Thursday, May 31, 2012

Should Sailors Marry? - 1925


Country: United States
Director: Jess Robbins
Writers: Jess Robbins (story), H.M. Walker (titles)
Stars: Clyde Cook, Noah Young and Fay Holderness
Release Date: 8 November 1925 (USA)
Also known as: Mogen zeevaarders trouwen? (Netherlands - DVD title)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Question In Title
Genres: Comedy | Short
A Wrestler and his ex-Wife (Noah Young and Fay Holderness) try to con a recently-discharged Sailor (Clyde Cook) out of 4 years' pay. When they learn that he lost the money in a 'shell game', they put him to work in the hazardous job of a High Steel Worker, and insure him against accident, then try to see that he has one.  

Three of a Kind - 1926


Country: United States
Director: Harry Sweet
Stars: Hilliard Karr, Frank Alexander and 'Kewpie' Ross
Release Date: 13 June 1926 (USA)
Production Co: Joe Rock Comedies (I), Standard Photoplay Company
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
A young woman is taken to a fancy nightclub by her uncle, but is stuck with the bill when the stingy uncle gets into an argument with a waiter and leaves without paying. While working off the debt, she recommends some friends of hers as an act for the club. Her friends are hired, but their performance does not go over very well, and soon the whole club is in an uproar.  

Along Came Auntie - 1926


Country: United States
Language: English (intertitles)
Directors: Fred Guiol, Richard Wallace
Writers: Carl Harbaugh, Stan Laurel, James Parrott, Jerome Storm, Beatrice Van, H.M. Walker (titles), Frank Wilson, Hal Yates  
Stars: Oliver Hardy, Glenn Tryon and Vivien Oakland
Release Date: 25 July 1926 (USA)
Also known as: Tante kwam langs (Netherlands - DVD title)
Filming Locations: Hal Roach Studios - 8822 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Hal Roach | Aunt Niece Relationship | Violin | Inheritance | Two Reeler  |  Character Name In Title
Genres: Comedy | Short
A divorced woman is set to receive $100,000 and quarts of diamonds from her divorce-disapproving aunt. Having taken in her first husband as a lodger, due to financial difficulties, and now living with her second husband, she must act to convince her aunt, that she is still married to her first husband, which is not taken gracefully by her second husband. 
Connections
Edited into Laurel and Hardy's Laughing 20's (1965) 

Be Reasonable - 1921


Country: United States
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Stars: Billy Bevan, Mildred June and Eddie Gribbon
Release Date: 12 December 1921 (USA)
Production Co: Mack Sennett Comedies
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
Silent comic Billy Bevan looked like a cross between Chaplin's Little Tramp and the Thompson Twins (from the Tin Tin books, not the 1980's electro-poppers). In this reasonably funny two-reeler, he plays a sad sack who gets doused by the world's fullest watering can and then tries to weedle his way into the heart of a bathing beauty (Mildred June) via the unusual means of a submarine periscope. He's also presented with the opportunity to rescue Fifi the Dog from drowning, as the regular lifeguard (Eddie Gribbon) is an over-muscled knucklehead who rides his bicycle into the waves. There's a hilarious sequence featuring Billy wearing pillows for shoes and a rip-roaring chase scene with dozens of coppers in pursuit of our hero. All in all, Be Reasonable is an ever so slightly above average Mack Sennett production guaranteed, at the very least, to bring a smile to your face.

