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Film · Biograph · 1904

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Personal

25Leave it.

One chase is enough: he advertised for a wife and got a mob.

Take controlThis scores 25. Personal cannot be blocked by name on this shelf. The lock is the phone. Block it

The review

Wallace McCutcheon, Biograph, 1904: a man advertises for a wife, and a mob of women chases him. A house can watch the reel. The ad is the bait. The chase is the product. That is the whole thing, and it was a very popular one.

This is the original. Edison's version is a different film. I wouldn't run both in one week and call it variety. One look at a man fleeing the marriage he asked for is enough to get the joke, and enough to see why another company lifted it.

Journal

Keep Personal in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 25. Yours can differ.

The glance

Industry and Household and Piety and Courage and Republic and Temperance and Truth and Stewardship are the thin ones.

Does anyone here do a real job, and does that job matter?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

Consider this

Hollywood Dirt

36 instead of 25

Hollywood Dirt is still a comedy film, and it scores 36 instead of 25. What you gain is industry: A film crew is work.

The eight

2
Industry
Nobody works a job; a personal ad is the bait for the chase.
3
Household
He advertises for a wife and gets a mob, not a marriage.
2
Piety
He does not withdraw the ad; he runs, and the reel calls it comedy.
2
Courage
He flees the women his own advertisement brought after him.
2
Republic
A public ad and a street mob, with no law inside the joke.
2
Temperance
The chase is the product, and the crowd asked for more of it.
4
Truth
The wife ad is bait; Edison's later version is a different film.
3
Stewardship
Biograph's original was popular enough that Edison copied the chase.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

Live Historic · Personal · 25IMDb

Live HistoricSee what matters.

Film · Not named in the listing · 2026

Pass it on

Backrooms

25Leave it.

It sells that yellow-office dread as a product and you leave with nothing solid.

Take controlThis scores 25. Backrooms cannot be blocked by name on this shelf. The lock is the phone. Block it

The review

Backrooms takes the internet's ready-made picture of endless yellow offices and makes it the movie. Fluorescent, windowless, work space with purpose and exits stripped out. What it gets right is the monotony; the dread holds steady before anything else is asked.

Corridors that never end make the thrill of getting lost the whole product. A tired family finishes with no solid room left to keep.

Journal

Keep Backrooms in the record.