Summary
This 1924 celluloid curiosity functions as a surrealist deconstruction of American mythology, stripping the dignified veneer from the Philadelphia polymath to reveal a core of pure, unadulterated slapstick. Rather than a hagiographic retelling of the Enlightenment, the film pivots entirely on a singular, distorted historical locus: the kite experiment. Here, the capture of electricity is not a moment of quiet scientific epiphany but a kinetic explosion of trick photography and domestic chaos. Benjamin Franklin, portrayed with a frantic, rubber-limbed energy, successfully lures the celestial fire from the heavens only to find himself the prey of his own discovery. The lightning, rendered through primitive yet evocative visual effects, manifests as a sentient, mischievous entity that pursues Franklin and his servant through a labyrinthine interior. This electrical haunting culminates in the literal bottling of the lightning, transforming a cosmic force into a utilitarian fuel for an archaic bicycle, setting the stage for a high-stakes, high-velocity pursuit of a romantic and intellectual rival. It is a work that values the absurdity of the machine age over the solemnity of the colonial past.
Synopsis
The only event in Franklin's life that is burlesqued is his drawing the lightning from the sky by means of a kite and a key. Most of the footage is taken up with good slapstick stuff, involving trick photography where the lightning after being captured chases Benjamin and his black servant all over the house until he finally captures it and puts it in a box and the servant uses it to propel an old-fashioned bicycle and to chase a doubting rival.
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