DVD: Accidentally Preserved, Volume 3 -- January 16, 2016

They're at it again.  Famous film accompanist Ben Model has produced a third volume of the Accidentally Preserved series.  Model and others dug into their collections of old 16mm prints, which were mostly made for the home rental or purchase market. Some of the movies only exist in old home use prints.  Naturally he also created the musical scores.  Some of the scores were done using a virtual organ.

The DVD contains nine films, all comedies, all shot silent, and one released with a synchronized sound track.

"Wanted: A Nurse" was a 1915 Vitagraph one-reeler starring Mr and Mrs Sidney Drew.  Sidney Drew, uncle of the famous Barrymores, was a clubman who fell in love with a pretty nurse, played by Lucile McVey, Sidney's second wife.  The movie required much image stabilization to make it viewable.  It was a charming story, worth the effort.

"Service A La Bunk" was a 1921 TuSun one-reeler starring Bobbie (aka Bobby) Ray, whom I don't think I had ever seen before.  There were some nice gags with a pedal car.  The effeminate restaurant owner had on a strange makeup, which appeared to include teeth drawn on his lower lip.  There was a nice scene on a Los Angeles rooftop.  There was also one blackface gag.

A very short film called here "A Citrate Special" was unique.  There is no information about where or when it was produced.  It employs a series of scatological gags.  It could not have been released to the public.

"The Whirlwind" was a 1922 movie produced by and starring Joe Rock.  I have wanted to see Joe Rock ever since I read a book of interviews with people who had been in the early movie business.  The chapter about Joe Rock was very interesting, but his starring movies have been hard to come by.  The wind effects reminded me of Steamboat Bill, Jr.  Joe Rock was good, making his entrance in an auto powered by a sail.

"No Vacancies" was a 1923 Speed Comedy about a shortage of rental housing.  Things never change.  It meandered a bit, but had some funny gags.

"Love's Young Scream" was a 1928 Christie comedy about a complicated elopement and an exploding jail.  Professional old guy Jack Duffy appeared in this one and "No Vacancies."  This one zipped right along.  It was preserved from a print made for television. 

Big Boy appeared in "Hot Luck," a 1928 Jack White comedy.  There was lots of action around a firehouse, which would please my friends who like fire equipment.

"Whose Baby" was a 1929 Universal comedy starring Arthur Lake, who later played Dagwood Bumstead over and over again.  Here he was not obnoxious, but the way he and others treated the baby was disturbing.

Little Billy Barty appeared in "Half a Hero" shot silent in 1929 by the Weiss Brothers, but released in 1930 with a synchronized soundtrack.  Only the second reel survives.  There was a chimp, two dogs, a monkey and a pretty white horse.  Billy was cute.  I remember seeing him in many movies on their first releases.  I was going to say first runs, but then I thought about "A Citrate Special."

Steve Massa wrote the introductions and recreated missing titles and intertitles.  

Look for the DVD.  It is a lot of fun.

The Accidentally Preserved website: http://www.accidentallypreserved.com/

Volume One:
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2014/01/dvd-accidentally-preserved-january-27.html

Volume Two:
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2014/03/dvd-accidentally-preserved-volume-2.html

DVD: The Marcel Perez Collection -- January 12, 2016

Motography, 29-January-1916

Undercrank Productions, producers of the Accidentally Preserved and Musty Suffer series have also made The Marcel Perez Collection, a tribute to a little-known silent-era comedian. One reason he was little known is that he went by a variety of names in a variety of places.

Perez was probably born in Spain and began appearing in films for Pathé Frères in France.  In 1910, he signed with Ambrosio Films in Turino, Italy.  The first set of films includes five films he made for Ambrosio.  He played a character called Robinet.  The movies are fun and Perez shows a nice goofy quality.  "Robinet's White Suit" works a nice series of variations on an old gag.  After Italy entered World War One in 1915, Perez went to America and starred in films and directed there.  This was unusual because most people who starred in film comedies in Europe did not succeed when they moved to America.

Perez did very well, appearing under a variety of character names including Bungles, Tweedledum, Twee-Dee and Dweedledum.  The second set of films includes five American movies that Perez directed and starred in.  He plays a hayseed in "A Bathtub Elopment," but more urban characters in the others.  In "A Busy Night" he plays most of the characters.  Some films are missing footage, but we are lucky to see what is there.  The whole first reel is missing from "Camouflage," but what survives is great fun.  It does include some blackface.

