly pick-pockets every passer-by, eventually getting him in trouble with the authorities. It is only after he is thrown into a jail cell that the criminal hand reveals its origin, and the reason for its unlawful habit. All this surreal craziness is played out with a surprisingly straight face, as though it's not entirely unusual to see a dismembered arm scooting purposefully across the floor (this particular effect was achieved with wires). A successful attempt to blend a comic narrative with early visual effects, 'The Thieving Hand' is a very enjoyable five minute interlude – it also foreshadows Dr. Strangelove's maniacal Nazi arm.

The Thieving Hand is a fun little silent-era film dating back almost 120 years. In it, a wealthy man buys a beggar an artificial limb-a hand that looks surprisingly realistic-but the hand turns out to have a mind of its own, constantly trying to steal from others.

This uncontrollable hand, which is also difficult to get rid of (as it keeps coming back to cause more trouble), has appeared in several films throughout cinema history. One of the most memorable examples is Evil Dead II, released nearly 80 years after this silent-era gem. It's kind of mind-boggling to realize that someone had this idea way back in the early days of film.

The idea behind this film - the idea of a false limb developing a mind of its own and carrying out evil deeds against the wishes of its new owner was something that the horror genre would later embrace, but back in 1908 it was played strictly for laughs.

The effects are OK for the period, but are nothing groundbreaking, and the film shows both how far the cinema had progressed since its very early days and how its technical limitations still prevented it from delivering an experience that would still interest an audience today. There were many filmmaking techniques which are commonplace today that were still to be developed back in 1908.

Thieving Hand, The (1908)

** (out of 4)

Very interesting, if not totally successful comedy about a one-armed man who buys a fake arm, which turns out to have a life of its own. The special effects and set design are terrific in this short and pretty much ahead of their time but the "laughs" just never come due to some timid direction.

Impossible Convicts (1905)

*** (out of 4)

Interesting short about four convicts who try to escape from jail. The technique used here is that the film was shot in a few takes with the action-taking place backwards. This makes for some nice scenes as well as a unique feel.