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Film · Britain · 1901

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The Countryman and the Cinematograph

21Leave it.

This is Paul's earlier rube, a year before Porter copied him as Uncle Josh.

Take controlThis scores 21. The Countryman and the Cinematograph cannot be blocked by name on this shelf. The lock is the phone. Block it

The review

Play this before anyone mentions Uncle Josh. Robert W. Paul made it in Britain in 1901, a year earlier. A country man watches a screen. A train alarms him. A house can watch it. Porter's Uncle Josh is the later American version of this joke. I said that in the room so the Edison reel would not get credit for being first.

He is alarmed by a train that stays on the screen. That was enough for one sitting. I didn't treat the scare as something that happened in the parlor. If the kids want the copy after, name it as the copy.

Journal

Keep The Countryman and the Cinematograph in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 21. Yours can differ.

The glance

Industry and Household and Piety and Courage and Republic and Temperance 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

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

33 instead of 21

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is still a comedy film, and it scores 33 instead of 21. What you gain is courage: Cameron finally refuses his father's fear.

The eight

1
Industry
No work is shown; a country man only watches a screen.
1
Household
No marriage, parent, or child is part of the alarm.
1
Piety
Fear of a pictured train is not a conscience that stops him.
1
Courage
The train alarms him; he does not risk anything he would miss.
2
Republic
He sits at a public show and owes the picture nothing back.
2
Temperance
A train on a screen is the scare, and then another gag beckons.
5
Truth
This is the earlier British joke; Uncle Josh is Porter's later copy.
4
Stewardship
What it left is the rube joke Porter copied the next year.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

Live Historic · The Countryman and the Cinematograph · 21IMDb

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Film · Prime Video · 2000

Pass it on

American Psycho

21Leave it.

The satire is real. The invitation to enjoy him is the problem. Adults. Do not quote him.

Take controlThis scores 21. If you do not want American Psycho in the house, the steps are on Prime Video. Block it

The review

Bateman is what a certain greed looks like when it no longer bothers to impersonate a person. The film is often called a comedy, and the comedy is the colleagues, the cards, the restaurants, the inability to tell one empty man from another. That joke lands. The violence is not the joke. It is the film forgetting it had a point and reaching for a gasp.

You do not need his morning routine in your mouth. The useful line is dull: a life measured by reservations is already over, even if no one is bleeding. Leave the rest in the drawer.