Ben Model's accompaniment is impeccable.  

The set was published with an accompanying book by Steve Massa, Marcel Perez: The International Mirth-Maker.  It examines what we know about the complicated life of Perez.  I enjoyed the movies and the book. 

Moving Picture World, 14-October-1916

DVD: The Mishaps of Musty Suffer, Volume 2 -- October 11, 2015

Moving Picture World, 11-September-1915

In 2014, famous motion picture accompanist Ben Model released The Mishaps of Musty Suffer, a DVD which presented 11 of the 30 one-reelers starring Harry Watson, Jr as Musty Suffer.  All but 5 of the 30 survive.  The Library of Congress acquired the films in 1947 and preserved them. I wrote about the first DVD here:
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2014/08/dvd-mishaps-of-musty-suffer-august-1.html


Harry Watson, Jr and his partner George Bickel started working together in circuses, including Ringling Brothers and Forepaugh-Sells Brothers.  They moved on to vaudeville and then early editions of the Ziegfeld Follies. 

Producer George Kleine made two features with Bickel and Watson in 1915.  These count as very early slapstick features.  A three-reel re-release version of The Fixer is one of the extras on the DVD.  The pacing was uneven, but I enjoyed it.  I enjoyed seeing Watson in (mostly) civilian clothes.  One of the Mexican generals was played by Snitz Edwards. 

Later in 1915, Kleine produced Keep Moving, a picaresque fantasy feature starring Harry Watson, Jr as Musty Suffer.  Kleine did not release the feature.  Instead, he recut it into a series of one-reelers.  He must have added more material, because the first group included ten films.  Two more groups of ten films each followed.  The last group was released by Essanay, and half of those were produced by that company.  Those are the films that are lost. 

Most of the films open with a title that says "The Mishaps of Musty Suffer in Numerous Whirls."

The first Whirl on this set is "Out of Order" from 1916.  It includes the Fairy Tramp and Musty's magic horseshoe. Musty winds up working in the Busy Bee Amusement Arcade, which includes a dime museum, a shooting gallery a movie theater with escalator, a shoe shine stand, an automat restaurant, a skating rink, a bowling alley and a dance hall.  Musty is called up to work in the ticket booth, the shooting gallery, the shoe shine stand, the movie theater and the museum.  This gives many possibilities for gags.  He also serves as a spieler, and follows his spiel with a wonderful dance.

In "Showing Some Speed," Musty plays the same messenger boy he played in "Blow Your Horn,"with the same abusive boss.

"Strictly Private" is the third Whirl on the set.  "Musty hunts wild horses in the bad land of New Jersey."  He finds a spirited steed, played by two guys in a horse costume.  Musty calls upon the Fairy Tramp for a cabbie's suit and a carriage.  The poor horse has a hard time pulling the carriage.

"Musty's Vacation," the last Whirl on the set, may have been the last one produced.  It has the Essanay Indian logo at the end.  Musty finds a lunch ticket and gets plastic surgery in an attempt to look like the picture on the cover.

The other extra on the set is "The Actor's Fund Field Day," a 1910 Vitagraph short showing fund raising activities at the Polo Grounds, home of the New York Giants.  Bickel and Watson perform their band routine.

Watson was a great clown.  Model's music enhances each item.  I look forward to finding and reading Steve Massa's notes on the movies.

Did I make you anxious to buy it?  Go here:
http://amzn.com/B00W67RNJQ

Moving Picture World, 25-September-1915

DVD: The Mishaps of Musty Suffer -- August 1, 2014

Moving Picture World, April 8, 1916

They're at it again.  Famous motion picture accompanist Ben Model has released two volumes in the DVD series Accidentally Preserved, and they were accompanied by a book by Steve Massa:
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2014/01/dvd-accidentally-preserved-january-27.html
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2014/03/dvd-accidentally-preserved-volume-2.html

Both were funded through Kickstarter. 

Model's latest project, also accompanied by a book by Massa, presents 11 of the 30 one-reelers starring Harry Watson, Jr as Musty Suffer.  All but 5 of the 30 survive because producer George Kleine was careful to preserve his work and release it to the educational market. 

Harry Watson, Jr and his partner George Bickel started working together in circuses, including Ringling Brothers and Forepaugh-Sells Brothers.  They moved on to vaudeville and then early editions of the Ziegfeld Follies. 