The Lucky Dog - 1921


Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Jess Robbins
Writer: Jess Robbins (screenplay)
Stars: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel and Florence Gillet
Release Date: October 1921 (USA)
Also known as: Cane fortunato (Italy), De geluksvogel (Netherlands - DVD title), Le veinard (France)
Filming Locations: Eastlake Park - 3501 Valley Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA
Production Co: Sun-Lite Pictures
Runtime:Germany: 17 min  | USA: 24 min (uncut version)
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Dog | Landlady | Accident | Bag | Hit On The Head  |  Dynamite | Seeing Images After A Bang On The Head | Bandit | Butler | Automobile | Money | Trolley | Explosion | Hit With A Broom | Hit By Car | Fence | Kicked In The Butt | Animal Licking Someone | Seeing Stars After A Bang On The Head | Metro | Seeing Stars | Gun
Genres: Comedy | Short
In their first screen appearance together, Stan plays a penniless dog lover and Oliver plays a crook who tries to rob him and his new paramour.
This was Laurel & Hardy's first on-screen pairing – although not as a partnership: that was still 10 years away. Stan Laurel is the star, while Ollie – thinner than in his heyday, but still a hefty chap – plays a supporting role as a heavy. It's strange to see them working together as jobbing actors, neither of them aware, as we are, of what an important role each would eventually play in the other's life.
Stan plays a young man down on his luck. Evicted from his digs he's literally thrown into the street where he sees angelic women dancing around him. Mistakenly believing one of these ladies is kissing him he discovers it is actually a stray mongrel that has taken a liking to him. Stan takes a liking to a young lady, a passenger in a car who runs Stan over, and the dog proves useful in winning her over. Stan looks very young and gawky here, and there's very little sign of the mannerisms that would later become so familiar to his legions of fans. Hardy, a shy gentle man in real life, plays a ruffian with guns, always on the outlook for a fast buck. The lady's jilted beau hires him to put a bullet in Stan's head, but of course things don't turn out that way.
Trivia
The first time Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were in a film together. In the film, Hardy was a robber who robbed Laurel at gun point.
This film was already made in late 1919, but shelved for several years.
The popular version of this short ends with the wealthy, dog-loving heroine falling for Stan because of his stray dog. The full version, where she takes Stan home to meet her father and the jilted boyfriend appears with the criminal (played by Hardy) to attempt his revenge, was re-discovered from William K. Everson in his last days. 
Revealing mistakes
Traffic can be seen going backwards when Stan almost gets hit by a streetcar.
Connections
Referenced in Columbo: How to Dial a Murder (1978). The murderers dogs are named Laurel and Hardy, The Lucky Dog was L&Hs first film together.
Featured in 30 Years of Fun (1963) - compilation movie, Classic Comedy Teams (1986)
Laurel & Hardy: Their Lives and Magic (2011)- Documentary about this title's stars.

She Said No - 1928


Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Leslie Goodwins
Stars: Ben Turpin, Edwin Argus and Addie McPhail
Production Co: Weiss Brothers Artclass Pictures
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy

Wandering Papas - 1926


Country: United States
Language: English (intertitles)
Director: Stan Laurel
Writers: Edward Dillon, Carl Harbaugh, Stan Laurel, George O'Neill, James Parrott, H.M. Walker (titles), Hal Yates
Stars: Oliver Hardy, Clyde Cook and Sally O'Neil
Release Date: 21 February 1926 (USA)
Also known as: Enough to Do (UK - short version), Genoeg te doen (Netherlands - DVD title)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Cook | Cake | Bridge Constructor | Collecting Food | Sunflower Seed  |  Hal Roach | Baking | River | Skunk | Fishing
Genres: Comedy | Short
A cook for bridge constructors is told to collect food for dinner-Ritz style trout, Palmer house rabbit and a 15cm frosted cake. He sets off into the wide open spaces to collect the food, coming into contact with a mad hermit, who hates anybody seeing his daughter, before returning to cook dinner.  

Innocent Husbands - 1925


Country: United States
Language: English (intertitles)
Director: Leo McCarey
Writer: H.M. Walker (titles)
Stars: Charley Chase, Katherine Grant and Jane Sherman
Release Date: 2 August 1925 (USA)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Party | Seance | Fake Suicide | Dancing | Gunfire  | Spiritualist | Jealousy | Hotel Detective | Chase | Flat Tire | Friendship
Genres: Comedy | Short
Despite his faithfulness, Melvin is always under suspicion by wife Mame. Complications erupt when a woman from a party across the hall passes out in Melvin's bedroom just before Mame returns.
Perhaps you've heard about the great-but-neglected comedian Charley Chase, and perhaps you wonder what was so great about him. If so, this little gem from Chase's silent era heyday would be a good place to start an acquaintance. Judged on a bare plot outline INNOCENT HUSBANDS may sound like a run-of-the-mill marital farce, the sort of dreary two-reeler comics like Leon Errol cranked out by the dozen, but the difference lies in the execution. Charley Chase was a charming, agile performer with a highly expressive face and a lanky build, rather like a cross between Dick Van Dyke and John Cleese. Chase also possessed a gift for physical comedy and a fertile imagination for gags, which he demonstrated not only in his own movies but also when he directed films featuring his peers.
When we talk about "physical comedy," by the way, it doesn’t mean the sort of primitive butt-kicking slapstick found in the early Mack Sennett comedies. Like many of his contemporaries Charley Chase's film-making apprenticeship took place at the Keystone Studio during World War I, but by the '20s he'd refined his skills to the point where his work was comparatively sophisticated, with an occasional touch of the risqué. One example from this film: when Charley is sent to an apartment building to fetch a young lady to bring to a party, he is told to stand in front of her building and whistle three times; she'll throw down her room key. Charley dutifully stands before the building and whistles three times-- and is pelted with dozens of keys! Maybe that isn't your idea of "sophisticated," but it's miles ahead of a Keystone food fight. Next we have a funny scene where Charley actually has to fend off the hot-to-trot young lady in the back of a cab. He's not merely an innocent husband, but one who has to FIGHT to uphold his virtue!
This is the sort of farce in which an obsessively jealous wife tries to catch her husband cheating, and he eventually winds up-- innocently, of course --with an unconscious floozy in his bedroom, scrambling to conceal her presence. Again, what makes it work is the freshness Chase brings to this admittedly familiar material. A highlight comes early on, when Melvin (Charley's character) tells his wife Mame that he's become so tired of her suspicions he's going to end it all. He stomps into the next room, finds a revolver, fires it into the floor and falls in a histrionic manner. No response. So, naturally, he does it again. Still nothing. Now Mame opens the door to watch as Melvin performs this ridiculous act a third time. Flat on the floor Melvin looks up, realizes Mame is watching, and quickly resumes playing dead. This may not sound so funny in the telling, and God knows plenty of hack comics have performed similar routines to little effect, but, when Charley Chase does this, it's funny. INNOCENT HUSBANDS is a comic treat that deserves to be better known, and so does its star performer.  

