The Automatic Motorist (1911) Walter R. Booth

The Automatic Motorist is a 1911 fantasy film directed by Walter Robert Booth*. It is a grand remake of Booth's previous film:    • The Motorist (1906) Robert W. Paul & Walte...   produced by    • Robert William Paul   and which had proved to be a great commercial success. This new version was produced by Charles Urban's *Kineto Film . Walter Booth shows off all his arsenal of tricks and special effects, sparing no effort to copy from himself and others, in particular    • Georges Méliès  . At the end of the video we have included a video summary of the scenes and tricks from which Booth seems to have been inspired (06:28): 06:28 How It Feels to Be Run Over (1900) Cecil Hepworth    • How It Feels to Be Run Over (1900) Cecil H...   07:37 A Trip to the Moon (1902) Georges Méliès    • Viaggio sulla Luna (1902) Georges Méliès   06:38 An Extraordinary Cab Accident (1903) Robert W. Paul & Walter R. Booth    • An Extraordinary Cab Accident (1903) Rober...   07:11 The Mermaid (1904) Georges Méliès    • La Sirène (1904) Georges Méliès   06:56 Le Voyage sur Jupiter (1909) Segundo de Chomón    • Video   06:46 The Motorist (1906) Robert W. Paul & Walter R. Booth    • The Motorist (1906) Robert W. Paul & Walte...   07:19 Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) Edwin Stanton Porter    • Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) Edwin Stan...   Walter R. Booth was born in Worcester on July 12, 1869. The son of a porcelain decorator, but with a passion for magic and sleight-of-hand, he didn't follow his father's profession, preferring instead to join John Nevil Maskelyne and David Devant's troupe performing at London's Egyptian Hall; it was probably here that Booth met Robert W. Paul, who had already screened his first films at this London theater. Walter R. Booth became the cameraman on almost all Paul's subsequent films, specializing above all in the creation of special effects. His work seems clearly inspired by that of Georges Méliès, whose tricks Booth studied and copied. What the two men have in common is that they were both conjurers before turning to film.