Friday, April 7, 2017

Peeping Pete (USA,1913)

The subject of peep hole had been explored in films virtually since the invention of cinema and this split reel (a film shorter than a one-reeler, in other words, lasting less than 11 minutes) shows this theme in a typical slapstick fashion. 
The greatest distinction of this film is not really its simple plot, but the fact that it is the earliest surviving appearance of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle in films, back to 1913. He worked at Keystone up to 1917, and it did not take long until he was very popular among the audiences. During this time, his pairing with Mabel Normand was also very successful, which can put those actors among the pioneers of romantic comedies, a genre that would end up establishing itself in the next decade.
Pete (played by Mack Sennett, the head and founder of Keystone studios) spies on the wife of a neighbor through a hole on the fence. Her husband (Ford Sterling) finds it out and gets furious. 
Sterling had his typical acting of broad gestures, ridiculously fake mustaches and an almost surreal temper. However, Sterling is less over the top here than in other films because all the other actors are equally exaggerated. The wife is played by Fatty Arbuckle in drag, which gives an. extra funny effect to the film. The trend of appearing in drag on screen was with Arbuckle throughout his career and he performed quite well in this type of role. 
Sterling also had some quite funny scenes when he tried to take revenge of Sennett for spying his wife and carried a revolver (which shot lots of smoke) with him, causing a plenty of confusion and misunderstandings when he inadvertently intimidated and scared people away while he was trying to find Sennett.
We can also see Arbuckle falling and tripping often in this film. Do not be fooled by his overweight, as Fatty was a quite skilled physical comedian and dancer and he often displayed such skills on screen. Arbuckle also had a very pleasant voice and it is said he could sing very well. Were not for the scandal that virtually ended his career in 1921 and it seems he could have made a smooth transition to talkies, if only he had a chance of doing so. 
In the end, both husband and peeping Pete ended up forgetting their disagreements and became friends. Not before the wife and a plenty of other neighbors got desperate in fear that a double murder would happen (as one of intertitles of the film) said. 
Not really an easy film to be understood by modern-day audiences, as the film is very short and it’s logically not possible to develop the psychological profile of characters well. The plot is also not narrative, but revolves around a simple premise and random gags. Still, it’s interesting to see how Arbuckle was a good comedian from the start and how comedy shorts would develop more and more each year. On the following year. Keystone studios would hire Chaplin (who was also starting his career in films) and produce its first feature-length comedy with most of famous Keystone comedians + Marie Dressler (already a famous stage actress). But this is another story.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Mabel at the Wheel (USA,1914)

This is a very well-known and famous Keystone short but perhaps more because of Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin feud in the backstage than the film itself. Supposedly Chaplin had disagreements with Normand on the type of humor of the film and he also did not like the fact that he was directed by a very young woman. Apparently, Mack Sennett (the head and founder of Keystone studios) intended to fire Chaplin, but he had requests of more Chaplin’s films by film exhibitors, which showed Sennett that it would not be a good idea to get rid of an actor who was actually being successful.
However, film is good enough to be successful on its own right and much of this film’s merits come from Mabel Normand herself. She, like her character in the film, was a woman ahead of her time, very physically skilled and brave, which was something completely new compared with 1910s angelical, virginal standards of femininity.
In his first year in films, Chaplin’s little tramp was not already the likeable fellow the world would admire so much. He was a rough man and far from being a gentleman, the kind of guy who would shamelessly make a woman fall on a water pond while taking her out, just like he did with Mabel in the beginning of film. He also did not hesitate in slapping Mabel back after she slapped him. Chaplin would also pursue this rough style of flirting in the film “Tillie’s Punctured Romance” with Canadian actress Marie Dressler, which was also produced by Keystone in that same year.
Something that also looks weird in this early representation of the little tramp is Chaplin’s top hat and exaggerated gestures, an acting that closely resembles Ford Sterling’s and villains of comedic vaudeville or stage plays. Fortunately to Chaplin, he soon improved his character, as those nearly surreal villains soon got out of fashion in films.
Chaplin, after being jealous of another suitor of Mabel, tried to destroy the other guy’s car. Both Mabel and the other suitor find out that Chaplin caused the harm and it caused a fight of bricks and even Mabel took an active part in it. After a while, we can see that the other guy would take part in a car race.
Unfortunately, her suitor ended up being kidnapped by Chaplin and his accomplices and did not show up for the race on time and Mabel, who was in the audience, realized there was something wrong. We can also see Mack Sennett himself in the audience, playing an unsophisticated and simple man. Having started his cinematic career as an actor in Biograph studios, in the first years after Keystone studios was founded, it was not unusual that the boss himself both acted and directed in films, a trend that would soon be over, as it did not take long until Sennett focused himself on administrative tasks of the studio.
Mabel stood up and approached the mechanics, she exchanged her clothes and got into the car that was supposed to be driven by her sweetheart. Many driving scenes were made, which was still a novelty back to 1914, considering that cars were not even very common yet and it was even more unusual to see a woman driving. But this did not stop Mabel and, considering she had even driven an airplane in a 1912 film (A Dash Through the Clouds) and wore a swim suit in another film also in 1912 (The Water Nymph), driving a car was not probably a big deal to her.
Despite the dangers along the way, Mabel drove so skillfully that she won the race and just in time to be observed by her sweetheart, who managed to free himself from the place where he was taken hostage. Rather than being victim of prejudice, Mabel was actually praised by the other guys, generated some publicity (we can see in the end of the film that a cameraman approached Mabel to film her) and was treated as an equal by the other pilots. Meanwhile, Chaplin was quarreling with his accomplices and looked even more mentally disturbed and evil than in the beginning of the film.