What Happened in the Tunnel
| What Happened in the Tunnel | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Edwin S. Porter |
| Starring | Bertha Regustus Gilbert M. Anderson |
| Cinematography | Edwin S. Porter |
Production companies |
|
| Distributed by |
|
Release date |
|
Running time | 1 minute |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent |
What Happened in the Tunnel is a 1903 silent short film starring Bertha Regustus and Gilbert M. Anderson. The film was directed and shot by Edwin S. Porter, produced by Edison Mfg. Co.,[1] and distributed by Edison Mfg. Co. and Kleine Optical Co.[2]
Plot[edit]
Inside a railroad car, a black maid sits next to a white woman. Behind both women sits a white man reading a newspaper. The woman drops her handkerchief. The man hands it back to her and starts to flirt with her. The train enters the tunnel and the film fades to black. As the train emerges from the tunnel, the two women have switched places and the man is kissing the black maid. The man looks around to see if anyone else saw and sits back down in embarrassment as the two women share a laugh over their prank.
Cast[edit]
- Bertha Regustus as The black maid
- Gilbert M. Anderson as the white masher who snatches a kiss[3]
Reception[edit]
In the book, For the Love of Pleasure: Women, Movies, and Culture in Turn-of-the-century Chicago, the author describes how the film deals with "how widespread and exemplary is this syntactical employment of gendered, classed, and racial elements for the empowerment, not of a generalized but of a highly particular kind of female gaze."[4]
See also[edit]
- Edwin S. Porter filmography
- Broncho Billy Anderson
- African American cinema
- African American Women in the silent film era
References[edit]
- ^ Porter, Edwin; Anderson, Gilbert (1903). "What happened in the tunnel". Library of Congress.
- ^ "What Happened in the Tunnel". American Film Institute Catalog. ProQuest 1746546976.
- ^ "What Happened in the Tunnel (1903)". Century Film Project.
- ^ Rabinovitz, Lauren (1988). For the Love of Pleasure Women, Movies, and Culture in Turn-of-the-century Chicago. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0813525349.
