The comedy in this early Nickelodeon one-reeler was supposed to come from racial stereotypes; of course, many today should find this offensive, and it's also a bit boring, despite being a brief 12-shot film. In "The Watermelon Patch", some black men steal watermelons. They're chased by two white men dressed in skeleton costumes, who were pretending to be scarecrows (yes, it's weird). The watermelon thieves get away for a while.
Then, the black characters dance inside-a scene similar to the barn dances in other Porter-Edison films: such as in "The Great Train Robbery", "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (both 1903) and "The Miller's Daughter" (1905). Additionally, the comedy chase had become a staple of early cinema by then. Next, they eat the watermelon. There's a medium shot of two characters eating, which if you look at their positions and the background, you'll notice the shot doesn't fit continuously with the rest of the scene. In fact, most of Porter's early medium shots and close-ups stand outside the rest of their films' narratives in this way; the shots only serve to enlarge some detail. This entire post-chase final part of this film, set in a one-room shack is slowly paced and poorly filmed even for 1905, and thus boring. There are a dozen or so characters eating watermelon in the room, and they're all facing frontally towards the camera-not very natural. The film's end has the farmers smoke the black characters out of the shack. There's an awkward temporal replay between the final two shots, as a woman exits through a window.
Then, the black characters dance inside-a scene similar to the barn dances in other Porter-Edison films: such as in "The Great Train Robbery", "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (both 1903) and "The Miller's Daughter" (1905). Additionally, the comedy chase had become a staple of early cinema by then. Next, they eat the watermelon. There's a medium shot of two characters eating, which if you look at their positions and the background, you'll notice the shot doesn't fit continuously with the rest of the scene. In fact, most of Porter's early medium shots and close-ups stand outside the rest of their films' narratives in this way; the shots only serve to enlarge some detail. This entire post-chase final part of this film, set in a one-room shack is slowly paced and poorly filmed even for 1905, and thus boring. There are a dozen or so characters eating watermelon in the room, and they're all facing frontally towards the camera-not very natural. The film's end has the farmers smoke the black characters out of the shack. There's an awkward temporal replay between the final two shots, as a woman exits through a window.