The World Is Safe For Silent Movies Again - Here Are Some Rare Ones!

Now that The Artist has won the 2012 Oscar for Best Picture, classic movie bloggers can feel good about posting ridiculously obscure silent movies with impunity (as if we didn't before). Here are two Christie Comedies featuring the likable, charming leading lady Dorothy Devore.





At the Danish Film Institute, historian Palle Bøgelund Petterson found the following 1919 rarity, His Musical Sneeze, a Fox Sunshine comedy, directed by Jack White and starring Lloyd "Ham" Hamilton, Jimmie Adams and Virginia Rappe.



White, brother of Jules and Sam White - 3 Stooges fans may know the prolific producer/director from his nom-de-plume, "Preston Black", piloted this 2-reeler, which is QUITE the curio! Miss Rappe - now, sadly, known as "doomed Virginia Rappe" - is featured in a supporting role as the ingenue, and a supremely goofy (post-Ham & Bud) Lloyd Hamilton does a series of pretty darn hilarious takes and pratfalls. His Musical Sneeze also includes a "wabbit hunting" subplot involving a wascally proto-Bugs Bunny. I have no doubt that this film absolutely must have been seen by Tex Avery!

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The silent movie enthusiasts at Looser Than Loose have re-issued some equally rare pieces by Lloyd Hamilton on several of their DVD sets.

On the Hamaddenda DVD, you'll find this one, The Simp. There are some absolutely hilarious bits, as well as the makings of Lloyd's schlub persona here. Wanna see where Jackie Gleason got his "Poor Soul" outfit and "everything happens to me" concept? Look no further!