HOW HE MISSED HIS TRAIN (1900)
aka Le reveil d’un monsieur presse
Article 4145 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-1-2013
Directed by Georges Melies
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Comic trick film

A man wakes up in the morning and tries to put on his clothes, but his items of clothing keep changing to other items.

This is something of a companion piece to GOING TO BED UNDER DIFFICULTIES, where a man trying to undress for bed is driven crazy by the fact that new clothes keep reappearing on him. In this, the clothes change to other clothes; while putting on his pants, they change to a shirt, etc. It’s an interesting variant, but not only is the other idea funnier (it’s slightly more absurd), but this short simply doesn’t have the manic energy of the other one. Maybe that’s why the other one inspired so many imitations. This one is merely okay.