Roaming Romeo - 1928


Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Lupino Lane
Stars: Lupino Lane, Wallace Lupino and Anita Garvin
Release Date: 29 July 1928 (USA)
Also known as: Bending Her (UK)
Production Co: Lupino Lane Comedy Corporation
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy
Belle-Hure and Horatio Babaorum escape from a Roman galley only to land in a Roman palace where they indulge in their antique antics!
Lupino Lane is seldom ranked with the greatest silent screen comics, yet he was clearly a gifted performer of physical comedy. He was an amazing acrobat who could run up a wall like Donald O'Connor in Singin' in the Rain, and take a fall with the best of them. Moreover, Lane wasn't just a knockabout clown: he turned in a well modulated dramatic performance in D.W. Griffith's last great feature Isn't Life Wonderful, and later demonstrated his flair for comic song & dance in the early talkie musical The Love Parade.
Lane made quite a few two-reel comedies in the late '20s, but although they tend to be jolly, fast-paced and packed with gags I've yet to find one that could hold its own with the best work (or even the middling work) of Chaplin, Lloyd, or Keaton. I suppose the main reason is that Lane was overly focused on gags at the expense of basic characterization and story construction. He races willy-nilly from one routine to the next, but without much rhyme or reason. Neither the star nor his supporting characters slow down long enough to give us a sense of personality, nor is anything Lane does motivated in any meaningful way. If it's funny, he does it. The laughs are there, and the bits are often beautifully performed, but taken as a whole these films seem curiously hollow.
Roaming Romeo is about par for a Lane two-reeler. The opening is a parody of the galley sequence from Ben-Hur with Ramon Novarro, a smash hit of 1926 that was still fresh in viewers' memories. Below decks in the galley ship we meet our star comedian and his sidekick, the latter played by Lane's real-life brother Wallace Lupino. The two of them, enslaved as oarsmen, manage to overpower the guard, then escape from the ship and swim to shore. Stealing outfits from two centurions who happen to be skinny-dipping, the escapees find themselves in a palace and masquerade as soldiers. From then on Lane and his buddy contend with various antagonists. First there's a hostile centurion officer who takes a dislike to our hero. One of the funniest bits comes when Lane starts to aim a kick at this guy, but when the officer catches him in the act Lane and his buddy quickly turn the action into a soft shoe dance. Later, our hero wins a wrestling match and is summoned by an aristocratic lady of the court (played by the great Anita Garvin). Before long, Lane has offended just about all the palace's authority figures, and must flee with his sidekick. Incidentally I've seen two prints of this film, one of which is missing the final sequence. The incomplete version ends flatly with a shot of the two comics running away from the palace. The complete version ends on a far more disturbing note when the former galley slaves willingly swim back to their ship!
As with most Lupino Lane comedies one can enjoy the good bits and ignore the filler. Unfortunately the scene with Anita Garvin feels haphazard and doesn't amount to much. (For what it's worth, Garvin gave an interview late in life in which she said she disliked Lane, though she didn't say why. This film marked their second and last collaboration.) The best routine is a familiar one, but nicely executed: when Lane and his buddy attempt to flee the palace guards they knock over a pair of statues and must take their place. When the Emperor comes along and stands nearby they attempt to sneak away, but have to freeze into statue-like positions every time he turns and looks at them. It's a funny routine up to a point, but nearly ruined by a tiresome punchline when a pair of black servants come along, see the "statues" move, and react with great fright. All too often Lane would fall back on hackneyed stuff like that.
In sum, this short gives a newcomer a good idea of what a Lupino Lane comedy is like, for better or worse. Buffs will enjoy watching the star execute his trademark scissor-jump and other physical bits. From what I've seen thus far, however, Lane's best performance on film is in the talkie The Love Parade, where he sings nicely and performs a terrific eccentric dance number with Lillian Roth. Perhaps this was one silent comedian who needed sound to fully come into his own as a performer in the movies.
Connections
Spoofs Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925).

