One of the rotating topics of this blog, along with animation, film noir, music and comedy, has been silent movies - and, lo and behold, it's National Silent Movie Day.
That Silent Movie Day Livestream whetted this film buff's appetite for more silent era animation, so the credo of today's post is, not surprisingly, let's bring on the silents, especially cartoons and short subjects, and lots of 'em, starting with Felix the Cat!
Otto Messmer actually made a series of Charlie Chaplin cartoons back in the teens, so it's fitting that we follow Felix with Chaplin's A DAY'S PLEASURE.
Continuing this annual celebration of silent films, courtesy of the heroes at EYE Film Museum, are classic comedies starring Marcel Perez a.k.a. "the international mirth maker." These are prime examples of the Robinet series produced by Ambrosio in 1911-1914. Many Robinet comedies co-star the excellent actress and comedienne Nilde Baracchi as Robinette.
Perez, who starred in and directed movies in both Europe and America under more names than those of a fiction author who creates a gazillion novels using more than one nom-de-plume - Marcel Fabre, Michel Fabre, Fernandea Perez and Manuel Fernández Pérez, for starters - is quite brilliant.
From the YouTube channel of the fabulous EYE Film Museum are superb Perez comedies.
Whether starring as Robinet, Tweedy, Tweedledum or Twede-Dan, Marcel Perez successfully blended the European and American approaches to slapstick. There is also a futuristic fantasy element which sets him apart from other comedians.
Have devoted posts on this very blog to the comedic and cinematic exploits of Marcel Perez, who moved around like an MLB relief pitcher who gets traded or signs with a new team as a free agent every year! Strongly recommend following this by checking out Andy Galaxy's Marcel Perez playlist.
That National Silent Movie Day livestream sent this blogger, uncharacteristically powered with turbo jets, both to Mark's superlative blog and, of course, MORE silent Fleischer classics.
A motherlode of silent era cartoons can be found on the Craig's Cartoon Capers YouTube channel: LOTS of excellent, pretty good and just plain bizarre cartoons from the silent era! KO-KO'S BIG SALE must be seen to be believed. Notably, there are playlists for both the Fleischer Studio's Out Of The Inkwell series and the subsequent Inkwell Imps.
Those Ko-Ko cartoons, for some reason, bring to mind the way-out and ingenious stop-motion animation of the great Charley Bowers.
On the topic of early cartoons, for National Silent Movie Day, must go back to the sources, the guys who started it all, Émile Cohl and Winsor McCay!
Won't be getting into silent features in today's post (THE GENERAL, SUNRISE and THE LAST COMMAND are three great ones), as there are scribes - just two are Fritzi Kramer at Movies Silently and Lea Stans at Silent-ology, currently doing a blogathon for the 2022 National Silent Movie Day - who write much more eloquently about them than the gang here does, but am posting a bunch of favorite short subjects.
Buster Keaton in COPS is the movie that made me a silent film fan for life.
Since all amazing silent comedies invariably lead to more amazing silent comedies, here's Buster Keaton in ONE WEEK.
When asked to identify the single silent 2-reeler that makes me laugh the most, I may not be able to answer the question, and shall struggle to get the list of the funniest silent comedy short subjects down to less than five or six films, but certainly one of them would be Laurel & Hardy in PUTTING PANTS ON PHILIP (1927).
With the possible exception of Laurel & Hardy, none of the silent film comedians gets bigger, louder and more frequent belly laughs from this writer and comedy fan than Charley Chase. Here is a hilarious bit from ACCIDENTAL ACCIDENTS.
From Dave Glass, who has posted an outstanding silent comedy playlist on his YouTube channel and, with Dave Wyatt, produced excellent classic comedy DVDS and Blu-rays, here's a very funny clip from Charley in NEVER THE DAMES SHALL MEET.