Producer George Kleine made two features with Bickel and Watson in 1915.  These count as very early slapstick features.  Later in 1915, Kleine produced Keep Moving, a picaresque fantasy feature starring Harry Watson, Jr as Musty Suffer.  Kleine did not release the feature.  Instead, he recut it into a series of one-reelers.  He must have added more material, because the first group included ten films.  Two more groups of ten films each followed.  The last group was released by Essanay, and half of those were produced by that company.  Those are the films that are lost. 

Most of the films open with a title that says "The Mishaps of Musty Suffer in Numerous Whirls." 

The quality of the images is generally excellent, with lots of sharp detail. 

The first film in the set, "Going Up!," was the fourth Whirl in the first series and definitely one of the ones taken from the feature.  It includes the Fairy Tramp and Musty's magic horseshoe.  I was stunned by the quality of the image in the opening, where Musty drains some gasoline from a car and then drinks, and then hops a ride on the luggage rack of another car. 

Many films in the series included fantasy elements, like the Fairy Tramp, quick changes done with stop motion, and stop motion animation of objects. 

The next film in the set, "The Lightning Bell-Hop," was Whirl #6 in the first series.  It includes fantastic gags such as a working gaslight drawn in chalk, and a very skinny room with very skinny furniture for a very skinny customer. 

The third film in the set, "Just Imagination," was Whirl #8 in the first series.  The Fairy Tramp and the magic horseshoe appear again.  The Fairy Tramp gets Musty a job in a medical study, which turns out to be a series of cruel, but mostly funny, pranks. 

"Blow Your Horn" was the first Whirl in the second series of ten films.  Musty becomes a bicycle messenger and has a series of adventures.  The best part is when he works with two life-sized dummies who move in unison with him. 

"While You Wait" was the third Whirl in the second series.  Musty gets a series of jobs from an employment agency, but they are all in the same house at the same time.  He is a maid, a butler and a gardener. 

"Local Showers" is the fourth Whirl in the second series.  Musty has a toothache and goes to a nightmarish dental office. 

"Outs And Ins" is the seventh Whirl in the second series.  Musty is magically transformed into a worker in an automat restaurant.  When he finds people trying to cheat, he deals with them harshly.  There are some interesting sanitary practices, like putting dirty plates back on the shelf. 

The last complete movie in the set, "Spliced and Iced," is the only representative of the third series, being the seventh member.  A tall Cupid, possibly played by the actor who was the Fairy Tramp, shoots Musty with a huge arrow.  A mysterious man called "Mister Sherman" keeps giving Musty advice about love and marriage.  I had to run the movie back to see if I had missed his introduction, but he just popped up.  Musty marries a woman who may have been played by a fat, ugly man and it is not a happy match.  At the end, Musty declares "Sherman was right" and jumps off a cliff.  He doesn't jump up at the bottom.  The shot is followed by a shot of an American flag.  I had to think about it, but "Sherman was right" is a phrase that comes up at times, generally agreeing with General William Tecumseh Sherman's "War is Hell." 

Extras include a boxing scene from "Hold Fast," the third Whirl of the first series.  This was a famous Bickel and Watson routine.  There is also a newsreel showing Watson visiting Chicago for an exhibitors' convention, and a gallery of stills. 

Watson was a great clown, with a very expressive face.  I enjoyed the set. 

Ben Model's music enhanced every item.   Steve Massa's book filled in many of the details I would not have known about.  Thanks to both of them and everyone who contributed to the production. 

Daily Variety, 02-June-1916.

Book: Lame Brains & Lunatics -- April 10, 2014

I finally finished reading Steve Massa's excellent book Lame Brains & Lunatics/The Good, the Bad and the Forgotten of Silent Comedy. 

I was happy to learn from his introduction that his first film-related magazine was Forrest Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland.  I saved my quarters to buy that magazine.  He learned a lot from Daniel Blum's A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen.  I enjoyed that one, too, frequently taking it out from the Richmond Branch Library.  I was sad that some pages and some individual photos had been cut out. 

Steve starts his book with a chapter on comedy teams of the Teens.  He talks about some that I knew, like the Snakeville comedies of Essanay and John Bunny and Flora Finch at Vitagraph, and some that I did not know, like Heinie and Louie and Lyons and Moran.  He talks about Montgomery and Rock.  I'm sorry to see that most (all?) of their movies are lost.  I remember reading a book which featured a long interview with Joe Rock. 

