Peeping Tom is an 1897 American short comedy-drama film. The film was made by the American Mutoscope Company. [1] It concerns a man peeping through a keyhole at an attractive young woman and his comeuppance.
This film is frequently confused online with the 1901 film Par Le Trou De La Serrure (What is Seen Through the Keyhole), directed by Ferdinand Zecca.[ citation needed ]
William Kennedy Laurie Dickson was a British-American inventor who devised an early motion picture camera under the employment of Thomas Edison.
The following is an overview of the events of 1897 in film, including a list of films released and notable births.
Peeping Tom is a 1960 British psychological horror-thriller film directed by Michael Powell, written by Leo Marks, and starring Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey and Maxine Audley. The film revolves around a serial killer who murders women while using a portable film camera to record their dying expressions of terror, putting his footage together into a snuff film used for his own self-pleasure. Its title derives from the expression "Peeping Tom", which describes a voyeur.
The Mutoscope is an early motion picture device, invented by W. K. L. Dickson and Herman Casler and granted U.S. patent 549309A to Herman Casler on November 5, 1895. Like Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, it did not project on a screen and provided viewing to only one person at a time. Cheaper and simpler than the Kinetoscope, the system, marketed by the American Mutoscope Company, quickly dominated the coin-in-the-slot peep-show business.
What the Butler Saw is a mutoscope reel, and an early example of erotic films dating from the early 1900s. It depicted a scene of a woman partially undressing in her bedroom, as if some voyeuristic "butler" were watching her through a keyhole. The film was seen by depositing a coin in a freestanding viewing machine, which then freed a hand-crank on the side which was turned by the viewer. Social standards are subject to change, and by the 1950s this and similar films were considered harmless when compared to contemporary erotica.
A peep show or peepshow is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot.
The Biograph Company, also known as the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1916. It was the first company in the United States devoted entirely to film production and exhibition, and for two decades was one of the most prolific, releasing over 3000 short films and 12 feature films. During the height of silent film as a medium, Biograph was the most prominent U.S. film studio and one of the most respected and influential studios worldwide, only rivaled by Germany's UFA, Sweden's Svensk Filmindustri and France's Pathé. The company was home to pioneering director D. W. Griffith and such actors as Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, and Lionel Barrymore.
Actuality film is a non-fiction film genre that uses footage of real events, places, and things, a predecessor to documentary film. Unlike documentaries, actuality films are not structured into a larger narrative or coherent whole. During the era of early cinema, actualities—usually lasting no more than a minute or two and usually assembled together into a program by an exhibitor—were just as popular and prominent as their fictional counterparts. The line between "fact" and "fiction" was not as prominent in early cinema as it would become once documentaries became the predominant non-fiction filmmaking form. Actuality as a film genre is related to still photography.
A Good Time for a Dime is a 1941 Disney short film in which Donald Duck watches a risqué Daisy perform the "Dance of the Seven Veils" in a Mutoscope at a penny arcade nickelodeon peep show. Donald also struggles with a crane drop machine and a miniature airplane ride.
The International Mutoscope Reel Company was an American amusement arcade company. They were formed in the early 1920s, to produce Mutoscope machines and the motion picture reels that the machines played. They continued to manufacture arcade machines, including the claw machine as well as electro-mechanical games, until 1949.
Sherlock Holmes Baffled is an American silent trick film created in 1900 with cinematography by Arthur Marvin. It is the earliest known film to feature Arthur Conan Doyle's detective character Sherlock Holmes, albeit in a form unlike that of later screen incarnations. In the film, a thief who can appear and disappear at will steals a sack of items from Sherlock Holmes. At each point, Holmes's attempts to thwart the intruder end in failure.
The Taming of the Shrew is a 1908 silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and produced by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company of New York City. The 17-minute short, which is based on the play of the same name by English playwright William Shakespeare, was filmed in just two days–October 1 and 7, 1908–at Biograph's studio in Manhattan and on location in nearby Coytesville, a borough of Fort Lee, New Jersey.
A Drunkard's Reformation is a 1909 American drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. Prints of the film survive in the film archive of the Library of Congress. The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company advertised the feature as "The most powerful temperance lecture ever depicted".
Felix in Hollywood is an American silent short film featuring Felix the Cat, released on July 15, 1923. The short was named number 50 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time in a 1994 survey of animators and cartoon historians.
Wallace McCutcheon Sr. was a pioneer cinematographer and director in the early American motion picture industry, working with the American Mutoscope & Biograph, Edison and American Star Film companies. McCutcheon's wealth of credits are often mixed up with the small handful of films directed by his son, Wallace McCutcheon Jr. (1884–1928).
The Zulu's Heart is an extant 1908 American silent short drama film directed by D. W. Griffith for the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. Location footage was shot in Cliffside, New Jersey. White actors in blackface portray Zulus.
The Mended Lute is a 1909 American short silent Western film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Florence Lawrence. It was produced by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company.
His Ward's Love is a 1909 American Short film directed by D. W. Griffith and the film was made by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company.
The Hindoo Dagger is a 1909 American short film and mystery drama directed by D. W. Griffith and the film was made by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company.
Par le trou de la serrure is a 1901 French silent short comedy film directed by Ferdinand Zecca and distributed in France by Pathé Frères. It was also distributed in the United States under the titles What Is Seen Through a Keyhole and What Happened to the Inquisitive Janitor, and in the United Kingdom under the titles What Happened: The Inquisitive Janitor and Peeping Tom.
 | This article about a short silent film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about a silent comedy-drama film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |