To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly

To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly is a 1909 British animated short silent documentary film, directed by F. Percy Smith, featuring a close-up of an animated model spider throwing its silken thread to take to the air. The film features "the first of several animated creatures to appear in Smith's films", and according to Jenny Hammerton of BFI Screenonline was made in the belief, "that he could cure people of their fear of spiders by showing them blown up images of their eight legged foes on the cinema screen."^[1][2]

To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly
Screenshot from the film
Directed by	F. Percy Smith
Production company	Kineto
Distributed by	Charles Urban Trading Company
Release date	1909 (1909)
Running time	58 secs
Country	United Kingdom
Language	Silent