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Trouble - 1920


Country: United States
Language: English
Stars: Al St. John, Cliff Bowes, and Joe Murphy.
Production Co: Warner Bros. Pictures
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy 

Wife Tamers - 1926


Country: United States
Language: English
Director: James W. Horne
Writers: Carl Harbaugh, Grover Jones, Stan Laurel, H.M. Walker (titles), Hal Yates
Stars: Lionel Barrymore, Clyde Cook and Vivien Oakland
Release Date: 28 March 1926 (USA)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
Trivia
A print of this film survives in the UCLA Film and Television Archives. 

The Bakery - 1921


Country: United States
Language: English
Directors: Larry Semon, Norman Taurog
Writers: Larry Semon, Norman Taurog
Stars: Larry Semon, Oliver Hardy and Frank Alexander
Release Date: 20 June 1921 (USA)
Also known as: El chico del colmado (Spain), Jaimito pastelero (Spain)
Production Co: Larry Semon Productions, Vitagraph Company of América
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Cake | Two Reeler
Genres: Comedy | Short
Well-meaning but accident-prone bakery employee Larry is involved in numerous slapstick mishaps on the job. After accidentally causing the bakery owner to fall into a vat of cake batter Larry finds his job in jeopardy, but he redeems himself by foiling a robbery planned by the bakery foreman.
A hilarious slapstick comedy from Larry Semon's best period, with a sight gag every few seconds, stunt work that still amazes, and several scenes that show magnificent comic timing. Also, it's interesting to see Oliver Hardy (several years before teaming with Stan Laurel) playing the villain, as he did in many Semon comedies.

Don't Tell Everything - 1927


Country: United States
Language: English (intertitles)
Director: Leo McCarey
Stars: Max Davidson, Spec O'Donnell and Jesse De Vorska
Release Date: 3 July 1927 (USA)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Runtime: USA: 20 min  | Germany: 23 min (2011 restoration)
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
Max and his son Asher are invited to a party, where Max meets a rich widow, but Asher keeps annoying all of the guests, so Max refuses to speak to him. 10 days later he has married the widow, but hasn't told her about Asher. Asher doesn't like the situation either, and enters the home disguised as the new maid, that leeds to a growing suspicion of his step mother, who has her own little secret.   

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Tell 'Em Nothing - 1926


Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Leo McCarey
Writer: Charley Chase (uncredited)
Stars: Charley Chase, Vivien Oakland and Gertrude Astor
Release Date: 17 October 1926 (USA)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
Charlie is the great divorce attorney, in demand by all women wishing to shed their husbands. While explaining to one woman how to obtain a divorce by getting photos in a compromising situation, his wife inadvertently sees him and thinks the worst. With the connivance of a doctor pal who lives across the hall, Charlie manages to bundle his wife off to the country for a rest cure. Somewhat implausibly, he's randomly chosen by the husband of the other woman to serve as the lover in the compromising photos they need for their divorce. Further complications lead to the other woman showing up at Charlie's apartment. He thinks his wife has been sent off to the country and he'll have a quiet evening by himself at home, but neither of those assumptions proves correct. Typical farce ensues as the woman hides under the bed, Charlie contends with the jealous husband, and Charlie's wife unexpectedly turns up.
Trivia
A print of this film survives in the UCLA Film and Television Archives. 

