Willie's Magic Wand is a 1907

1907 in film

The year 1907 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 19 - Variety publishes its first film review.* May 7 - Seattle film maker William Harbeck sets up a camera at the front of a B.C. Electric streetcar and films the downtown streets of Vancouver, British Columbia...

 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 young boy terrorising the household with his father's magic wand. Similar to "earlier trick films The Haunted Curiosity Shop

The Haunted Curiosity Shop

The Haunted Curiosity Shop is a 1901 British short silent horror film, directed by Walter R. Booth, featuring an elderly curio dealer alarmed by various apparitions that appear in his shop. The film, "was clearly devised purely as a showcase for Booth and Paul's bag of tricks," and according to...

and Undressing Extraordinary

Undressing Extraordinary

Undressing Extraordinary is a 1901 British short silent comedy film, directed by Walter R. Booth, featuring a tired traveller struggling to undresse for bed...

(both 1901)," this is, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "essentially a series of [loosely linked] special-effects set pieces," however, "the print in the National Film and Television Archive is incomplete, omitting amongst other things a come-uppance where Willie is punished for his misdemeanours by being turned into a girl, thus depriving him of more than one magic wand." A clip from the film is featured in Paul Merton

Paul Merton

Paul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...

's interactive guide to early British silent comedy How They Laughed on the BFI website.