The Silk Hat Comedian

For diehard classic movie fans, the love of comedy films produced in the silent era remains steadfast, no matter how old one gets. If silent comedy obsession is regarded as a malady, it remains a disease that cannot be cured. This is not lost upon the international fans of The Silent Comedy Watch Party on YouTube!



Silver screen comedy aficionados will be delighted not only by the recent release (on June 13) of two feature films starring the gifted actor-producer-comic Raymond Griffith, but by the success earlier this month of a Kickstarter for a Blu-ray retrospective devoted to the diminutive yet frequently hilarious Italian-born star of American slapstick comedies Monty Banks a.k.a. Mario Bianchi.

One of many things learned watching numerous movies from the silent era is that comic brilliance is not limited to the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd trifecta, but actually extends to at least four or five tiers of super talented comedians and comediennes active in the World War I era and 1920's.

Raymond Griffith and Monty Banks are just two among the many incredibly funny silent movie funmakers.

In spring 2022, wrote a blog post about a fundraiser for a Blu-ray devoted to the classic films of 1920's Paramount star Raymond Griffith. Griffith's essential screen persona is an always indefatigable and unflappable "Mr. Cool."



On the first day of the Kickstarter, the funding goal of $11,500 was surpassed, so the video restoration process commenced and now two of Raymond Griffith's Paramount features, Paths To Paradise (1925) and You'd Be Surprised (1926), are available on Blu-ray.

This latest release of silent movie goodness, Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian is now available for purchase through:

• Amazon
  
• Critics' Choice Video
• Deep Discount
• Movies Unlimited
• Wow HD (for movie fans outside the United States)

Undercrank Productions. much celebrated by Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, has done it again with this Raymond Griffith retrospective.

The restorations were sourced from 35mm nitrate and safety preservation materials preserved by the Library of Congress.



Along with the new 2K digital scans of archival 35mm materials preserved by the Library of Congress, the set also contains a 12-minute video essay, Raymond Griffith: Silent Comedy’s Silk-Hatted Secret, by Crystal Kui and Steve Massa.

The Wikipedia entry on Raymond Griffith adds: "His film debut was for the L-KO Kompany. Many of his starring feature films have long since been lost, but probably the best known of his films today is Hands Up! (1926), a Civil War comedy feature directed by Clarence G. Badger, and co-starring Mack Swain, which was entered into the National Film Registry in 2005.

Also considered a classic is Badger's Paths to Paradise, a caper film that is in all circulating prints missing its final reel. Like many silent comedians, he had a traditional costume; his was a top hat, white tie and tails, often augmented by a cape and/or walking stick. The coming of sound ended Griffith's acting career, but he did have one memorable role in a motion picture before retiring from the screen, playing a French soldier killed by Lew Ayres in the 1930 Lewis Milestone film All Quiet on the Western Front. He then segued into a writing/producing career at Twentieth Century Fox."

First learned about Raymond Griffith, ubiquitous stock company member in dozens of L-Ko and Mack Sennett comedies, in Leonard Maltin's outstanding book The Great Movie Comedians. More recently, I much enjoyed reading Matthew Ross' article on "the silk hat comedian," The Sheik Of Silent Comedy, from his comedy-centric classic movie website The Lost Laugh.

The dapper Griffith, always wearing a top hat and cape with unshakable aplomb, is a very funny and unique talent. Much look forward to watching the suave and debonair "silk hat slicker" in Paths To Paradise and You'd Be Surprised.