Flaming Fathers - 1927


Country: United States
Language: English
Directors: Stan Laurel, Leo McCarey
Stars: Max Davidson, Martha Sleeper and Tiny Sandford
Release Date: 18 December 1927 (USA)
Also known as: Vacances de M. Davidson (France)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Runtime: Germany: 25 min (2011 restoration)
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
By the time of this 1927 release, Max Davidson had long established himself as one of the favorite ethnic characters in screen comedy. His two reel comedies for Hal Roach are rich with comic invention and freshness. This film was put together at the Hal Roach Studios and was directed by Stan Laurel and Leo McCarey and it certainly shows. There is typical Laurel humor here as crowds gather on a beach to see the frenzy between Max and an angry father, then Max and an angry husband and finally, Max and a dog, who has ripped off Max's bathing suit. This sequence was used and re worked the same year in Putting Pants On Phillip, which featured Oliver Hardy and Laurel, who were recently teamed together. This lively short was mostly shot on location at Venice Beach in California. Max has been informed by his wife, (Lillian Leighton), that he must make sure their daughter, (Martha Sleeper),does not elope with her boyfriend, Rollo, ( Edward Clayton). In order to fool father, the couple take him to the amusement pier where all sorts of trouble starts to brew. All through the visit, Max is chased by a policeman, (Tiny Sandford) who never quite gets his man. Current residents of this coastal community will recognize several landscapes. There is plenty of Jewish humor here as Max Davidson specialized in this brand of visual comedy.
Flaming Fathers is a funny film that holds its audience from the first moment to the last. By the time sound came in, Max found it hard to work. Loyal to his former star, Hal Roach tried to feature Max whenever he could but there just wasn't much for him to do. His 1937 photograph in the first Academy Players directory shows how sad he looked at that time. Pity for Max Davidson, though forgotten today, was one of the bright spots on the bill in the days when audiences listened with their eyes.

Two Wagons Both Covered - 1924


Country: United States
Director: Rob Wagner, and J.A. Howe (uncredited)
Writers: Will Rogers (screenplay), Rob Wagner
Stars: Will Rogers, Marie Mosquini and Earl Mohan
Release Date: 6 January 1924 (USA)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy
Connections
Spoofs The Covered Wagon (1923)

Sunday, May 27, 2012

The Show - 1922


Country: United States
Language: English | English (intertitles)
Directors: Larry Semon, Norman Taurog
Writers: Larry Semon (story), Norman Taurog (story)
Stars: Larry Semon, Oliver Hardy and Frank Alexander
Release Date: 19 March 1922 (USA)
Also known as: De voorstelling (Netherlands - DVD title), Props (USA - working title), Ridolini al varietà (Italy)
Filming Locations: Glendale, California, USA
Production Co: Larry Semon Productions, Vitagraph Company of América
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
A harried propman backstage at a theater must put up with malfunctioning wind machines, roosters that spit nitroglycerine, and a gang planning to rob the theater's payroll.   

The Shriek Of Araby - 1921


Country: United States
Language: English
Director: F. Richard Jones
Writers: Mack Sennett (screenplay), Mack Sennett (story)
Stars: Ben Turpin, Kathryn McGuire and George Cooper
Release Date: 5 March 1923 (USA)
Also known as: Cheik-Cheik (Portugal), The Shriek (USA - working title)
Production Co: Mack Sennett Comedies
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Satire
Genres: Comedy
An employee in a theater showing Valentino's "The Shiek" daydreams about himself playing Valentino's role.
Trivia
A copy survives at the Museum of Modern Art.
Connections
Spoofs The Sheik (1921) 

Saturday, May 26, 2012

The Servant Girl's Legacy - 1914


Country: United States
Director: Arthur Hotaling
Writer: E.W. Sargent
Stars: Mabel Paige, Oliver Hardy and Ed Lawrence
Release Date: 28 November 1914 (USA)
Production Co: Lubin Manufacturing Company
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy
A serving girl receives a telegram that she has come into an inheritance. The family she works for suddenly starts to treat her well, and several young men come to court her. Then she receives another telegram telling her the inheritances is only $25. All her new 'friends' desert her, except her poor boyfriend.
In the year that Charles Chaplin made his screen debut with the Keystone Film Company in 'Making A Living' on the 9th February 1914, Oliver Hardy (known as Babe Hardy) was earning a living by acting in one reelers such as 'The Servant Girl's Legacy'. He would have to wait until 1927 when he teamed up with Stan Laurel in the classic silent short film, 'You're Darn Tootin', before he would receive the same level of fame as Chaplin.
Trivia
A print of this film was found in a basement in Dawson City, Yukon Territory, in 1978.
Released as a split reel along with the comedy You Can't Beat Them. 

Open Spaces - 1926


Country: United States
Director: Charles Lamont
Stars: Malcolm Sebastian, Jack McHugh and Harry Spear
Release Date: 7 November 1926 (USA)
Production Co: Jack White
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy

No Loafing - 1923


Country: United States
Stars: Poodles Hanneford and Joe Roberts
Release Date: 25 November 1923 (USA)
Production Co: Reel Comedies Inc.
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy

Friday, May 25, 2012

The Incorrigible Dukane - 1915


Country: United States
Director: James Durkin
Writer: George C. Shedd (play)
Stars: John Barrymore, William T. Carleton and Helen Weir
Release Date: 2 September 1915 (USA)
Production Co: Famous Players Film Company
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Based On Play
Genres: Short | Comedy | Romance 
The earliest film of legendary actor John Barrymore to survive predating his better known RAFFLES THE AMATEUR CRACKSMAN(1917) & the famous DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE(1920).

