This short (less than thirty seconds) film was made back in the days when Robert Paul and Birt Acres were still collaborators in filmmaking. IMDb credits Acres as the film's director. but I'm not so sure about that because Acres was a photographer of real life, and Paul had directed a similar film the same year. Anyway, despite the short run-time, quite a bit happens in this brief film. A pickpocket is chased by a policeman, escapes but is caught by another guy, and they tie him up. Considering that in France the Lumiere Bros were filming everyday life, and Edison in America was filming performance routines, this is actually very, very good for the time. It is one of the first dramas ever made, as well as using a backdrop which is actually pretty convincing. Simplistic but entertaining for any film buff or historian, and also notable for being one of the earliest films made in Britain.
Review of The Arrest of a Pickpocket
