A skirt was lifted in this 1901 film by notable movie pioneer Edwin S. Porter. The movie runs for roughly 90 seconds and that is already too much I would say for the content. The times where we would be happy with watching people in the streets are over in the film industry. There needs to be something more by 1901 already to keep the masses entertained. The final plot twist that answers the question in the titles wasn't bad, but it also wasn't very great to make up for the boredom from before. I cannot say that this is one of the best films from its time, although it's probably among the more known ones looking at the number of votes the title has. This may be because it's somewhat sexually explicit going by the standards of the early 20th century. Not enough though. Not recommended.

I don't know if anyone has put music to this, but I saw it plainly silent.It's actually a pretty interesting film. You see the busy life of the street as people mill about the road and sidewalk. There is some horse-and-buggy and trolley traffic in the road too, and some boys with a cart.The thing that stands out first is the teenage boy (or short man) midway down the sidewalk, staring directly at us, hands behind his back, hardly moving at all, unlike anyone else we see.Why is he looking at us? What's he looking for? After a minute, we learn the reason, as the star couple walks over the grate just in front of us, and she gets her Marilyn Monroe moment.Once they pass, though, it just that boy again, staring at us, walking slowly in our direction, now shown to be carrying a lunch-box sort of thing in his right hand, and smaller parcel in his left. It's actually kind of creepy at this point, as other than the change in his hands, he seems entirely unaffected by what we all just saw.

Here we have a short directed by Edwin S. Porter. In it a young couple steadily walks toward the camera from the background. When the two are almost directly in front of the camera, we have the payoff. The woman's skirt is blown up-around her ankles, revealing the undergarment around her calves. A very poor film, even for the standards of 1901. It takes too long for any things remotely interesting happens in the film. The cameraman has to shue several passersby out of the way, and a young boy stands in the background, watching the entire thing unfold. When one first watches the film, the viewer doesn't even know what we are watching, a slice of life shot or a planned performance.I give it a 3 out of 10. The guys were cranking them out as fast as possible, but you would think they could have done better than this.

This short film starts with around forty seconds of people living their lives on 23rd Street in New York. In the distance we see a man constantly watching the camera. He made me wondering if the scene was about him. Other people walk by, some react like they are told to move out of the frame. Then a couple walks into sight and when the woman steps over an air duct her skirts lifts up, showing us her legs. The couple laughs it off and walks on. The short film ends with a young boy turning his laughing head towards the camera.One has to see this short film from the Edison Manufacturing Company as if it is 1901. When you see a women walking in a bikini top these days not so many people are surprised, but back then it was somewhat different. What we see in this short could also be the inspiration for Marilyn Monroe's lifting skirt in 'The Seven Year Itch', a scene considered by many as sexually charged. For a short film from the early days 'What Happened on 23rd Street' is pretty amusing.