No matter how many times the gang here sees WHAT PRICE GOOFY, MIGHTY LIKE A MOOSE and HIS WOODEN WEDDING, never fail to end up ROFL. These are up there with the silent Laurel & Hardies (many also directed by Leo McCarey) among the funniest films ever made.
There's good news for screenings of silent movies at long last.
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival will be doing its winter events on December 3.
The KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival, which periodically incorporates silent films into the extremely and wildly varied celluloid mix, shall return, after a three year hiatus caused by COVID, to Foothill College in Los Altos, CA for its 30th anniversary shindig on December 10.
"Perez stands out among his vastly talented peers by combining the expressiveness and charm of Max Linder with the goofiness and aggressiveness of André Deed." - Anthony Balducci
While comedian Marcel Perez, The International Mirth Maker, died in 1929, rather astonishingly, he's back - not physically but on films seen on DVD, here in 2018. The second volume of The Marcel Perez Collection officially goes on sale on Tuesday, February 27.
Among the earliest screen comedians (along with Ferdinando "Tontolini" Guillaume, Max Linder and André Deed), Perez starred in 221 films, first in Europe as "Robinet", then in America. It would be an understatement to say he was a hard-working physical comic.
Marcel Perez was an actor, director and former circus clown whose considerable acrobatic physical humor mojo, inventive mind and original approach added up to a unique and very funny mixture of diverse approaches to comedy. There's a sleight of hand recalling the graceful deftness of Max Linder while also a more cartoony sleight of hand that brings to mind both the earliest European screen clowns and a key contemporary, the popular American silent movie comedian who quite literally was the son of a professional magician, Larry Semon, known as Ridolini to those who saw his films on European television.
Silent movie aficionados were stunned that there were enough existing films starring Marcel Perez to comprise a FIRST collection - and, lo and behold, rather amazingly, given the ultra-rarity of his screen work, eight more Marcel Perez films, unseen since their original release in the teens and 1920's, managed to turn up. We at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog were happy to be among those who supported the Kickstarter that led to the first collection of Robinet and Tweedy comedies getting released on DVD in 2015 and equally pleased to participate when, last June, a successful Kickstarter fundraiser backed the second DVD release of Perez comedies.
Known as Marcel Perez, Michel Fabre, Fernandea Perez, Manuel Fernández Pérez, and Marcel Fabre, he headlined comedies under a slew of different character names (Robinet, Bungles, Tweedy, Tweedledum, Twede-Dan) and also directed features, including The Extraordinary Adventures of Saturnino Farandola.
Thanks to Steve Massa's book Marcel Perez: The International Mirth-Maker, plus invaluable research by author Sam Gill, Rob Stone of the Library Of Congress, as well as the late, great silent film historians and scholars Cole Johnson and Bob Birchard, there's at least a solid, well-defined outline of Perez' background and career in motion pictures. This is no small feat, given Perez' penchant for changing screen names and moving around internationally between production studios and distributors.
In the Undercrank Productions press release, Model elaborates:
“What continues to impress me in seeing more of Marcel Perez and his films is how inventive the humor, storytelling and filmmaking is considering they’re from 1916-1922. He’s doing stunt work and surreal gags before Keaton or Larry Semon did, and one of the shorts – A Scrambled Honeymoon (1916) – opens with a gag sequence that is nearly directly copied in a Chaplin short made the following year. It’s been a thrill working with the Library of Congress and MoMA on the disc, as well as being supported by fan crowdfunding, to be able to restore Perez’ reputation and renown. Hopefully it won’t take another three years for more of his films to turn up, and I’ll bet there’s more of them out there.”
The DVD presents new digital scans of archival 35mm materials preserved by the Library of Congress and the Museum of Modern Art film department.Volume 1 of the Marcel Perez Collection received an award in the "Special Mention" category on July 3, 2015 at the Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna.
