This film presents something we never ever thought about. Those with money get better treatment than those without. The rich lady in the cushy store steals some expensive items. When grabbed she manages to get special treatment. A poor woman steals some food for her starving daughter and is treated severely. Nothing new under the sun. Film is pretty well done but the female costuming makes it hard to tell who is who.
9 Reviews
The Law In Its Majesty
boblipton12 March 2020
A rich woman enters Macy's and steals some items. She is caught, but she soon finds herself freed because she can pay. The poor mother who steals a loaf of bread from a shopkeeper to feed her starving children in their miserable novel, gets a different sort of justice.
" The law, in its majestic equality," wrote Anatole Francs, "forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." Except, as this sardonic short subject informs us, it does not. The scales of justice find that a loaf of bread weighs far more than a bagful of gold.
" The law, in its majestic equality," wrote Anatole Francs, "forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." Except, as this sardonic short subject informs us, it does not. The scales of justice find that a loaf of bread weighs far more than a bagful of gold.
Interesting Short Feature
Snow Leopard24 August 2004
This interesting short feature actually could have been a lot better with a couple of improvements. Some of the sequences have a lot of detail, but at times not all of it is clear. To a large degree, this is simply the consequence of the limitations of the old 'tableau' format, and this is probably about as good a film as almost anyone could have made at the time out of the relatively involved story.
The story starts by showing two women, from different social classes, who commit similar crimes, and it then follows the way that they are dealt with by the authorities. It is a worthwhile attempt at social commentary, and one of the things that makes it interesting is that you could tell almost the same story today, with practically the same point. Given the limitations imposed by the technique, the story is told fairly well. It is mostly straightforward, although there is one clever image that expresses without words the film-makers' commentary on the situation.
The story starts by showing two women, from different social classes, who commit similar crimes, and it then follows the way that they are dealt with by the authorities. It is a worthwhile attempt at social commentary, and one of the things that makes it interesting is that you could tell almost the same story today, with practically the same point. Given the limitations imposed by the technique, the story is told fairly well. It is mostly straightforward, although there is one clever image that expresses without words the film-makers' commentary on the situation.
Interesting for the social commentary, but that's it
Horst_In_Translation10 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
"The Kleptomaniac" is a 10-minute short film from 1905, actually unusually long for 110 years ago. Of course, it is still silent and in black-and-white. It was made by Edwin S. Porter one of the most famous filmmakers from the early days of cinema, especially outside France. Unfortunately, I have to say, something was missing from this short film. First of all, I am not sure if I had understood the contents at all without reading a brief summary before that this is about 2 women who steal, a rich one and a poor one and how the law deals with them. And in the end, I expected to see the poor woman in jail and the rich one free or the other way around, but there was no real conclusion to this movie. Instead they show us a far-too long shot of Justice. Quite a shame, the premise was really interesting, I just wish the execution and script could have been better. The only scene that really delivered emotionally were the woman and her daughter begging in court. All in all, not recommended.
Pot shot at American Justice packs wallop.
st-shot12 November 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Director Edwin S Porter doesn't mince words in this backhand to the American Justice System of the 1900's. In under ten minutes and with less than a dozen shots Porter paints a smooth narrative utilizing both interior and actual locale exteriors to dramatize the inequities and hypocrisy inherent within the judicial system that allows money to talk and suckers to walk. Sound familiar?
A lady of substantial means rides her chauffeur driven carriage to Macy's from tawny Park Avenue where she is caught shoplifting some finery. Meanwhile a woman in lower Manhattan is caught stealing food for her starving child. Both criminals are hustled before the caught where one is treated harshly the other coddled.
Porter makes no bones about the double standard at play and he does it with an impressive visual flare. Within seconds he economically establishes the wealthy woman's station and gives the film a realistic feel by doing on location shooting along mansion lined Park avenue and smoothly match cutting it to her arrival at the department store. The Macy's floor scene is energized, busy and purposely distracting to draw the audience in. The courtroom scenes cruel injustice is tempered by comic burlesque where subtle jibes through blocking and action hit their mark. Porter then ends his film with a still of lady liberty and a tilted scale of justice weighted down on one side by a bag of silver. Fight the power Edwin S.
