Tuesday 14 June 2011

'Pimple's Battle of Waterloo', 1913


Thanks to the British Film Institute I saw this 1913 comedy film today. Fred Evans, a music hall performer before his days as a film star, plays 'Pimple', a hapless character who appears in various guises in the Pimple series produced by Fred Evans and his brother Joe. The idea for 'Pimple's Battle of Waterloo' came after Fred walked past a cinema showing 'The Battle of Waterloo', an early epic. A month later, the latest 'Pimple' was released. Pimple is Napoleon, starting off crossing the Alps, and then surviving an assassination attempt on his way to 'Parree-e-e' - not from a British spy, but by a Suffragette, who Napoleon and his entourage then flee from! Napoleon and his army then get the train to Waterloo, including his horse, which is actually a very funny one-man pantomime horse. As you'll already know, Napoleon lost the Battle of Waterloo, after an advance from the 'Old Guard' (played by Boy Scouts!), and then surrenders and has to leave France forever.

Unfortunately i'm not aware of this film having ever been released on VHS or DVD, but I viewed it at my local BFI Mediatheque for free. For more information on the film, here is the BFI's page on it - http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/533804/

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