Watch Upside Down; or, The Human Flies For Free

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Excellent adaptation.

Absolutely the worst movie.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Upside Down; or, The Human Flies (1899)A group of people are sitting around when a magician decides to have some fun and make it to where they can all walk around on the ceiling. Once on the ceiling we see the people jumping, skipping and rolling around. UPSIDE DOWN; OR THE HUMAN FLIES is a pretty good trick movie that's not quite on the same level as Georges Melies best movies but it's certainly still worth watching if you're a fan of early cinema or trick films. The effect of them landing on the ceiling is quite obvious and I'm sure everyone today will know how they did the trick. With that said, there's still a lot of fun stuff here and there's no question that it left a smile on my face. I'm sure this really thrilled those who originally saw it.

Robert Paul is a largely forgotten name today, but he was a major pioneer of British cinema, and was quick to grasp the commercial potential of cinema in ways that better known pioneers such as William Friese-Greene were not. He was more of a mechanic than a filmmaker making, with Birt Acres, his own camera on which to shoot films in 1895, and also Britain's first projector, the Animatograph, with which to screen them in 1896. Early in the 20th century he had a custom-made studio built in Muswell Hill.This early trick film is actually quite impressive, and is easily the equal of anything produced by French master Georges Melies. It shows a group of people being 'entertained' in their home by a medium, who is portrayed as little more than a magician. His big trick is to make himself disappear and turn the room upside down so that we can watch his audience standing, walking, rolling around on the ceiling, etc.