Winky Causes a Smallpox Panic (1914)

BAMFORTH FILMS
This page is part of a project to index the films produced by Bamforth and Co. Ltd of Holmfirth.

Details

  • also known as: Winky Causes a Small-pox Panic
  • length: 533 feet[1]
  • released: 3 September 1914
  • director: Cecil Birch

Unfortunately this short film has become conflated with the earlier Winky Causes a Panic (1914) to the extent that surviving prints of the latter film are assumed to be of this one. However, contemporary reviews make it clear that they are two entirely separate films. Therefore Winky Causes a Smallpox Panic is a lost film with no known surviving prints.

Cast

Synopsis

Tramps get a free meal by posing as a doctor and a smallpox patient.

Reviews

Kinematograph Weekly (06/Aug/1914):

Winky Causes a Small-Pox Panic (C). — Winky and his friend, being “down and out” and also hungry, go in despair in search of a doctor. He is out and Winky gets an idea. They help themselves to his clothes and dress up — Winky's friend as the doctor and Winky as a respectable citizen. Winky is taken ill in a restaurant and the “doctor” enters at the crucial moment and diagnoses the case as small-pox. There is a general stampede, the restaurant empties itself, and the “doctor” and his “patient” set to and tuck in. But they are not left long in peace. The isolation van arrives. Winky is captured and pushed inside. And now, at last, under the strenuous “disinfecting” of the isolation officials, Winky learns that the results of creating a small-pox panic are not all as pleasant or as comfortable as a free lunch. Released Sept. 3rd, length 533 ft.

The Bioscope (20/Aug/1914):

Winky Causes a Small-pox Panic. — In the course of a scheme to acquire a free lunch, the comic and his “doctor” pal find themselves bundled into a van and are subsequently subjected to a singularly unpleasant mode of disinfection. (September 3rd. 533 ft.)

Links

Notes and References

  1. Sourced from The Bioscope.