Footpads (1895)

Footpads is an 1896 British short silent drama film, directed by Robert W. Paul, featuring a top-hatted pedestrian against a rainy London backdrop, who is assaulted by three footpads and rescued by a passing policeman. The "atmospheric" film, "is chiefly of interest for its imaginative approach to background décor," where according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "some effort has been made towards establishing a sense of realism." Roland-François Lack of University College London points out that this painted backdrop looks like "a hybrid of Trafalgar Square, with its electric advertisement for Bovril, and Piccadilly Circus, with the advertisement for Mellin's food", but has discovered that it in fact represents Ludgate Circus.

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