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© 2026 The Couch Critic
Browse 88 movies from Robert W. Paul
Two sports are seen drinking beer and arguing as to the qualities of certain prize fighters. They make a bet, and to prove it, each pulls his favorite pugilist from his pocket, and they set them on the table. A hot battle ensues, in which one of the midgets is knocked out. The sport whose favorite won the fight takes the money with a look of satisfaction, and replaces his man in his pocket. The loser looks very much disgusted as he picks up his man and puts him back in his pocket. Very mystifying.
Mar 1903
A robber forces a luckless stroller in the park to remove his hat, coat, waistcoat and trousers.
Jan 1897
A staged scene of a mugging on a London street. The interesting feature here is the hand controlled flashing light street sign used in the backdrop, showing us in a short glimpse that we would have seen such signs in the earliest days of electricity on city streets.
Jan 1896
Here we present a picture that simply convulses an audience with laughter. The scene opens in the bedroom of a hotel. A traveler appears, evidently a "little worse for wear." After stretching and yawning, he proceeds to disrobe. He throws off his coat and vest, but to his surprise and anguish, he suddenly finds himself clothed in a continental uniform. He throws this off in anger, but immediately a policeman's costume flies on him. This is in turn thrown aside in great rage and he finds himself clothed in a soldier's uniform. At last, thinking himself successful, he makes for the bed and finds a skeleton complacently resting on his pillow. The bed suddenly disappears, leaving him seated on the floor, and great quantities of bed clothes rain down from the ceiling. The picture ends leaving the audience simply convulsed in laughter. (Edison Catalog)
Aug 1901
A tiny fragment of an actuality film of Tom Merry (William Mechem), a 'lightning sketch' caricaturist performing his act for the camera and producing a large profile caricature of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The loss of the rest of the film has bequeathed us 6 seconds that are of Mechem standing next to the completed portrait and sadly, that is all there is. An early film made by Birt Acres for R.W. Paul. (see release information for further detail).
Jun 1895
May 1896
A man strolling in a city street is attacked by three assailants. A policeman comes to the rescue and the men struggle with each other.
May 1895
An artist draws the head of a pretty girl, takes the drawing off the paper and places it on a small table, turning the image into the head of a real woman. He then continuous drawing the lady, one body part after the other.
Oct 1901
A miser dies of shock when the ghost of a poor woman appears.
Sep 1899
Britain's first drama (i.e. non documentary) film.
The scene is a railroad track on the side of a steep mountain, with a tunnel in the background, toward which a train is running at a high rate of speed. At this instant the audience is appalled at the sight of a second train rushing out of the tunnel. Both trains are on the same track and traveling toward each other at a high rate of speed. They collide. Cars and engines are smashed into fragments and thrown down the steep incline. (Edison Catalog)
Mar 1900
Husband comes home late and wakes the wife. Based on a popular stage play.
Aug 1896
On the roof of an ancient palace appear a young Knight and his lady. While they are making love an ugly old witch appears and is rather troublesome. The Knight commands her to leave, and when he is about to force her away she sits on her broom and rises to the moon. After disappearing she causes various hob-goblins to haunt the pair, the last of them stealing away the lady while the Knight's back is turned. The Knight, frantic with grief, is suddenly confronted by a Fairy, who presents him with a magical sword, and tells him that he can use it to regain the young woman.
Nov 1901
Jan 1900
An 1895 British short black and white silent comedy film featuring two drunken men and a boy squabbling in a small bar.
Mar 1895
Jan 1898
A short documentary about industrial whaling. The surviving footage runs for approximately 12 minutes.
Jan 1908
A husband rushes for a doctor and his wife has triplets.
Aug 1904
Incident at Clovelly Cottage, also known as Incident Outside Clovelly Cottage, Barnet, shot by Birt Acres and produced by Acres and his collaborator Robert W. Paul in March 1895, was the "first successful motion picture film made in Britain" Considered lost since only a few frames have survived.