A Film Canon

James Williamson's output provides a marked alternative to Méliès, combining the same narrative complexity (if not the same technical ingenuity) with a more realistic, naturalistic sensibility. Although this is evident in two later war shorts, The Soldier's Return (1902) and A Reservist, Before The War, And After The War (1902), it comes to fruition in Attack On A China Mission - Bluejackets To The Rescue (1900) and Fire! (1901), both of which contributed to the standardisation of the chase sequence. In these films, there's a development of the basic three-shot unit, in which an object moves out of one frame, into and out of a second frame, and into a third, where it is halted in some way (the villains are caught, the fire trucks arrive at their destination). At the same time, Williamson attempts to flesh out this scenario, to provide it with some texture - although, interestingly, he eschews the local, topographical focus that will become the hallmark of subsequent chase films in favour of a more general, topos-oriented frisson, drawing both narratives from events (urban fires and the Boxer Rebellion) which would have been at the forefront of popular consciousness. That said, An Interesting Story (1904) provides such a topographical dimension, albeit in a comic, proto-slapstick vein, detailing the perambulations of an intellectual who is so engrossed in his book that he is eventually run over by a steamroller.