The Robber and the Jew

A Jewish man with a bag of gold is targeted by roadside robbers in this early comedy short reflecting antisemitic stereotypes

Robbers wait by the roadside ready to spring upon a series of passing travellers, gleefully hiding their stolen plunder in a hollow tree. When a Jewish man comes along with a bag full of gold, the villains treat him worse than the others and tie him to the tree. One of the earliest surviving depictions of a Jewish person in British cinema, this comedy short reflects antisemitic stereotypes prevalent at the time, which played on fears of the 'Other'.