Made around the same time as Alice Guy's, of Gaumont, "Madame's Cravings" (1906), "A Sticky Woman" is another early sex comedy of sorts, from the world's first female director. In the single shot-scene, a woman employs her maid to lick stamps. A male passerby begins to watch this display and becomes increasingly aroused. He, then, forces a smooch upon her and gets stuck to her sticky tongue and mouth. A fourth-wall-breaking employee, announcing his proceeding action by gesticulation, must cut them apart with scissors, with the punchline being that the maid now sports part of the man's mustache. Thus, not only do we have the comedy being made out of sexual desire that was becoming more prevalent in Guy's oeuvre, but there's also an element of drag, or transvestism, which was already fairly common in the films of Guy and others, as inherited from theatrical traditions. Guy, herself, dressed as the husband in her 1902 "Midwife to the Upper Class." Of course, queer readings may also include homoerotic considerations to be made of all this gender fluidity. Quite amusing and sophisticated for such a simple shot-scene from early cinema.
Pathé made a four-shot version around the same time--likely after stealing the idea from Gaumont, titled "Lèvres collées" ("Joined Lips") (1906 or 1907).
Pathé made a four-shot version around the same time--likely after stealing the idea from Gaumont, titled "Lèvres collées" ("Joined Lips") (1906 or 1907).