While The Marcel Perez Collection volume 2 primarily consists of his films produced in the U.S. in 1916-1923, the DVD begins with his first film, The Short-Sighted Cyclist (1907), in which he more than lives up to the title and both crashes and somersaults off that bike repeatedly for the entire running time.
The remainder of the titles are his American films, beginning with three Eagle Comedies produced in Jacksonville, FLA in 1916. The cast in this series comprises Marcel as Tweedledum, Nilde Barrachi as Tweedledee, supported by Billy Slade and prolific stage and screen actress Louise Carver, later a frequent player in Mack Sennett comedies. These would appear to be the broadest of Perez' American films, unless additional cartoony, slapstick-oriented ones - for example, the four missing Vim Comedies also produced in 1916 and featuring Oliver Hardy as a supporting player - subsequently turn up.
Lend Me Your Wife (1916) The stone broke Tweedy stands to inherit millions on the condition he is married. As the only suitor is Tweedy's grotesque landlady (played with relish by Louise Carver), he's desperate to find someone - anyone - to pose as his wife.
Some Hero (1916) In a sendup of "damsel in distress" serial plots shot in downtown Jacksonville, Tweedledum executes a series of truly way-out acrobatic rescues of Tweedledee from unshaven, sleazy no-goodniks.
A Scrambled Honeymoon (1916) Featuring Louise Carver as the kind of mother-in-law Ernie K. Doe sang about. . . hell bent to accompany Tweedledum and Tweedledee on their honeymoon.
There are two entries from his series produced by Jester Comedy Company, many shot at the former Cliffside Park Studio of Kalem in Cliffside, New Jersey. Perez stars as "Twede-Dan" and these films reflect a further evolution of his comic style and approach to storylines.
These were produced in 1918-1919. First up is Oh, What A Day (1918), in which Tweedy's daydream of taking his girl out for a bit of fun at the beach evolves into some very wacky chases on land and sea. Partly shot at Coney Island's Steeplechase Park, this is among the funniest and most inventive of the surviving Perez comedies.
This co-stars the one holdover from Perez' European films, Nilde "Robinette" Barrachi, a talented comedienne whose retirement from the silver screen not long after this remains another one of those Movieland Mysteries. After returning to Europe to play roles in Cuor di ferro e cuor d'oro and La morte che non uccide for Ambrosio Film, where she previously starred in numerous comedies as Robinette, it would appear that Ms. Barrachi did not make any more movies. A question for cinema detectives remains whether Nilde had another, post-Marcel Perez career in 1920's Italian cinema. . . or just bailed on showbiz and did something else for a living.
The second Jester Comedy on the DVD is Chickens in Turkey (1919), co-starring leading lady and future wife Dorothy Earle and Pierre Collosse, whose heavy roles in the Perez comedies are along the lines of those played by Babe Hardy at Vitagraph. The plot of a yacht featuring a bevy of babes - as well as Twede-Dan in drag - kidnapped by a sultan appears to be a nod to the popular Sennett Girls of the late teens.
The last three subjects on the collection are from Perez' last starring series, the Mirth Comedies, featuring "Tweedy", released by Reelcraft in 1921-1923.
This Kickstarter covers all production costs for the DVD's production and release, as well as of the making of and shipping of backer DVDs. All eight of the classic comedies on the collection, unseen since their original release, will be presented on DVD in new digital scans of archival 35mm materials preserved by the Library of Congress and the Museum of Modern Art film department. The DVD box art will be created by professional graphic designer and silent film aficionado Marlene Weisman.
For those who haven't seen Marcel Perez, also known as Ferdinand Perez and Marcel Fabre, he was an irreverent and dancer-like comedian who gleefully thumbed his nose at the conventions of the early 20th century. His style combined outrageous and over-the-top physical comedy with the more subtle elements of European style sophisticated farce.
