Country: United
States
Language:
English (intertitles)
Director: Mack
Sennett
Stars: Mack
Sennett, Mabel Normand and Ford Sterling
Release Date: 10
March 1913 (USA)
Also known as:
The Rivals (USA - reissue title); The Shoemaker's Revenge (USA - working title)
Production Co:
Keystone Film Company
Sound Mix:
Silent
Color: Black and
White
Genres: Short |
Comedy
In the early
1900's, German comedy teams were very popular and so were Limburger Cheese
jokes and routines. Limburger was "the cheese you could smell in the
dark." It is probable that this entire movie is based on a vaudeville
routine. Both Sennett and Sterling had vaudeville backgrounds. and probably saw
routines very much like this.
In a recent
article called "The Cheese That Stands Alone," Ben Schwartz in
"Lapham's Quarterly" notes the many films based on the bad smell of
cheese:
"the movie,
Oh! That Limburger: The Story of a Piece of Cheese (1906), in which two boys
slip Limburger into their father's pockets, after which he is chased out of his
office by his co-workers.
Still, it's
doubtful Andrea foresaw how the new media of silent films aimed at younger,
modern audiences would offer up Limburger as a comedy star. They include
Limburger and Love (1910) and, conversely, Love and Limburger (1913), A Strong
Revenge (1913), Adventures of Limburger and Schweitzer (1914), Limburger's
Victory (1915), A Case of Limburger (1915), A Limburger Cyclone, (1917), and
the Katzenjammer Kids cartoon, Down Where The Limburger Blows (1917). In
Chaplin's Shoulder Arms (1918), the comedian plays a GI at the front who
receives Limburger in a care package. He needs a gas mask to get near it, and
then throws the cheese into an enemy trench forcing thirteen German soldiers to
surrender. As a war hero, Limburger found one of its few positive images."
What is amazing
about this movie, which is really one long and one short practical joke, is the
ability of the actors to make you see how bad the cheese smells. The facial
expression by Normand and the rest of the cast are so good, that you feel how
bad the cheese smells.
