The Chimney Sweep and The Miller (1902)

Early cinema was functioning similarly to early YouTube or modern TikTok. It was mostly some short skits that were adapted from various vaudeville routines with a hacksaw and fish hook.
As time went by, it was regurgitated over and over again until the lineage was blurred enough to be forgotten so that the neverending loop of regurgitated tropes seemed fresh.

Nevertheless, the documentation of vaudeville routine from early XX century is pure bliss.

This particular bit is one of my faves. 

It is a story of a somewhat unfortunate but nevertheless hilarious encounter between two professionals - The Chimney Sweep and The Miller. Both of whom are dedicated workers who just want to do their own thing and not messed with.

The narrative of the routine is the most basic "versus" scenario based on slapstick misunderstanding that escalated into the uppermost absurdity.

Two sides have their own designated colours - The Chimney Sweep is covered in black sooth, The Miller wears white uniform.

The story goes - both guys are going somewhere, minding their own business. Up until this point the day was just like it was the day before and the day after.

Because of deep occupation by the fleeting thoughts - they don't notice each other moving on the collision course. Eventually, this causes them to stumble into each other and as a result brutally break their concentration.

None of them considers this encounter to be by any means pleasant. The chimney sweep's sooth dirties the millers uniform and its source of great frustration for him. At the same time, the sweep's clothes are covered

So the whole thing instantly goes off the rails and rapidly escalates into a fight. At first they mouth words and name names at each other. Then, for a moment or so, they consider to tackle each other, but soon enough (a matter of Planck time unit or so) they realise that hitting each other with their bags is a much better option in terms of functional efficiency and physical impact.

So they hit each other with their bags. The hits are coming in bursts. It takes a bit of an effort to pick up the bag high enough and direct the hit towards the opponent's upper body. Black soot spots white clothes, white flour covers the sweeps black clothing. They give their all with each hit and soon the action starts to slow down because of exhaustion.

The skirmish creates a black and white cloud in which both of them disappear leaving audience to gaze at the bi-colour cloud of soot and flour. Probably until it dissipates leaving empty stage.

Nothing spectacular, but it works on a visceral level. 

Also - take a look at the backdrop - that lake and forest look somewhat uncanny. I wonder what that might mean.

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Now, with the vaudeville tradition gone far and away - there is a lot more of detachment that makes viewing of such shorts a very different kind of experience, especially for the uninitiated.

You kinda grasp the basic idea, but still lacking much of the cultural context. So instead of laughing at the juxtaposition of social classes, their manners and worldviews, modern viewer laughs at the action itself.