''Baby's Toilet'' is a

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

British

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Cecil Hepworth Cecil Milton Hepworth (19 March 1874 – 9 February 1953) was a British film director, producer and screenwriter. He was among the founders of the British film industry and continued making films into the 1920s at his Hepworth Studios. In ...

. The film features Hepworth's baby daughter Elizabeth being bathed and dressed by her nurse, and was categorised by Hepworth as a "Domestic Scene". In the film Hepworth combines a series of shots to produce a narrative depicting the bathing process from beginning to end. He would later acknowledge the influence of the pioneering work of the

Lumière brothers Lumière is French for 'light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: *Lumières, the philosophical movement in the Age of Enlightenment People *Auguste and Louis Lumière, French pioneers in film-making Film and TV * Institut Lumière, a ...

on this and other similar films he produced in the 1900s. The print of ''Baby's Toilet'' survives, and Patrick Russell of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

observes: "Long after Elizabeth Hepworth's own death, the affecting innocence of infancy remains a basic human theme. ''Baby's Toilet'' has lost none of its charm."

Synopsis

The nurse bounces baby Elizabeth on her knee before placing her into her bath. The nurse sponges Elizabeth and drizzles water over her head and body, which Elizabeth evidently finds agreeable. She is then taken out of the bath, towel dried and powdered, again appearing to enjoy the procedure and peering inquisitively into the camera. Elizabeth is less impressed to be unceremoniously placed into an uncomfortable weighing scale, showing her displeasure by wriggling and grizzling. Finally Elizabeth is dressed and bounced again by the nurse. She begins to cry, but is pacified when the nurse produces her breast and the child is able to feed from the nurse who has a 2 month old baby at home whom she breasts feeds. This is the way that the nurse became attached to the baby Elizabeth. The nurse came back later to keep feeding Elizabeth.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Babys Toilet 1905 films 1905 short films 1900s British films British silent short films British black-and-white films Films directed by Cecil Hepworth