What Happened on Twenty-Third Street, New York City (1901)

best movie i've ever seen.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I don't know if anyone has put music to this, but I saw it plainly silent.It's actually a pretty interesting film. You see the busy life of the street as people mill about the road and sidewalk. There is some horse-and-buggy and trolley traffic in the road too, and some boys with a cart.The thing that stands out first is the teenage boy (or short man) midway down the sidewalk, staring directly at us, hands behind his back, hardly moving at all, unlike anyone else we see.Why is he looking at us? What's he looking for? After a minute, we learn the reason, as the star couple walks over the grate just in front of us, and she gets her Marilyn Monroe moment.Once they pass, though, it just that boy again, staring at us, walking slowly in our direction, now shown to be carrying a lunch-box sort of thing in his right hand, and smaller parcel in his left. It's actually kind of creepy at this point, as other than the change in his hands, he seems entirely unaffected by what we all just saw.

Here we have a short directed by Edwin S. Porter. In it a young couple steadily walks toward the camera from the background. When the two are almost directly in front of the camera, we have the payoff. The woman's skirt is blown up-around her ankles, revealing the undergarment around her calves. A very poor film, even for the standards of 1901. It takes too long for any things remotely interesting happens in the film. The cameraman has to shue several passersby out of the way, and a young boy stands in the background, watching the entire thing unfold. When one first watches the film, the viewer doesn't even know what we are watching, a slice of life shot or a planned performance.I give it a 3 out of 10. The guys were cranking them out as fast as possible, but you would think they could have done better than this.

What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City is a very old film and it clearly shows (by more than just the title). It shows people running normal errands on a typical day on Twenty-Third Street in New York City. Nothing special happens until a women and a man walk up over a hot vent that blows the woman's skirt up (not even to knee height). They laugh and then continue walking.Considering that its only 77 seconds long, there is practically nothing to lose from watching it. The plot, acting, and filming quality are really dull, but it shows how far movies have come since 1901. The fact that everything revolves around a woman walking over a steam vent is laughable.If nothing else, the glimpse of old New York is neat. It is interesting to study from a historical aspect, but probably has no real entertainment value. Then again, it will only take a little over a minute of your time, so there is little reason not to watch it at least once.

This miniature feature works well enough in carrying off a rather amusing premise, and it also would have been worth seeing just for the photography. Besides successfully executing a simple but effective visual punch-line, it also provides some interesting footage of the New York City of over a century ago.The film starts out as if it were one of the actualities, or footage of real life shot for its own sake, that were common in the earliest years of cinema. And even as such it would be worth seeing. The camera field is set up effectively, so as to catch a view of a rather lengthy stretch of 23rd Street, with some of the street traffic, a lot of action on the sidewalk, and a good view of many of the surrounding buildings. Like many of the features that survive from this era, it is invaluable in conveying the atmosphere of the times, in a way that no recreation today can match.The actual highlight of "What Happened on 23rd Street", while hardly requiring great imagination or sophistication, is funny enough, and the two performers who carry it off seem to have enjoyed doing so. The commentary on the National Film Preservation Foundation video also gives some background to the simple but no doubt popular gag.