A lady of substantial means rides her chauffeur driven carriage to Macy's from tawny Park Avenue where she is caught shoplifting some finery. Meanwhile a woman in lower Manhattan is caught stealing food for her starving child. Both criminals are hustled before the caught where one is treated harshly the other coddled.
Porter makes no bones about the double standard at play and he does it with an impressive visual flare. Within seconds he economically establishes the wealthy woman's station and gives the film a realistic feel by doing on location shooting along mansion lined Park avenue and smoothly match cutting it to her arrival at the department store. The Macy's floor scene is energized, busy and purposely distracting to draw the audience in. The courtroom scenes cruel injustice is tempered by comic burlesque where subtle jibes through blocking and action hit their mark. Porter then ends his film with a still of lady liberty and a tilted scale of justice weighted down on one side by a bag of silver. Fight the power Edwin S.
Paralleled Message
Cineanalyst13 March 2010
Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Company made "The Kleptomaniac" on the heels of another social problem drama "The Ex-Convict". Rightfully, Charles Musser and the other commentators on the "Edison: the Invention of the Movies" DVD set find these films an intriguing development in the use of motion pictures, for commentary on issues of social conscience and injustice. In a decade, the cinema had gone from novelty to the regular production of one-reel story films. "The Ex-Convict" and "The Kleptomaniac" go beyond using the story film for entertainment, to employing it to make a message for or a commentary on society.
"The Kleptomaniac" makes its message through contrasting parallel stories (told back to back without crosscutting). First, a high-society lady steals a garment, for which she receives leniency. Second, a poor mother steals bread, for which she is imprisoned. A final tableau shows blind justice holding a tipped scale with a bag of gold on one side and a loaf of bread on the other. The film consists of 11 shots, in addition to title cards, told in the tableau style. Some of the title cards seem unnecessary-making mention of the obvious; whereas, busy, seemingly irrelevant actions in the store and courtroom are left without description within the film proper. Yet, back then, exhibitors would provide lecturers to describe such scenes and the film overall to audiences, and those lecturers could use the Edison Company catalogue descriptions as a template. Thus, as with most early films, this narrative wasn't intended to be entirely self-contained. "The Kleptomaniac" remains an interesting early social commentary picture, well told and with a clear message, which has always seemed to be too relevant. There's also extensive use of panning within the multiple shots of characters' entries and exits from and to carriages and buildings.
"The Kleptomaniac" makes its message through contrasting parallel stories (told back to back without crosscutting). First, a high-society lady steals a garment, for which she receives leniency. Second, a poor mother steals bread, for which she is imprisoned. A final tableau shows blind justice holding a tipped scale with a bag of gold on one side and a loaf of bread on the other. The film consists of 11 shots, in addition to title cards, told in the tableau style. Some of the title cards seem unnecessary-making mention of the obvious; whereas, busy, seemingly irrelevant actions in the store and courtroom are left without description within the film proper. Yet, back then, exhibitors would provide lecturers to describe such scenes and the film overall to audiences, and those lecturers could use the Edison Company catalogue descriptions as a template. Thus, as with most early films, this narrative wasn't intended to be entirely self-contained. "The Kleptomaniac" remains an interesting early social commentary picture, well told and with a clear message, which has always seemed to be too relevant. There's also extensive use of panning within the multiple shots of characters' entries and exits from and to carriages and buildings.
DVD talking heads have the moral of this story all wrong . . .