A short chapter on Mack Sennett comes before a long one on Roscoe Arbuckle.  I liked the description of Arbuckle's skill as a director.  Massa has dug up information I didn't know about Billie Ritchie, who claimed that Chaplin was imitating him.  Ritchie "deserves his own place in silent comedy history for presenting possibly the most low-down, despicable, and unlikeable character ever seen on the screen." 

Alice Howell gets a chapter of her own.  Two little-known Vitagraph series, Josie and the Jarr family have a chapter.  Then Gale Henry has one. 

Moving Picture World, October 14, 1916

To me the most interesting chapter was the one about Marcel Perez, who had a significant career in both French and American comedies.  Perez went by many names and his characters went by many names, including Tweedledum, Dweedledum and Tweedie.  I don't remember reading about him before I read Steve Massa's book.  "Tweedy's Tangled Tale" is a good title for the chapter. 

Charles Parrott, Charley Chase, gets a well-deserved chapter, which traces the influences his early directing and writing had on his later star vehicles. 

The chapter on Fay Tincher shows how, unlike many comedians who strove to develop a single, consistent character, that Tincher had three distinct characters. 

The chapter on Al St John answered the question of how Al was related to Roscoe Arbuckle.  Al's mother was Roscoe's sister.  It also gave me a better appreciation of the way that Al moved away from the psycho-rube-hillbilly he played at Keystone and Comique and became a more well-rounded performer in the 1920s. 

The chapter on Marie Dressler shows how her career rocketed up and down in the Teens and Twenties. 

The Max Linder chapter ends with a portrait of Max that shows the effects of his terrible problems. 

The chapter on comedy teams of the Twenties, like the chapter on the Teens, includes teams I know about, like the Hallroom Boys and Adams and Conley, and teams that I didn't know like Virginia Vance and Cliff Bowes and Al Cooke and Kit Guard.  I learned about Cooke and Guard in this book and then got to see them soon after in the second Accidentally Preserved DVD (http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2014/03/dvd-accidentally-preserved-volume-2.html). 

"Keaton and the Silent Comedy Grapevine" talks about Buster Keaton's influence and imitators.   Massa talks about how Larry Semon and Charley Bowers shared Buster's tendency towards surrealism. 

I enjoyed the chapter on cross-eyed George Rowe.  Massa quotes Sam Gill on his efforts to track Rowe down after someone mentioned that he had bumped into him on Hollywood Boulevard in 1966.  Massa tried to find death information about Rowe, but the commonness of the name frustrated his efforts. 

 Film Daily, 16-September-1926

I also enjoyed the chapter on Our Gang/Little Rascals and their imitators. 

Massa talks about Stan Laurel and Harry Langdon, and how Stan learned from Harry, in a two-page chapter. 

The text concludes with chapters on Max Davidson and WC Fields. 

A long appendix has selected filmographies for most of the comedians discussed in the book. 

Run out and buy a copy of Lame Brains & Lunatics.  Don't fall into a mud pit or slip on a banana peel. 

DVD: Accidentally Preserved, Volume 2 -- March 6, 2014

In January, I reviewed Accidentally Preserved, a DVD made by famous film accompanist Ben Model.  Now I have watched Volume 2, which came out in February this year.  Again, Model dug into his collection of old 16mm prints, which were mostly made for the home rental or purchase market.  Some of the movies only exist in old Kodascope prints.  Naturally he also created the musical scores.





The DVD contains nine films, seven short comedies and two public service films. 




"Why Wild Men Go Wild" was an Al Christie production directed by William Beaudine.  It starred Bobby Vernon, whom I had only seen in Sennett movies.  It was silly, but worth watching.  There was a cute swimming pool gag at the end. 




"Charley on the Farm" was a cartoon produced by Pat Sullivan and animated by Otto Messmer, who later created Felix the Cat.  It was one of a series that featured Charlie Chaplin.  I think Messmer captured Charlie's movements and gestures.  He also recycled many gags from Chaplin's Essanay short "The Tramp." 




"Sherlock's Home" was a two-reel entry in the "Telephone Girl" series, starring cute Alberta Vaughn.  I thought it dragged in spots, but it was fun.  It also featured the team of Al Cooke and Kit Guard, whom I learned about in Steve Massa's excellent Lame Brains and Lunatics.  The title came from a light heavyweight boxer called Hurricane Sherlock.  His opponent in a match was played by the real Kid McCoy, the dirtiest fighter in history.  Mal St Clair directed it and Darryl F Zanuck, later president of 20th Century Fox, wrote it. 




