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.

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.

CUPID’S PRANKS (1908)
Article 4781 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-14-2015
Directed by J. Searle Dawley
Featuring Violette Hill, Mr. Barry, Marie Murray
Country: USA
What it is: Whimsical fantasy

Cupid decides to play matchmaker at a dance. Will he be successful?

This short has some cute touches to it. I like the fact that we see Cupid making his own arrows at a forge. I also like the effect of him taking off in flight. I also like some of his antics, especially the fact that in order to get two people together at the dance, he lassos one to drag him towards the lady (with what can no doubt be called his “lariat of love”). However, the short has severe pacing issues; even a ten-minute movie can drag if it should only run about five minutes, and several of the scenes either go on longer than they need to or could be cut entirely. The worst offender is a scene where Cupid waits outside the dance hall for two potential partners to show up; in general, scenes of people waiting around don’t make for energetic cinema, and the whole sequence could have been cut without damaging the story. All in all, this is a cute idea that could have used some editing.

CIVILIZATION (1916)
Article 4776 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-8-2015
Directed by Reginald Barker, Thomas H. Ince, Raymond B. West, Walter Edwards, David Hartford, Jay Hunt, J. Parker Read Jr.
Featuring Howard C. Hickman, Enid Markey, Lola May
Country: USA
What it is: Anti-war allegory

The king of a mythical country declares war to further his ambitions. The war devastates the country until a Count, in limbo between life and death, meets Jesus Christ, who takes over the Count’s body to bring peace.

This movie was apparently inspired by the phrase that was crucial to Woodrow Wilson’s presidency campaign of 1916, “He kept us out of war.” It’s a message movie that wears its message on its sleeve, which is simply that we can’t really call ourselves civilized while we still wage war. It takes place in what is probably a mythical country, but given the costume designs, I suspect that it’s a stand-in for Germany; the subplot about the use of submarines to wage war further backs this up. Though the movie is technically well made, it is naive and rather threadbare in terms of character and plot; it’s too busy trying to preach to come up with either interesting characters or a compelling story. In fact, the movie is ultimately a variation on the Scrooge story, only it takes three-quarters of its running time before the King is finally visited by this movie’s version of that story’s ghosts. As a result, the movie gets rather dull and predictable. And, given what happened in history after the movie was made, it wasn’t particularly effectual in preaching its message.

CHRISTUS (1916)
Article 4773 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-4-2015
Directed by Giulio Antamoro
Featuring Alberto Pasquali, Amleto Novelli, Leda Gys
Country: Italy
What it is: Telling of the Christ story

The story of Jesus Christ is told from his birth to his ascension into heaven.

I was able to find this movie on YouTube, and though the title cards were in Italian, I didn’t foresee any problems with following it because of the familiarity of the story. And, for the most part, I was correct. As might be expected from a silent movie, it concentrates on the events that can be told visually rather than on Jesus’s preaching, and since the emphasis is on spectacle, we get lots of crowd scenes and plenty of special effects. Many of the latter are the expected ones (we get a scene of Jesus walking on the water) while others are not expected, as they seem to be elaborations of story elements that do not appear to be in the Bible; for example, there’s a scene where a large group of angels magically appear to set the table for the last supper and then disappear again. Some of the scenes are very well done, but others are a bit dull, though my inability to read the Italian titles may play into this. The movie also recreates some famous paintings, such as da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”.

COMICAL CONJURING (1903)
aka Jacques et Jim, Jack and Jim
Article 4715 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-22-2014
Directed by Georges Melies
Featuring Georges Melies
Country: France
What it is: “Magic Trick” short

A clown and his assistant perform magic tricks.

For those of you who have been following this series recently, all I can say is that we have another one of Melies’s “magic trick” shorts here. This one takes more of an overt slapstick approach, which is a bit of a pity, because Melies was better at visual wit than slapstick. Most of the tricks involve a barrel and a vat filled (or not filled, as the case may be) with water. It’s one of Melies’s lesser takes on this type of thing.

COEUR FIDELE (1923)
aka The Faithful Heart
Article 4712 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-29-2014
Directed by Jean Epstein
Featuring Leon Mathot, Gina Manes, Edmond Van Daele
Country: France
What it is: Drama

A woman is forced into a love affair with a worthless drunk by her step-parents, though she is truly in love with a dockworker. When a fight between the two men results in the stabbing of a gendarme, the drunk escapes and the dockworker is held accountable. Once the dockworker gets out of prison, he discovers the woman is married to the drunk and has a child. He tries to help her out.

