Month: July 2020

Le reve des marmitons (1908)

LE REVE DES MARMITONS (1908)
aka Scullion’s Dream
Article 4799 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-14-2015
Directed by Segundo de Chomon
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Strange trick short

A group of kitchen workers drink a potion left by an imp. This puts them all to sleep, and then the imp cuts off their hands, which then work independently of the bodies.

If there’s one thing I can say about Segundo de Chomon, it’s that he’s quite capable of getting extremely weird in his work. That’s also the time when he’s most likely to come out from under the shadow of Melies and make his own mark. Most of the effects in this short make use of stop-motion animation, and some of it is quite impressive; a sequence where a basket is woven magically is quite impressive. And, what with all the hand dismemberment going on, it’s a rather grotesque short as well, but fortunately, the imp has the good manners to reattach everyone’s hands. The title implies that it’s all a dream, but I’m not sure who the dreamer is; maybe they’re all dreaming. At any rate, this is one of Chomon’s most striking shorts.

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Courtship of Miles Sandwich (1923)

COURTSHIP OF MILES SANDWICH (1923)
Article 4798 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-12-2015
Directed by Charley Chase
Featuring ‘Snub’ Pollard, Marie Mosquini, James Finlayson
Country: USA
What it is: Slapstick comedy

When an insistent child wants to know the meaning of Thanksgiving, his papa tells him the story of the first Thanksgiving with the pilgrims.

First, let’s get the fantastic content out of the way. Much of the movie takes place in colonial times, and it’s awash with anachronisms. I see an automobile and a telephone, to begin with, but there may be some others I’d have to research; at any rate, I suspect they’re intentionally there for comic effect. The movie itself is a lot of fun, with James Finlayson playing Miles Sandwich and ‘Snub’ Pollard as John Alldone; the latter in particular has some nice bits, such as when he destroys the kitchen table in an attempt to carve a turkey, and when he is cursed with misfortune during his attempt to write a simple letter. Some of it is inspired, some of it is obvious, and some of it is silly, but it works well enough overall that I enjoyed it thoroughly, though I do wonder if it’s really possible to nail anything into snow.

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Remote Control (1930)

REMOTE CONTROL (1930)
Article 4797 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-11-2015
Directed by Nick Grinde, Edward Sedgwick and Malcolm St. Clair
Featuring William Haines, Charles King, Mary Doran
Country: USA
What it is: Comedy / Thriller

A cocky opportunist attempts to save a dying radio station by hiring new talent. However, he ends up hiring a phony spiritualist who uses his airtime to pass info on to a criminal group known as the “ghost gang”.

From what I read on IMDB, William Haines was a phenomenally popular actor of the time who was one of the top draws near the end of the silent era. He is the one who dominates this film and I gather from this movie’s high rating on IMDB (7.6 at the time I write this), there are many who find his shtick irresistible. Unfortunately, I don’t appear to be one of them; I sat stone-faced through his antics in this film, though I will entertain the possibility that he may have to grow on you a bit, as I found myself growing less annoyed with him as I got used to him. At any rate, the most amusing scene in the movie is when he auditions a series of questionable radio-star-wannabes, including a hog caller and a stuttering piccolo player. The movie eventually becomes more of a crime thriller when Haines gets kidnapped by the gang, and must find a way out of his captivity and to let the police know where the gang will strike next. The fantastic content is the phony spiritualist act, which really doesn’t come into play that much during the movie, so it’s pretty light in this regard. Ultimately, I would probably only recommend this to Haines devotees.

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Pillole portentose (1910)

PILLOLE PORTENTOSE (1910)
aka Wonderful Pills
Article 4796 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-10-2015
Director unknown
Featuring Giuseppe Gambardella, Polidor
Country: Italy
What it is: Trick short

A hunter suffering from exhaustion is revived by his hunting buddy, Cyrano de Bergerac, who brings him some pills that fill him with vim and vigor. They go out hunting, giving passers-by samples of the pills along the way.