cricket3011 April 2013
Warning: Spoilers
. . . as for once the Edison people seem to be putting out a useful, almost public service announcement-like short, and the myopic current-day self-styled experts hired by the DVD producers are so intent on enjoying the sound of their own voices pontificating on their favorite social theories that they forgot to actually watch this 10 minute, 50 second short all the way through even a scant ONE time. The point of this film is that "there's no such thing as a free lunch!" The featured judge makes it clear that REAL criminals often come in sheep's clothing (who'd have ever thought, seeing footage of Jeffrey Dahmer or Patty Hearst taken BEFORE their police busts, that they'd make the FBI's top 10 list?). This short contrasts a well-to-do non-violent lady with a tiny mental problem committing negligible property crimes in such a fashion that they constitute her clear cries for help, virtually begging for her to be caught before her uncontrollable condition causes her to transgress again, with an irresponsible non-working parent who steals the meager livelihood of a young urchin as the course of least resistance to providing her stay-at-home kids with the bad example of meals stolen from the poor. Anyone with a brain in their head can see that the judge is going to allow the first petty thief's wide support circle of friends and family to provide her with the help she needs to treat the no doubt congenital condition with which she's been cursed. After all, she never endangered anyone's job, nor did she set a bad example for young ones. The second miscreant, on the other hand, rightly has the book thrown at her for filching the pre-teen bread vendor's basket when he ducks into the bakery for a second for directions from his boss (no doubt shaking the poor boy's faith in humanity), with the intention on making her kids partners in her crime by having them eat the evidence. To put the frosting on her cake of iniquity, this brazen mom drags her eldest kid to court with every expectation of making the idle child a second-generation free luncher, anticipating some bleeding heart liberal judge will tell her "There, there, m'am, whenever you feel like not working for your wants, go right ahead and steal your heart's desire from whichever younger and more hard-working potential crime victim presents himself." No such luck. Forced to make an example of this likely serial bread thief with NO mitigating circumstances (at least Jean Valjean was willing to sing for his loaf), the judge has no choice but to give the hardened criminal--unlike the born kleptomaniac--her just desserts!
3 from Edison
Michael_Elliott12 March 2008
Kleptomaniac, The (1905)
*** (out of 4)
Another political statement from Edison that still rings true one-hundred years after being made. A rich woman steals a fur piece while a poor woman steals a loaf of bread for her starving child. In court, the rich woman gets off while the poor woman has her daughter taken away and is thrown in jail.
Ex-Convict, The (1904)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Wonderful little short about an ex con finding it impossible to find people that trusts him enough to give him a job. This all changes when he saves a young girl from being ran over by a car. This here runs just over nine minutes and it's rather amazing at how much detail they squeeze in. There's no doubt the film is a political statement saying cons should be forgiven once their time is served but the ending is quite sad and very touching.
Strenuous Life; Or the Anti-Race Suicide (1904)
** (out of 4)
Another Edison short, boring as hell and I'm really not sure what it was about. The most interesting thing was the "warning" at the start of the film that other filmmakers are not allowed to use clips from this film in their film.
*** (out of 4)
Another political statement from Edison that still rings true one-hundred years after being made. A rich woman steals a fur piece while a poor woman steals a loaf of bread for her starving child. In court, the rich woman gets off while the poor woman has her daughter taken away and is thrown in jail.
Ex-Convict, The (1904)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Wonderful little short about an ex con finding it impossible to find people that trusts him enough to give him a job. This all changes when he saves a young girl from being ran over by a car. This here runs just over nine minutes and it's rather amazing at how much detail they squeeze in. There's no doubt the film is a political statement saying cons should be forgiven once their time is served but the ending is quite sad and very touching.
Strenuous Life; Or the Anti-Race Suicide (1904)
** (out of 4)
Another Edison short, boring as hell and I'm really not sure what it was about. The most interesting thing was the "warning" at the start of the film that other filmmakers are not allowed to use clips from this film in their film.
Imagine a different audience
sd4725 September 2007
With all due respect to the person
who commented on the 1905 film the Kleptomaniac by criticizing it for being confusing, he/she is misunderstanding what the viewing experience would have
been in a storefront nickelodeon theater in 1905. People would be talking and at least some of the audience would have seen the film before. At key points members of the audience would inform others of what was going on if they missed it on the screen. In other words: it was an active, interpretive audience that did not demand the sort of visual cues we count upon now. The film makers would have been aware of this.
who commented on the 1905 film the Kleptomaniac by criticizing it for being confusing, he/she is misunderstanding what the viewing experience would have
been in a storefront nickelodeon theater in 1905. People would be talking and at least some of the audience would have seen the film before. At key points members of the audience would inform others of what was going on if they missed it on the screen. In other words: it was an active, interpretive audience that did not demand the sort of visual cues we count upon now. The film makers would have been aware of this.
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