How It Feels to Be Run Over
How It Feels to Be Run Over
| 30 June 1900 (USA)
How It Feels to Be Run Over Trailers

As the camera looks down an open road, a horse and carriage approaches, and passes by to one side of the field of view. Soon afterwards, an automobile comes up the road, straight towards the camera. As it gets nearer, the occupants start to wave frantically, but can a collision be avoided?

Reviews
Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Jeanskynebu the audience applauded
Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.
Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
He_who_lurks Even if you don't want to know how it feels to be run over, this is still a very creative little film. Made by the Hepworth Manufacturing Company it is one of the first uses of self-reflectivity in film, as both the camera and the cameraman have an important role in the joke. Even the people of today couldn't think up such a creative idea, and we'd never actually know how it feels to be run over, (unless, of course, we really did get run over, but let's hope not).The camera is set up so we're looking down the country road. A horse and buggy passes to one side and goes off the range of the camera. Down the middle of the road comes a motor car. It swerves toward the camera and collides with the cameraman, thus making us feel as though we are being run over. I am glad we can know how it felt without it being a painful experience, so it's a good thing they made this. Well, enough of that, let's get on.What follows is a series of titles cards that flash on the screen, delivering the punchline: "Oh, Mother will be pleased!" These titles cards are believed to be the first intertitles ever put in a film. So for 1900 this is a pretty clever film that not only has a remarkable use of subtitling, but also puts the idea of self-reflectivity to a rather creative use. The early film audiences might've been freaked out by this, don't forget the shot of the train arriving in the station which received that reaction. Only here, they warned us. Okay, I'll shut up. Ground-breaking film because of the intertitles and also very creative for 1900. A good minute with a good, original gag.
Michael_Elliott How It Feels to Be Run Over (1900) I really love to watch these older movies but, to be honest, very few of them really stand out because the majority of them either feature someone dancing, boxing, walking, standing around or just doing something that we've seen in other films. This one here is at least original and lives up to its title. The camera is set up at the end of a road when we see a carriage go by. We then see another carriage coming straight towards the camera and crashing into it. This gives you the idea of being ran over.Funny? Not really but at least the film was somewhat creative and especially when compared to other films from this era. I really don't think the film was all that funny but I can imagine it scaring a few people who saw it back in 1900.
bob the moo OK so the title more or less gives away the entire "plot" of this very short short film but it is still quite interesting. The point obviously is to try and amaze the audience and draw a reaction by having a car rushing towards the viewer in the hope that audiences still dealing with this new technology will instinctively panic somewhat. Watching it now of course I didn't react this way but you can imagine how it once did (even today we do it in the cinemas – it now just means it has to move faster and have effects that make it a lot realer.However the film is nicely done because the cart going by first makes us assume safety before the car is seen approaching and the music lifts to become more dramatic. Of course it also plays on the fear of that other "new" piece of technology – the motor car, so the combination of these factors would have got a good reaction I would guess. Nothing really to it now but it is still interesting to see how it is structured to achieve its aim and then hits it well.
MartinHafer Although movie houses were quite popular in 1900, most of the films were really dreary and uninteresting--the people then just didn't know any better! Most films actually consisted of about a minute's worth of ordinary and mundane activities (such as street scenes, babies, people working, etc.) and the audiences were thrilled. The modern notion of a film was still at least two years away with LE VOYAGE DANS LE LUNE--an early full-length film (14 whole minutes) with real sets and a plot! In this light, then, it's understandable why this little film is so little and so less than inspiring when seen today--and at least it's creative. The camera appears to have been placed in the road. A wagon and then a car approach the camera and ultimately the car appears to run over the camera person. That's it! Nothing more. We're done. Bye.