Among the earliest screen clowns, along with André Deed and Max Linder, he is one of many talented performers from circuses and vaudeville who, while not necessarily as elegant as Chaplin, as brilliant a filmmaker as Keaton (who is?), as upbeat an action-adventure-comedy star as Harold Lloyd or as boldly unorthodox as Harry Langdon, still demonstrated creativity, formidable physical humor mojo, a highly inventive mind and an original approach both in performances and concepts; after all, in silent era screen comedy, contrary to popular belief, there are numerous stellar performers, strong individual films and cinematic stories beyond "The Big 4".
Between 1907 and 1923, Perez starred in 200+ films under a slew of different character names (Robinet, Bungles, Tweedy, Tweedledum, Twede-Dan), both in Europe and America. Nilde Barrachi, frequent co-star, was a superb supporting player and comedienne in her own right.
Beginning as Robinette in the European films, Nilde would co-star in most of the Marcel Perez comedies through 1918 and prove an excellent foil to his wacky antics.
In the 1920's American films, arguably Perez' best, his leading lady would be the winsome actress (and future wife) Dorothy Earle, whose low-key presence adds to the Mirth Comedies series as Edna Purviance's relaxed screen persona deftly complements Chaplin.
The European Perez films (the Robinet series) tend to stress bedroom farce and battle of the sexes themes, while his starring vehicles from the late teens and early 20's present more of a European spin on American slapstick.
We at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog were happy to be among those who supported the Kickstarter that led to the first collection of Perez comedies getting released on DVD in 2015. The Marcel Perez Collection DVD received an award in the "Special Mention" category on July 3, 2015 at the Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna.
The duo, who have presented vintage comedy events at New York City MoMA and other venues for quite some time now, have found 8 Perez films since the Kickstarter that enabled the release of the first Marcel Perez DVD.
The remainder of the titles scheduled to be on The Marcel Perez Collection Volume 2 are his American films, beginning with three Eagle Comedies produced in Jacksonville, FLA in 1916.
The Kickstarter ends at 8:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, June 13. The hope is that the drive will surpass the fundraising goal to the extent that if any more Marcel Perez films turn up, they can be added to the collection.
The DVDs of The Marcel Perez Collection Volume 2 shall be made available for sale on Amazon.com via Amazon's CreateSpace publishing-on-demand service.
With the knowledge that Northeast classic movie buff chums are dealing with brutal winter weather, here are a few goodies sure to make staying homebound during the deep freeze a more palatable proposition. So this is as a good time as any to read books about cinema history, forget all television programming other than TCM and enjoy vintage movies on Blu-ray or DVD (along with hot soup)!
February 24 will be the official release date of the book The Dawn Of Technicolor. This George Eastman House tome by James Layton and David Pierce is clearly a stunning piece of scholarship and a must for anyone fascinated by film history and technology. Included is an annotated filmography of all two-color Technicolor titles produced between 1915 and 1935.
Should a light romantic comedy, 1930's style, be the ticket on one of those Baby, It's Cold Outside evenings, this charmer, directed by Mitchell Leisen and featuring a repartee-filled screenplay by Preston Sturges, was released on Blu-ray a few weeks ago.
What this writer finds most compelling about Remember The Night, besides wonderful performances by the stars and supporting players, is both the intriguing twists in the storyline and a push-pull between sentiment and cynicism.
With Preston Sturges, often the latter wins that battle, but this time his screenplay has an uncharacteristic yet effective warm, fuzzy, evocative and even romantic quality; it's a key factor in Christmas In July, the second vehicle Sturges directed and wrote for Paramount, but very seldom seen from the writer-director afterwards. Worth the price of admission in itself: Sterling Holloway singing "The End Of A Perfect Day". Of course, Babs Stanwyck can't be topped!
February 2015 Blu-ray releases will include, for those who can never quite get enough film noir, the 1951 thriller The Prowler, directed by Joseph Losey and written by Dalton Trumbo, both blacklisted yet undaunted and true to their artistic vision. This bilious, dark and hard-hitting film stars the underrated actress (and at one point, the wife of John Huston) Evelyn Keyes with character actor supreme Van Heflin, portraying an incredibly vile, scummy character with relish in this opus.
