A film of patients with movement disorders made in Queen Square, London in the Mid-1920s by Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson.

BACKGROUND

Through Edward Reynolds' collaboration with Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson's (SAKW) son, James, on Babylonian neurology and psychiatry, and his contact with James' nephew, Jim, grandson of SAKW, a remarkable film of patients with movement disorders, made by SAKW in the mid-1920s, has come to light.

METHODS/RESULTS: The 20-min silent film with captions by SAKW includes patients with senile tremor, Parkinson's disease and postencephalitic parkinsonism, hemiballismus, Huntington's chorea, Sydenham's chorea, hysterical palsy and tremor, multiple sclerosis, and progressive lenticular degeneration. Most of the patients are filmed in the square outside the National Hospital. The British Film Institute dates the film to 1924 and the captions to 1925. The case records of 6 of the 14 patients, who were admitted to the National Hospital, Queen Square, under the care of Dr. SAKW have been identified and summarized.

DISCUSSION

SAKW may have been stimulated and facilitated to make this film through his personal contact with Charlie Chaplin with whom he stayed at his Californian estate, probably in the summer of 1924. The first films of neurological patients were made in Europe and USA at the beginning of the 20th century, although most have perished. This may be one of the oldest examples from UK. It is also notable for the inclusion of Wilson's disease and a brief shot of SAKW himself.