What Happened in the Tunnel
1903 American film
- Edison Mfg. Co.
- Kleine Optical Co.
- Edison Mfg. Co.
- Kleine Optical Co.
Release date
- November 6, 1903 (1903-11-06)
Running time
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
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
- Bertha Regustus as The black maid
- Gilbert M. Anderson as the white masher who snatches a kiss[3]
Reception
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
- Edwin S. Porter filmography
- Broncho Billy Anderson
- African American cinema
- African American Women in the silent film era
References
- ^ 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.
External links
- What Happened in the Tunnel at IMDb
- What Happened in the Tunnel at AllMovie
- What Happened in the Tunnel at the TCM Movie Database
- What Happened in the Tunnel at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- v
- t
- e
Films directed by Edwin S. Porter
- Faust and Marguerite (1900)
- The Magician (1900)
- Another Job for the Undertaker (1901)
- Day at the Circus (1901)
- Execution of Czolgosz with Panorama of Auburn Prison (1901)
- Kansas Saloon Smashers (1901)
- Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog (1901)
- Love by the Light of the Moon (1901)
- The Martyred Presidents (1901)
- The Old Maid Having Her Picture Taken (1901)
- Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly King (1901)
- What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City (1901)
- Why Mr. Nation Wants a Divorce (1901)
- Fun in a Bakery Shop (1902)
- Jack and the Beanstalk (1902)
- The Twentieth Century Tramp; or, Happy Hooligan and His Airship (1902)
- Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902)
- Electrocuting an Elephant (1903)
- The Gay Shoe Clerk (1903)
- The Great Train Robbery (1903)
- Life of an American Fireman (1903)
- Rube and Mandy at Coney Island (1903)
- Uncle Tom's Cabin (1903)
- What Happened in the Tunnel (1903)
- Dog Factory (1904)
- The European Rest Cure (1904)
- How a French Nobleman Got a Wife Through the New York Herald Personal Columns (1904)
- Maniac Chase (1904)
- Parsifal (1904)
- "Weary Willie" Kisses the Bride (1904)
- How Jones Lost His Roll (1905)
- The Kleptomaniac (1905)
- The Little Train Robbery (1905)
- The Miller's Daughter (1905)
- The Night Before Christmas (1905)
- The Seven Ages (1905)
- The Train Wreckers (1905)
- The White Caps (1905)
- The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog (1905)
- Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906)
- Kathleen Mavourneen (1906)
- Life of a Cowboy (1906)
- Waiting at the Church (1906)
- College Chums (1907)
- Daniel Boone (1907)
- Laughing Gas (1907)
- The 'Teddy' Bears (1907)
- The Trainer's Daughter; or, A Race for Love (1907)
- The Boston Tea Party (1908)
- Saved by Love (1908)
- Skinner's Finish (1908)
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1910)
- Peg Woffington (1910)
- By the Light of the Moon (1911)
- Captain Nell (1911)
- The Lighthouse by the Sea (1911)
- A Night of Terror (1911)
- Silver Threads Among the Gold (1911)
- The Count of Monte Cristo (1912)
- His Neighbor's Wife (1913)
- The Prisoner of Zenda (1913)
- The Crucible (1914)
- A Good Little Devil (1914)
- Hearts Adrift (1914)
- The Spitfire (1914)
- Such a Little Queen (1914)
- Tess of the Storm Country (1914)
- Bella Donna (1915)
- The Dictator (1915)
- The Eternal City (1915)
- Jim the Penman (1915)
- Lydia Gilmore (1915)
- The Morals of Marcus (1915)
- Niobe (1915)
- The Prince and the Pauper (1915)
- Sold (1915)
- When We Were Twenty-One (1915)
- The White Pearl (1915)
- Zaza (1915)
