In this 1910 film, a housefly perched (glued?) on a matchstick, demonstrates fantastic feats of insect strength and agility. From the British Film Institute:
This truly delightful (or singularly repellent) film is the work of Percy Smith, pioneer of a particularly engaging early form of natural filmmaking. ‘The Acrobatic Fly’ is one of a series of Smith films on similar subjects around this time, and near identical to, though briefer than, a sequence in his 1911 release ‘The Strength and Agility of Insects’, which also features similarly impressive accomplishments by a scorpion, a flea, a grasshopper and a praying mantis. Viewers might worry about the techniques used to secure such performances, but Smith always insisted that his stars were none the worse for their moment in the spotlight.
Learn more about Percy Smith at the British Film Institute’s Screenonline site.
(via r/ObscureMedia)