Thursday, May 24, 2012

A Winter Straw Ride - 1906


Country: United States
"A Winter Straw Ride" by Thomas Edison Motion Pictures
a.k.a. The Edison Manufacturing Co. and Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
"I am experimenting upon an instrument which does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear, which is the recording and reproduction of things in motion..." --Thomas A. Edison, 1888
This simple short feature, pleasant and fun to watch, includes great outdoor photography by Edwin S. Porter. With plenty of energy, and the actors clearly had a good time being part of the film. Two groups of young women going on a 'straw ride' in the snow, with things gradually becoming increasingly boisterous as numerous other persons join in. Except perhaps for the clothing styles and the horse-drawn vehicles, it could have been filmed today, since these kinds of antics in the snow are common in pretty much any time and place that has a cold winter.
Edison's laboratory was responsible for the invention of the Kinetograph (a motion picture camera) and the Kinetoscope (a peep-hole motion picture viewer). Most of this work was performed by Edison's assistant, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, beginning in 1888. Motion pictures became a successful entertainment industry in less than a decade, with single-viewer Kinetoscopes giving way to films projected for mass audiences. The Edison Manufacturing Co. (later known as Thomas A. Edison, Inc.) not only built the apparatus for filming and projecting motion pictures, but also produced films for public consumption. Most early examples were actualities showing famous people, news events, disasters, people at work, new modes of travel and technology, scenic views, expositions, and other leisure activities. As actualities declined in popularity, the company's production emphasis shifted to comedies and dramas.
Edison Studios was an American motion picture production company owned by the Edison Company of inventor Thomas Edison. The studio made close to 1,200 films as the Edison Manufacturing Company (1894--1911) and Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1911--1918) until the studio's closing in 1918. Of that number, 54 were feature length, the remainder were shorts.
Its first production facility, Edison's Black Maria studios in West Orange, New Jersey, was built in the winter of 1892--93. The second facility, a glass-enclosed rooftop studio built at 41 East 21st Street in Manhattan's entertainment district, opened in 1901. In 1907, Edison had new facilities built on Decatur Avenue and Oliver Place in the Bronx.
Edison himself played no direct part in the making of his studio's films beyond being the owner, and appointing William Gilmore as vice-president and general manager. Edison's assistant William Kennedy Dickson, who supervised the development of Edison's motion picture system, produced the first Edison films intended for public exhibition, 1893--95. After Dickson's departure for Biograph in 1895, he was replaced as director of production by cameraman William Heise, then from 1896 to 1903 by James H. White. When White left to supervise Edison's European interests in 1903, he was replaced by William Markgraf (1903--1904), then Alex T. Moore (1904--1909), and Horace G. Plimpton (1909--1915).
The first commercially exhibited motion pictures in the United States were from Edison, and premiered at a Kinetoscope parlor in New York City on April 14, 1894. The program consisted of ten short films, each less than a minute long, of athletes, dancers, and other performers. After competitors began exhibiting films on screens, Edison introduced its own Projecting Kinetoscope in late 1896.
The earliest productions were brief "actualities" showing everything from acrobats to parades to fire calls. But competition from French and British story films in the early 1900s rapidly changed the market. By 1904, 85% of Edison's sales were from story films.
In December 1908, Edison led the formation of the Motion Picture Patents Company in an attempt to control the industry and shut out smaller producers. The "Edison Trust," as it was nicknamed, was made up of Edison, Biograph, Essanay Studios, Kalem Company, George Kleine Productions, Lubin Studios, Georges Méliès, Pathé, Selig Studios, and Vitagraph Studios, and dominated distribution through the General Film Company.

Making Friends With Chipmunks - 1920


Country: United States
This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives.
http://www.archive.org/details/making_friends_with_chipmunks

Moonshine - 1920


Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Charley Chase
Stars: Lloyd Hamilton, Bee Monson and Otto Fries
Release Date: 26 December 1920 (USA)
Also known as: Pie and Rye (USA - alternative title)
Production Co: Astra Film
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy 

Who's Which? - 1925


Country: United States
Director: Jules White
Stars: Phil Dunham
Release Date: 27 September 1925 (USA)
Production Co: Jack White
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short

No Vacancies - 1923


Country: United States
Stars: Earl Rodney, Dorothy Devore, Eddie Baker, Blanche Payson, Jack Akroyd and Duffy, and Billy Armstrong
Rare Al Christie comedy released by Arrow.

