Les maçons (1905) watch online HD

Several builders encounter a fat police officer and proceed to torment him with bags of cement and water pumps in this filmed stage act directed by Alice Guy.

It's certainly not new. There's a listing for a Melies film called "The Clumsy Mason" from 1898. Alas, it seems to be among the missing. It was also, undoubtedly, a lot shorter than the two minutes this effort takes. Looking at it, we see a polished stage act that has been repeated many times; I saw a version of it inserted in a Joan Davis comedy from about 1945 -- sorry, I can't recall the title.

This sort of slapstick would evolve into film slapstick and into live performances at rodeos and Catskill hotels. It's interesting to see an early step in its history.