When I found this one, I knew it wasn’t going to have English title cards, so I armed myself with a plot synopsis I found on Wikipedia. One thing that I noticed was that the story didn’t appear to have any fantastic content, and the Walt Lee guide (from which I culled this title) didn’t list any. I did notice, however, that the movie was directed by Jean Epstein, a director I had encountered before when I watched his very stylish adaptation of THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, and I figured that what fantastic elements there were would be contained in some expressionistic and surreal imagery that were part of his style. Sure enough, there’s a very short sequence where we get a drunk’s-eye view of the distorted face of a woman, and though I’d hardly call that significant fantastic content, it was there.

As for the movie itself, the plot itself isn’t particularly novel. What makes the movie interesting is the way Epstein bounces his cinematic style off the story, and it is his imagery and editing that make the movie a special experience. It wasn’t a commercial success, but it was quite influential with other film-makers, and is nowadays considered his best film. I do find it interesting that the script was written by Epstein and his sister, Marie, and the two main characters in the story are also named Jean and Marie. It’s not really within the genres of this series, but it is highly recommended.

THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE (1912)
Article 4695 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-28-2014
Director unknown
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Christmas story

It is Christmas Eve. A poor woman’s three children dream of the presents that Santa is going to leave. The woman knows they will be disappointed, but sends them to bed anyway. Then a beggar shows up, but the woman is too kindly to turn him away…

Sometimes predictability is comforting. Sometimes it is a bore. This is my way of saying that if you looked at the title of this one and saw what I wrote for the plot description, you could write the ending yourself and not be far off. You might get specific details wrong such as who the supernatural figure is who manifests himself at the end of the short, but you’ll probably get the fate of the mother and the three children right. For the record, those specific details are the most interesting bits of this otherwise unremarkable short.

THE CHEMIST (1936)
Article 4693 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-26-2014
Directed by Al Christie
Featuring Buster Keaton, Marlyn Stuart, Earle Gilbert
Country: USA
What it is: Comedy short

A chemist invents a silent explosive. Criminals find out and try to use the formula to break open a safe.

Just taken on its own terms, this comic short is pretty decent. The various formulas concocted by the title character are amusing (including a love powder and a potion that increases the size and strength of those that use it) and generally well used, and the short has a certain amount of energy as well. If it had featured some lesser comic of the era rather than Buster Keaton, I wouldn’t have felt a certain disappointment. But it does star Keaton, and if there’s one thing that this short really lacks, it’s that special quality that Keaton was capable of bringing to the table; I think this short would have largely felt the same with any competent comic actor in the lead role. The user comments on IMDB lead me to believe that this is considered one of the best of Keaton’s shorts with Educational, but if that’s so, it certainly doesn’t bode well for the others. You know, I wonder how differently things would have worked out for Keaton if the expensive THE GENERAL (which is now considered one of his finest works) hadn’t been a commercial and critical failure in its time; it was this failure that ultimately caused Keaton to lose creative control of his work, which lead to his alcoholism. One can only wonder what his later work would have been like had that movie been a success.

CRAINQUEBILLE (1922)
Article 4632 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-17-2014
Directed by Jacques Feyder
Featuring Maurice de Faraudy, Felix Oudart, Jean Forest
Country: France / Belgium
What it is: Drama of French realism

When a thoughtless customer leaves a simple street vendor stranded in front of her shop waiting for his money, the latter gets into a tussle with a policeman who mistakenly thinks the vendor insulted him. The vendor is arrested and sent to prison, and must deal with a justice system he barely understands.

This is the kind of sad, powerful, and somewhat depressing drama that could easily drive away people who don’t like that sort of thing; however, I credit both director Jacques Feyder and actor Maurice de Feraudy (who plays the vendor) for making the movie a pleasure to watch. Part of this is due to the fact that they wisely find the humor in the story. Much of this is derived from the character of the street vendor; he is such a simple man that he never fully comprehends what is going on about him, and as a result, some of the indignities he suffers roll right off his back. Another reason is that the movie isn’t relentless in putting the character through the ringer; amidst the cruelty there are moments of generosity and kindness. Another factor is the creative direction, and this is where the fantastic content in the film comes into play. The trial sequence that takes up the middle of the film is shot more or less from the point of view of the tired, somewhat confused vendor who can’t see things clearly. As a result, we have scenes where certain characters turn into giants, others turn into midgets, and a statue of justice starts to move of its own accord. There’s also a dream sequence in which the judges turn into demons; oddly enough, it’s not the vendor who dreams this, but one of the witnesses. In the end, I really ended up being deeply moved by the movie, and enjoyed it thoroughly, though from a genre standpoint, it is somewhat marginal.