Upside Down; Or, The Human Flies

A memorable early film 'trick'

This simple but very effective 'trick' is one of the earliest films made by former magician Walter Booth. The effect is achieved by relatively straightforward means - Booth mounts the camera upside-down, and also inverts his painted drawing-room backdrop to maintain the illusion. Upside Down demonstrates the wit and deceptively simple inventiveness that would see Booth hailed by some historians as Britain's closest equivalent to the great French film fantasist, Georges Melies.