''The Beggar's Deceit'' is a

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

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 is a comedy sketch shot from a static camera position, with the composition divided into thirds: on the left the beggar, in the centre the pavement and pedestrians, and to the right the road and vehicle traffic.

Synopsis

A legless beggar with a sign around his neck saying "cripple" pushes himself slowly and laboriously on a trolley along the pavement, soliciting alms from sympathetic passers-by. A policeman gradually approaches from the distance. Feeling suspicious, he taps the beggar on the shoulder, whereupon the beggar leaps up in a panic and runs away on his perfectly functional legs. The policeman trips over the trolley before recovering his footing and setting off in pursuit.''The Beggar's Deceit''
BFI Screen Online. ''Retrieved 09-10-2010''

References

1900 films 1900s British films British silent short films British black-and-white films Films directed by Cecil Hepworth 1900 comedy films 1900 short films British comedy short films Silent comedy films {{1900s-short-comedy-film-stub