"The Little Pest" was a Universal Bluebird one-reeler starring Neely Edwards.  When the little boy in the sailor suit arrived, I asked my daughter "The little blond kid.  Is he evil?"  She looked at him and said "Yes, I've had him in my classes."  Bud Jamison played the evil kid's father.  I enjoyed it, especially when the kid dismantled Neely's car. 




"Papa's Boy," a Lloyd Hamilton two-reeler, was my favorite item.  Hamilton's father wanted he-man Glen Cavender to make a man out of his wimpy, butterfly-chasing son.  There was a nice series of gags with Hamilton chasing butterflies with a net, some sort of a grabber, and a huge pin.  Cavender and Hamilton went camping.  There were two nice sequences with an alligator and a tent on fire.  Norman Taurog directed. 




"Helter Skelter" was an Educational two-reeler, but the first reel of the only surviving print is unprojectable.  The second reel is very lively, with Malcom Sebastian (Big Boy) and his dog Mutt leading a merry chase around the house of some rich folks. 




"Cook, Papa, Cook" starred Henry Murdock, who was usually a supporting player.  He had a fight with his wife, triggered by their mischievous son, and tried to make breakfast.  At least it moved quickly. 




"How Jimmy Won the Game" was a public service short about blasting cap safety.  Until I saw it, I had not remembered that I used to see blasting cap safety ads during kid's shows on television.  This one was pretty stark, warning about blowing eyes out or hands off.  I was impressed by the crappy condition of the field where the kids played baseball. 




The last item was a short animation for Christmas Seals.  It may have been animated by Dick Huemer. 




I thought the best score was the one for "Papa's Boy." 




The Accidentally Preserved website: http://www.accidentallypreserved.com/

DVD: Accidentally Preserved -- January 27, 2014

One of my Christmas presents was Accidentally Preserved, a DVD made by famous film accompanist Ben Model.  He dug into his collection of old 16mm prints, which were mostly made for the home rental or purchase market.  Some of the movies only exist in old Kodascope prints.  Naturally he also created the musical scores.  He got the funding for the project through Kickstarter. 

The DVD contains nine short films, eight one-reel comedies and one promotional film, plus one bonus comedy clip.  Three of the comedies are Cameos, released by Educational. 

"The Lost Laugh" stars Wallace Lupino, Lupino Lane's brother.  I don't know why he periodically burst into laughter after falling down or getting burned.  Monte Collins played an obnoxious washing machine salesman. 

"Loose Change" stars Jack Duffy as a tight Scotsman and Neal Burns as his nephew.  It was produced by Al Christie. 

"Wedding Slips" starred Monte Collins as a newlywed speeding around the countryside with his wife Lucille Hutton.  There are gypsies and a gorilla.  It was directed by Jules White. 

"Shoot Straight," a Hal Roach production, starred Paul Parrott, Charley Chase's brother, as a luckless hunter.  He has trouble catching squirrels and ducks.  Jobyna Ralston, who later starred with Harold Lloyd, is the leading lady. 

"The House of Wonders" was a two-reel promotional film for Elgin Watches.  It would be very interesting for people who like watches. 

"The Misfit" was made as a two-reeler, but it only survives in a one-reel version.  Clyde Cook joins the Marines to get away from his harridan wife.  It includes many of the standard service comedy marching jokes. 

"The Water Plug," a Reelcraft comedy, starred Billy Franey, who was acting very Chaplin-like. 

"Mechanical Doll" was a Fleischer Out of the Inkwell comedy.  Koko had a nice journey though the city, running along telephone wires.  He had more closeups than I remember seeing in silent cartoons. 

"Cheer Up" starred Cliff Bowes, who I had never seen before.  Virginia Vance had to choose between two suitors.  It was directed by Jack White. 

I liked the fact that some of the prints were scratchy.  I miss that. 

Accidentally Preserved 2 came out this month.  I hope to order it soon. 

I also ordered a book by Steve Massa that collects all the notes from the films on the two Accidentally Preserved sets.  It is printed in a size that fits nicely in the DVD case. 

The Accidentally Preserved website: http://www.accidentallypreserved.com/