''The Cheese Mites'' ( 1903) is a

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short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

silent

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

, produced by

Charles Urban Charles Urban (April 15, 1867 – August 29, 1942) was an Anglo-American film producer and distributor, and one of the most significant figures in British cinema before the First World War. He was a pioneer of the documentary, educational, propa ...

and directed by F. Martin Duncan.

Plot

A gentleman is put off his lunch when he holds up a magnifying glass and sees a microscopic view of the cheese mites in his Stilton cheese sandwich.

Production background

The film "was the sensation of the first public programme of scientific films in Britain shown at the

Alhambra Music Hall The Alhambra was a popular theatre and music hall located on the east side of Leicester Square, in the West End of London. It was built originally as the Royal Panopticon of Science and Arts opening on 18 March 1854. It was closed after two y ...

in Leicester Square, London, in August 1903". According to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "its claim to being scientific lay in its being shot through a microscope, revealing to a lay audience sights that would normally only have been available to owners of microscopes."

Preservation status

A complete copy which includes an opening sequence, featuring F. Martin Duncan as the gentleman, was recently discovered uploaded to YouTube under a different title, and has now been acquired by 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, ...

. Previously only the sequence showing the cheese mites was known to have survived.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheese Mites, The 1903 films British short documentary films British black-and-white films British silent short films 1900s short documentary films Black-and-white documentary films Documentary films about science Documentary films about food and drink Microscopy Films about arthropods