The stellar restoration by The Film Noir Foundation has been out on DVD, but will be released on Blu-ray on February 3.
Since a feature film needs to be preceded by great short subjects, here are Blu-ray/DVD combos including rather amazing animated cartoons. The following excellent DIY cartoon compilations get this writer's braying Seal Of Approval instead of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection, as the Warner Bros. 3 disc set, while great fun, features quite a bit of material already released on DVD.
Steve Stanchfield of Thunderbean Animation has been mining the far corners of animation history for quite some time now and is involved in the following two worthy compilations. Technicolor Dreams And Black & White Nightmares delves into, among others, the cartoons of independent producer Ted Eshbaugh, who was on the advanced front in producing cartoons in Technicolor as early as 1930.
While Walt Disney, indeed, bought out the rights to 3-strip Technicolor in 1932 and cornered the market for a few years, Ted Eshbaugh had already been producing cartoons in 2-strip Technicolor. Best known is the Eshbaugh studio's 1933 version of The Wizard Of Oz.
Indeed, Eshbaugh's surreal little corner of the cartoon universe - not much like Disney - is a fascinating place.
Archivist Tommy José Stathes and Mr. Stanchfield have collaborated on Cartoon Roots, which concentrates on the silent era, while also throwing in a few early talkies for good measure, with very entertaining results.
The lineup of imaginative animated rarities includes:
Lightning Sketches (Blackton, 1907)
Cartoons On Tour (Barré, 1915)
Col. Heeza Liar, Detective (J.R. Bray, 1923)
Bobby Bumps Starts To School (Earl Hurd, 1917)
Out Of The Inkwell: The Circus (Fleischer Studio, 1920)
The Jolly Rounders (Paul Terry Studio, 1923)
Mutt & Jeff: Fireman Save My Child (Dick Huemer, 1919)
Jerry On the Job: The Bomb Idea (J.R. Bray, 1920)
Felix Comes Back (Otto Messmer, 1922)
Farmer Al Falfa: Springtime (Paul Terry Studio, 1923)
Krazy Kat: Scents And Nonsense (Bill Nolan, 1926)
Dinky Doodle: Lost And Found (Walter Lantz, 1926)
Binko The Cub: Hot-Toe Millie (Romer Grey, 1930)
Toby The Pup: The Milkman (Dick Huemer/Charles Mintz Stuio, 1930)
Farmerette (Van Beuren Studio, 1932)
Also receiving its official release on February 3 will be The Marcel Perez Collection. This compilation of ten films by pioneering comedian has been covered twice on this blog, most recently in the December 29, 2014 post, Coming In 2015 On DVD: Marcel Perez, Silent Comedy Innovator. This is a most noteworthy contribution to film preservation, silent era cinema and comedy. The films are over 100 years old, but the celluloid time capsule has preserved the humor, spirit and charm of these early cinema actors beautifully.
For those who haven't seen Marcel Perez, also known as Ferdinand Perez and Marcel Fabre, he was a pioneering, irreverent and dancer-like comedian who gleefully thumbed his nose at the pomposity and conventions of the early 20th century. Between 1900 and 1923, he starred in 200+ films under a slew of different character names (Robinet, Bungles, Tweedy, Tweedledum, Twede-Dan), both in Europe and America. Perez' principal co-star was the winsome and talented comedienne Nilde Barrachi.
Those silent movie fans who did not acquire a copy of this DVD as a result of contributing to its fundraiser last year take note: the official release of The Marcel Perez Collection and its companion booklet is on February 3.
Some of the aforementioned choices have not been released just yet - and would be of no use for today's blizzard - but can be pre-ordered to make the next cold blast, or the next "not taking phone calls, texts or e-mails, period" off-day easier to deal with.