I don’t know if that’s really Cyrano in the short, but once I got a look at his nose, that’s the first name that came to mind. The main special effect on display here is the use of undercranking; everyone who takes the pills moves at a frantic pace. Quite frankly, I wasn’t particularly impressed by the short; once you figure out the central gag, you notice that the movie really doesn’t get much comic inspiration out of the idea; for the most part, things just move really fast. The closest the short gets to being funny is when the two hunters begin scooting around on their butts at an accelerated pace. The rest of it is pretty uninspired. This is, however, another movie that was saved from my “ones that got away” list.

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The Pirates of 1920 (1911)

THE PIRATES OF 1920 (1911)
Article 4795 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-9-2015
Directed by David Aylott and A.E. Coleby
Country: UK
What it is: Futuristic thriller

Thieves in an airship steal the gold off of an ocean liner and bomb the ship. But they really go too far when they kidnap the hero’s girlfriend…

My copy of this movie is not complete; it’s missing the ending. However, most of the film is there, and the ending is pretty obvious; it’s not one of those movies where evil is going to triumph. The story itself isn’t particularly original, but the special effects are a treat here; the miniature work is excellent for its time, and it manages to look pretty convincing. It does move at a nice pace, and it was quite popular in its day; I’m glad most of it seems to have survived. This is one that has been on my “ones that got away” list for a while, so it’s a treat to finally have seen it.

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Hoffmanns Erzahlungen (1923)

HOFFMANNS ERZAHLUNGEN (1923)
aka The Tales of Hoffmann
Article 4794 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-7-2015
Directed by Max Neufeld
Featuring Max Neufeld, Kitty Hulsch, Josef Zetenius
Country: Austria
What it is: Opera anthology

Hoffmann tells companions at an inn three stories of his various loves.

This title had just been taken off my hunt list and tossed into my “ones that got away” list when a friend of mine allowed me access to his copy, so I’m very grateful to have had a chance to see it. Since the copy had French title cards, I found that I had to rely on my memories of having seen the Powell/Pressburger version from 1951, and though I had memories of the first story (involving an automaton) and the third story (in which a woman is under a curse that will cause her to die if she sings), I found I couldn’t remember a thing about the second story (in which a woman under the control of a magician steals men’s reflections). Checking back on my review of the 1951 version, I discovered I had a lot of trouble following that second story. Though I can’t give an elaborate review due to the language limitations, this looks like a worthy version of the Offenbach opera, and there are some nice visual moments, especially in the second story, though from a visual standpoint, it doesn’t hold a candle to the 1951 version.

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Filmstudie (1926)

FILMSTUDIE (1926)
aka Film Study
Article 4793 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-5-2015
Directed by Hans Richter
Featuring Stella F. Simon
Country: Germany
What it is: Abstract short

Various shapes and images appear.

This is another in of the many experimental/abstract shorts made during the twenties and thirties, some of which have begun to appear in this series due to their inclusion in the Walt Lee guide. This one is considered an experiment in Dadaism, a sort of “anti-art” movement that arose during the first half of the last century. The main difference between this one and most of the others I’ve seen is that, rather than solely incorporating abstract images, it also uses more concrete images, such as floating eyeballs and a woman’s face, as well as shots of seagulls and a man swinging a sledgehammer. These images do give some variety to the proceedings, though I did find myself wondering how well these shorts would have worked during the silent era. The print I found had an obviously more modern soundtrack attached to it, and I wonder if there was specific music attached to it when it was first made. I would imagine that the musical score would be an important element for this type of film, and that a bad or badly chosen score could have a big impact on the reaction to watching the film. As it is, I found it interesting enough, though I was glad that it was pretty short.

