The Extraordinary Waiter (AKA: Diner and Waiter Comic) is a 1902

1902 in film

The year 1902 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*March 10 - Circuit Court's decision disallows Thomas Edison from having a monopoly on motion picture technology....

 British short

Short subject

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...

  silent

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

, directed by Walter R. Booth

Walter R. Booth

Walter Robert Booth was a British magician and early pioneer of British film working first for Robert W. Paul and then Charles Urban mostly on "trick" films, where he pioneered the use of hand-drawing techniques that lead to the first British animated film, The Hand of the Artist...

, featuring a brutish colonialist failing to destroy a blackfaced waiter. The film, "makes for somewhat uncomfortable viewing," but according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "it's just about possible to read this as a metaphor for the rather more widespread frustrations arising from British colonial rule (the Boer War

Boer War

The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....

was still a current issue), though it seems unlikely that this was intentional on Booth's part."