"Post No Bills" is one of director Georges Melies's earliest works. Labelled as number 15 in his catalogue, it is thus his fifteenth movie. And, considering its age, it is no surprise that there are no special effects to be witnessed, for a very simple reason: he hadn't discovered any of them yet. This is why his earliest films, now mostly lost, were remakes of Lumiere subjects. His first film, "Une Partie de Cartes", is a remake of the Lumiere Brothers' "Partie d'ecarte"; his fifth film, "Watering the Flowers" is believed to have remade the old gag from "L'arroseur arrose" (though it is now considered lost).
But back to this film. Like "L'arroseur arrose", the gag in this one minute short is very basic and extremely outdated. This is no surprise at all, because ALL early film comedies were like this--and audiences thought they were hilarious. This one has an incompetent guard leaving his post only to be blamed later when two bill-posters hang their posters on the wall he's guarding. As far as I know, the Lumiere Brothers made only one version of this gag a year later, in a film entitled "Colleurs Affiches", so this short could be the first time the joke was filmed (or just the earliest available rendition). For 1896, it's pretty good even if the basic story isn't at all funny nowadays.
But back to this film. Like "L'arroseur arrose", the gag in this one minute short is very basic and extremely outdated. This is no surprise at all, because ALL early film comedies were like this--and audiences thought they were hilarious. This one has an incompetent guard leaving his post only to be blamed later when two bill-posters hang their posters on the wall he's guarding. As far as I know, the Lumiere Brothers made only one version of this gag a year later, in a film entitled "Colleurs Affiches", so this short could be the first time the joke was filmed (or just the earliest available rendition). For 1896, it's pretty good even if the basic story isn't at all funny nowadays.