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The Angels Wash Their Faces (1939)

THE ANGELS WASH THEIR FACES (1939)
Article 4792 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-4-2015
Directed by Ray Enright
Featuring Ann Sheridan, Billy Halop, Bernard Punsly
Country: USA
What it is: “Dead End Kids” drama

When a reform school inmate is released on parole, he is targeted as a fall guy by conspirators involved in an arson/insurance scam. Friends of the framed boy are convinced of his innocence, and come up with a plan to free him; one of their members enters a civic contest to become mayor of the city for a week, and he intends to use the authority to get the boy released.

I’ve covered so many Bowery Boys/East Side Kids movies over the years that it’s sometimes easy to forget that the roots of the group can be found in the Broadway production of a Sidney Kingsley play about street urchins called “Dead End”. The kids who played the urchins became sensations, and were brought to Hollywood to star in the movie version, where they became known as “The Dead End Kids”. Over the years, they aged, splintered into different groups, grew more overtly comic, and became for all practical reasons, parodies of their original selves. Given the propensity for the later versions of the group to visit spooky old houses and dabble in fantastic themes, it’s no surprise I’ve seen so many of their movies for this series. This is probably the only movie I’ll see of theirs in their original incarnation for this series, and that’s only because it has a single nod to the realm of the fantastic, and that’s when the character played by Billy Halop dreams that miniature members of the rest of the gang are climbing over him and reciting civics lessons to him.

The movie itself is a partial sequel to ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, and even though the movie is more drama than comedy, we can see the transition from a primarily dramatic group to the more comic take of the later versions. The emphasis isn’t on Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall (though both are present), but on Billy Halop and Frankie Thomas (the latter was not really a regular member of the group). The movie does capture how charismatic they were; this movie really only comes alive when the kids are on the screen. The story is fun, sometimes clever, but it’s all pretty far-fetched as well. Nevertheless, as a street melodrama, it’s entertaining enough. Still, the most amusing detail in the movie was something that definitely could not be appreciated at the time. Once Billy wins the contest to become mayor for a week and is stymied in his initial attempts to get the boy released, he tries to think of which adult he can contact for aid, and decides that the President of the United States is too busy to be of help. In the end, the adult that does help him is the son of the district attorney, played by a young Ronald Reagan.

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Road Hogs in Toyland (1911)

ROAD HOGS IN TOYLAND (1911)
Article 4791 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-2-2015
Directed by Arthur Melbourne Cooper
No cast
Country: UK
What it is: Early stop-motion animation

Several racing cars wreak havoc in a small town.

I’ve seen a couple of other works by this stop-motion pioneer, and I’m beginning to see a pattern. The actual stop-motion animation is rather crude (but then, so were some of Willis O’Brien’s early efforts), but they’re fascinating to watch nevertheless because he usually has several planes of action going on at once. There’s not much in the way of a plot; various characters interact in the scene, and then the racing cars show up, destroy things and run over people, which gives a rather dark and slightly disturbing edge to what is supposed to be comic. All in all, this is an interesting curio from a past time.

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The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912)

THE CAMERAMAN’S REVENGE (1912)
aka Mest kinematograficheskogo operatoro, The Revenge of the Kinematograph Cameraman
Article 4790 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-31-2015
Directed by Wladyslaw Starewicz
No cast
Country: Russia
What it is: A sordid spectacle

A husband is having a torrid affair with a nightclub dancer. When he attacks a cameraman flirting with his lover, the latter decides to take revenge by filming their tryst. Meanwhile, the husband’s mate hasn’t exactly been idle herself…

Those not familiar with either the director’s name or the title of this short are probably wondering just what the fantastic content is in this sordid little story; those familiar with either one already know. Wladyslaw Starewicz was a pioneer Russian stop-motion animator who specialized at this time in using insects as his subject, so the story involves realistic-looking beetles, grasshoppers and dragonflies as its characters. It’s actually a bit startling to see these characters in a singularly adult story; this one is definitely not meant for the kiddies. I will say this much; it’s pretty unnerving to watch insects make out. Nevertheless, this is a memorable classic that won’t be soon forgotten.

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