Grandma and the Bad Boys

1900
1m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Two bad boys enter the kitchen. One climbs to the kitchen table and takes down the old lamp, the other goes to the flour barrel and scoops out some flour, pouring it into the chimney until i... Read allTwo bad boys enter the kitchen. One climbs to the kitchen table and takes down the old lamp, the other goes to the flour barrel and scoops out some flour, pouring it into the chimney until it is filled to the top. The lamp is then replaced in the bracket. Grandma enters, scratche... Read allTwo bad boys enter the kitchen. One climbs to the kitchen table and takes down the old lamp, the other goes to the flour barrel and scoops out some flour, pouring it into the chimney until it is filled to the top. The lamp is then replaced in the bracket. Grandma enters, scratches a match, removes the lamp chimney, when the flour falls upon her head. It sticks in her ... Read all

Director
- James H. White

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

4.6/10

113

YOUR RATING

Director
- James H. White

See production info at IMDbPro

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User reviews2

4.6113

Featured reviews

Michael_Elliott

Funny Film from Edison

Grandma and the Bad Boys (1900)

*** (out of 4)

Funny Edison short has a couple young boys going into their grandmother's kitchen where they pour some flour into a lamp and hang it on the wall. Sure enough grandma walks in to fill up the lamp and soon finds herself covered in flour. This film runs just under two-minutes and there's certainly no ground-breaking story being told but I must admit that the joke made me laugh and that was certainly the goal of the film. It appears the entire film was done in just one take as the boys sneak in, do their thing and then hide for the grandmother to return. The entire film is built around the "moment" of the flour falling and when it does it was fast and funny. Fans of early cinema will certainly want to check this one out.

4boblipton

But We Only Wanted To Make A Mess!

While grandma is out of the kitchen, the boys fill the standard lamp with flour. Grandma comes back and takes down the lamp, covering herself with flour.

It's the sort of simple, practical-joke that made up a one-minute comedy in those days, when major productions from%Melies would run as much as three minutes. It's shot exceedingly simple, with the camera sitting in the center of the first row.

It's excessively primitive, because it is so old, and because director James White rarely did much in the way of shooting things imaginatively, or sometimes even competently. I imagine the audience laughed in anticipation of granny getting covered with flour...and the whipping the boys would receive.