Maniac Chase (1904)
** (out of 4)
Edwin S. Porter directs this "chase" picture from Edison, which starts out with a man dressed as Napoleon breaking out of his cell and taking his "guards" on a chase through the woods. As many others have pointed out, seeing how the mentally ill were treated here is probably going to shock quite a few even though this is obviously just a movie. It's presented as a comedy but I'm not sure how many people will be laughing when the guards pretty much beat the guy to a pulp before he heads off. Once the actual chase starts things really don't improve that much. There's never really any excitement going on and I'd argue that there's not anything fun anywhere in the film. On a technical level I thought there were a few good things including the start of the chase when the camera swings around to capture that action as it goes across a small stream. This type of thing wasn't seen too often during these days but it was a nice shot. Outside of this the film is fairly forgettable.