What a Whopper! - 1921


Country: United States
Director: Charley Chase
Writer: Hal Roach (story)
Stars: 'Snub' Pollard and Marie Mosquini
Release Date: 31 July 1921 (USA)
Also known as: Pollard blagueur (France)
Production Co: Rolin Films
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
Snub Pollard is one of those silent comedians whose face, thanks to that oversize walrus moustache, is immediately recognisable to many, but who never really made a name for himself. Familiar to many as Harold Lloyd's sidekick, he made quite a few short comedies of his own but, while they were competently enough made, they never really made the grade. What a Whopper is a fairly typical example. Snub plays a henpecked husband who has a night on the town while his wife believes he is fishing. To support his subterfuge, Snub buys a fish on the way home from drying out at the Turkish baths but when he runs into his neighbour, who has bought a dead duck to support a similar ruse - only this time hunting – they get their kills mixed up and Snub has to do some fast talking to get himself off the hook.
The film has some amusing moments, but overplays its hand at times, letting gags run for too long, or simply devoting time to jokes that just aren't funny. It's probably a good example of Pollard's solo work though, and is a reasonably entertaining short.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Move Along - 1926


Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Norman Taurog
Writer: Norman Taurog
Stars: Lloyd Hamilton, Helen Foster and Glen Cavender
Release Date: 25 July 1926 (USA)
Production Co: Lloyd Hamilton Corporation
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Plot Keywords: Remake
Genres: Short | Comedy
This may well be the definitive Lloyd Hamilton comedy. That's not to say that Move Along is the funniest or the wildest of Ham's surviving films, but it's the one that best conveys his screen persona: a Born Loser who tries to cope but is thwarted at every turn, a well-meaning guy trapped in a world full of hostile cops, grasping landladies, and passersby on the street who look at him and laugh for unknown reasons. Hamilton's work doesn't suit all tastes. There's a strong element of melancholy just under the surface—in fact, in this particular film the melancholia isn't hidden at all, it's right out in the open—but he was a droll performer who is a pleasure to watch, even when his screen alter ego suffers through one calamity after another. Hamilton had a rich comic imagination, and his films are full of clever gags that were often "borrowed" by other comedians subsequently, but his films can be surprisingly sad and disturbing for two-reel comedies. You laugh while watching this guy have the worst day of his life, over and over again.
Move Along begins with an introductory shot of our star that Harold Lloyd would rework in his talkie feature Movie Crazy in 1932: Ham (whose character name is Walter Rawleigh here, for some reason) appears to be riding in the back of a limo, chatting amiably with a prosperous-looking gent in a top hat, but a long shot reveals that he is riding alongside the limo in a humble horse-drawn cart. When the cart hits a bump he's dumped into a puddle. It's soon clear that Walter is broke and hungry, but he's no bum: when he sees that jobs are available at the employment office he quickly gets in line. When a young woman comes along who looks even more desperate than he is, however, Walter gallantly offers her his place in line, and thus assures that she will get work while he is left out in the cold. The young woman seems to be the only friendly person in the universe, and offers him sincere thanks for his sacrifice. But Walter can't pause to savor the moment, for a brutal cop keeps after him, clubbing him repeatedly and barking "Move on!"
No sooner does Walter return to his seedy apartment and flop on the bed but the landlady barges in and demands the rent. Told that he can't pay, she enlists the help of two burly men who roll Walter (still on his bed) outside and fling his meager belongings after him. Undaunted, Walter establishes a residence of sorts on the sidewalk, under the awning of a dry goods store that is closed for the night. When it begins to rain he manages to deal with that, and when the rain turns to snow he deals with that, too. Move Along turns increasingly surreal in this final section, as Walter sets up housekeeping in public with the girl from the employment office. The gags become cartoon-y as the atmosphere turns dreamlike, and we're not too surprised when Walter's reverie turns out to be a dream after all, rudely disrupted by that cop with his billy-club.
From this bare description the film may sound unrelentingly bleak. Thanks to Hamilton's fertile comic creativity there are steady laughs throughout, but there's no getting around the fact that the laughs punctuate a story that is harsh and depressing. This was the Lloyd Hamilton style, to find humor in the dark side of life, but I can see why he's not everyone's cup of tea. Ham was a comedian, but he was not a merry soul. It may be significant that, around the time Move Along was made, Hamilton's messy personal life was tipping out of control. He would soon get into serious difficulties that would precipitate a steep and irrevocable decline. This short was produced at the pinnacle of Hamilton's career, just prior to that downward slide, and stands as a testament to his talent and to his Sad Clown screen persona.
Connections
Remake of The Vagrant (1921).

