The Beggar's Deceit is a 1900

1900 in film

The year 1900 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Reulos, Goudeau & Co. invent Mirographe, a 21 mm amateur format.* The Lumiere Brothers premiere their new Lumiere Wide format for the 1900 World Fair...

 British short film directed by Cecil Hepworth

Cecil Hepworth

Cecil Milton Hepworth was an English film director, producer and screenwriter. He was among the founders of the British film industry and continued making films into the 1920s....

. The film is a comedy sketch shot from a static camera position, with the composition divided into thirds: on the left the beggar, in the centre the pavement and pedestrians, and to the right the road and vehicle traffic.

Synopsis

A legless beggar with a sign around his neck saying "cripple" pushes himself slowly and laboriously on a trolley along the pavement, soliciting alms from sympathetic passers-by. A policeman gradually approaches from the distance. Feeling suspicious, he taps the beggar on the shoulder, whereupon the beggar leaps up in a panic and runs away on his perfectly functional legs. The policeman trips over the trolley before recovering his footing and setting off in pursuit.