All Tied Up - 1925


Country: United States
Director: Slim Summerville
Writer: Bob Hopkins
Stars: Hilliard Karr, Frank Alexander and 'Kewpie' Ross
Release Date: 29 November 1925 (USA)
Production Co: Joe Rock Comedies (I), Standard Photoplay Company
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | War | Comedy 

Hot Or Cold - 1928


Country: United States
Language: English (intertitles)
Director: Stephen Roberts
Stars: Al St. John, Harold Goodwin and Estelle Bradley
Release Date: 2 December 1928 (USA)
Production Co: Jack White
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short

At The Ringside - 1921


Country: United States
Director: Charley Chase
Stars: 'Snub' Pollard, Marie Mosquini and Ernest Morrison
Release Date: 17 July 1921 (USA)
Production Co: Rolin Films
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
The Australian-born Snub Pollard is best remembered as supporting comedian to Harold Lloyd during Lloyd's late Hal Roach period, but Pollard starred in his own comedy series ... of which the funniest and most inventive example is probably "It's a Gift" (1923; no relation to the W.C. Fields comedy of the same title). Pollard's starring effort "At the Ringside" (1921) is an audacious rip-off of Charlie Chaplin's 1917 classic "Easy Street" ... one of Chaplin's most popular shorts which was still in widespread release when "At the Ringside" was made.
"At the Ringside" is filmed in a "slum" which is rather obviously a studio mock-up on the Hal Roach back lot, and it clearly copies the Lambeth-style slum in Chaplin's "Easy Street" (which was also a too-obvious mock-up). The first half of this film is a blatant copy of "Easy Street". Pollard plays the local constable, charged with maintaining order in the tough slum district. He runs afoul of the local bully, played by Noah Young (an underrated comic actor who usually played roughnecks and dimwits in Harold Lloyd movies). Young has sense enough not to imitate Eric Campbell, his counterpart in "Easy Street". To his credit, Pollard is playing his own comic character here ... not imitating Chaplin, even though the source material is so obviously Chaplin's.
Halfway through, "At the Ringside" suddenly abandons its "Easy Street" rip-off and shows some originality. Young challenges Pollard to a boxing match in a hastily-erected outdoor boxing ring. From here, the film degenerates into fairly predictable slapstick gags on the pugilism theme ... with one remarkable surprise. Midpoint in the boxing match, Pollard gets a severe blow to the head which rocks him. Then we see a subjective shot as the scenery around Pollard breaks up into jigsaw-puzzle pieces (against a black background) and fades into a blur. This was so totally unexpected, I thought that the film was breaking apart in the projector. The blur comes back into focus and the jigsaw pieces join up again, as Pollard shakes his head and gets back into the fight. The camera work and editing in this brief sequence are far more inventive than ANY of the camera work and editing at any point in Chaplin's entire film career. This one trick shot in "At the Ringside" more than makes up for any lack of originality throughout the rest of the film.
Pollard's leading lady in this short is dark-haired Marie Mosquini, very young and quite pretty even by modern standards. Ms Mosquini gave up her lacklustre acting career to marry the inventor Lee De Forrest, a pioneer of radio technology.
"At the Ringside" is a decent-enough slapstick comedy, funny but not hilarious, and it offers a sort of parallel-universe version of one of Chaplin's best-known films.

"Today and Yesterday" Newsreel - 1929


Country: United States
Film footage contrasts turn-of-the-century technology with that of 1929, with original soundtrack. Public domain.

Paste and Paper - 1923


Country: United States
Language: English
Director: George Jeske
Stars: James Parrott, Jobyna Ralston and George Rowe
Release Date: 14 January 1923 (USA)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
Well executed but unexceptional one-reeler about a couple of incompetent paperhangers. James Parrott, brother of Charley Chase, was an equally skilled man behind the camera, later writing and directing some of Roach's best two-reelers, before he died too young, but while the gags here are well done, he never really developed much of a personality in these pieces and they are not, somehow, quite as sharp as the stuff he was co-starring in with Sid Saylor two or three years before. The extended gag with the plank of wood seesawing is typical.
Of course it's also a pleasure to look at Jobyna Ralston as the girl in these pieces. She was James' co-star before she replaced Mildred Davis as Harold Lloyd's better half on the screen -- although Miss Davis married her co-star.