Silent Movies - Mighty Like a Moose

Last week I talked about an affair that had a tragic ending for some, today's affair is very different.
If I tell you that Charley Chase is part of this one, you may remember that he was known for comedy. I think we deserve one after last week's drama.
I give you "Mighty Like a Moose" from 1926 (seems I'm stuck in this year at the moment, but that's mere coincidence!).

Let's start with the plot (spoiler alert!).

Mr. Moose has buck teeth and Mrs. Moose has a big nose.

The neighbor kids - no respect. I had to add this picture because it reminds me of the scene in "A Christmas Story" when the kids pranked their teacher by wearing fake buck teeth (from wax as you can read in the book that inspired the movie ... I'm digressing, sorry).

Both Mr. and Mrs. Moose have saved for months to surprise their spouse with a face lift - et voilà.

Mr. Moose's dentist has a before and after picture taken and also presents his patient with a set of false teeth so his family will still be able to recognize him. He also invites him to a party this evening, but Mr. Moose declines saying he's married.
Then he meets Mrs. Moose in the hallway, but they don't recognize each other and start flirting, so he invites her to the party. They both don't feel very good about betraying their spouse, but on the other hand they can't resist after seeing the effect of their respective surgeries.

They arrive at home separately and don't notice each other at first doing kind of a "dance" around each other - one comes into a room when the other one is just leaving it.
Once at the party, Mr. Moose tries to get a dance with his date, but instead she gets whisked away while he is asked to dance with a lady who only knows the polka (unfortunately I didn't manage to get a screenshot that really conveys how hilarious that dance is).
What no one knows is that the police is already waiting to raid the party as they suspect the doctor of alcohol possession (prohibition time!) and "arrest everybody for practice".
Mr. Moose has spotted the policemen and warns Mrs. Moose. They both turn around only to have their picture taken by the police. Remember, they don't know they're a married couple.

At home, Mr. Moose is surprised to find his date entering his house shortly after him. He overhears her telling the maid about the surgery and is shocked that his wife betrayed him. So he tells Mrs. Moose as her date that he can't live without her, then comes back with his false teeth, and finally stages a fight between "the date" and "the husband" (with the help of a swinging boot).

Unfortunately for him, Mrs. Moose has found the newspaper which also shows the before and after picture of her husband. When she slaps him for trying to trick her with the fake fight, he loses the false teeth.
Where are they? Oh, found them!

Mistaken identities have been the base for comedies for a long time. So when one reviewer writes that he doesn't understand how they didn't recognize each other, it made me laugh.
My favorite example - Clark Kent/Superman. For some weird reason, people still know who I am even without my glasses.
At least, we learn that Mrs. Moose has also bought new clothes her husband doesn't know yet.

I was also delighted at the immediate success of the surgeries. No bandages, no traces, no pain, the patient hops out of the chair and everyone is happy.
Don't we wish it really were that easy?
If you wonder, by the way, nose jobs have been around for quite some time - first in India around 600 B.C. In the West, they really caught on in the late 19th century and were not just used for mere aesthetics later, but also to help men wounded in the war. 

The fight Mr. Moose had with himself obviously wasn't realistic, either, especially at the end when he changed identities in seconds and always came from the same side.
All of that was cleverly edited, only Superman could have been this fast.

Does all of that matter, though? Of course it doesn't!
The whole movie used the wonderful choreography to make the audience laugh, and it sure worked for me.
I also enjoyed the funny title cards. My favorite was the one when Mr. Moose enters the house and gets attacked by his dog who doesn't recognize him with the new teeth so he has to put the fake set in.

This is of course a hint at RCA's Nipper listening to "His Master's Voice" (check out my post about Nipper if you don't know what I'm talking about).

Conclusion - is the movie realistic? No. Is it funny? Heck, yeah!
Even "laughing out loud" funny to me.
So far I enjoyed every Charley Chase film I have watched and I'm looking forward to exploring more of them.


Further reading:

Fritzi Kramer: Mighty Like a Moose (1926) - A Silent Film Review. On: Movies Silently, April 27, 2014

Silent films - By Might of His Right

I only learned about Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Drew about two weeks ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Drew were a comedy team that ... but wait, actually there were two Mrs. Drews, Gladys Rankin and Lucille McVey. After Gladys died, Sidney married Lucille who produced and co-directed and co-wrote a lot of their nearly 150 marital comedies.
I picked one of those - randomly, like so often - and ended up with "By Might of His Right" from 1915.
Sidney was the uncle of actors Lionel, Ethel, and John Barrymore, by the way, and John's granddaughter is Drew Barrymore. Now you know how she got her name.

First the plot.

When Henry comes home from work, he finds they have a houseguest, Lucille's brother who's on vacation (played by character actor Donald Macbride).
He has all the spirit of a college boy, rah-rah-rah included, which amuses Lucille greatly, but Henry really just wants some peace and quiet.

No such luck.
The youngster shakes Henry's hand like crazy, he makes fun of his hat before sitting on it, gets very familiar with the maid, takes a cigar off Henry, then his paper, and finally his chair ...
 

... before demonstrating on his unsuspecting brother-in-law how to perform a tackle and a knockout.
The next morning, he slips Henry's cigarette case in his pocket and then announces he intends to stay for his whole vacation!

Henry has to do something to get rid of the young man. He enlists the aid of his friend Tony Trexel who trains at a boxing studio and helps him find a boxer who will fake defeat for 50 bucks (that's about 1600 today, so you can see how desperate Henry is).
At home, he says that Tony has invited them to a novelty boxing party.
Once there, they learn that "Knock'em Dead" Jones is indisposed and that an opponent for the "Battler" is needed. Of course Lucille immediately thinks of her brother, but suddenly he's not as keen anymore as he still was at home.

So, much to everyone's surprise, Henry gets up. After a hilarious "fight" in which the two don't even touch one another at first, Henry "knocks out" the "Battler".

Back at home, his brother-in-law isn't quite as confident anymore. Actually, he's so scared of Henry that he claims his mother has called him back, packs his bags and leaves.

Henry had already told his wife about his bluff and they break out in laughter when the door closes.
Being a big sister myself, that totally makes sense to me (although you can see in one picture that she also feels sorry for her little brother, but just a bit)!

Drew himself said: "There are many who prefer knockabout work, but since there is a field amply able to support an appeal to more refined intelligence, we cater to that clientele" and I really enjoyed that.
Henry uses his brains - okay, and a good deal of money - to get rid of his houseguest. He's teaching him a lesson not to underestimate other people or should I say older people, but without humiliating him too much. After all, he could have made him go into the ring.

Despite this one reeler being over 100 years old, I think we can all relate to it in some way. It doesn't always have to be a houseguest who stays too long, it could also just be someone who doesn't get that the party is over, for example.

This is another film thought lost until a copy turned up in New Zealand which was preserved through a partnership of the New Zealand Film Archive, the American archival community, and the National Film Preservation Foundation.
I'm looking forward to exploring more of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew's universe of marriage.


Sources and further reading:

1. By Might of His Right (1915). On: National Film Preservation Foundation. Preserved Films
2. Fritzi Kramer: By Might of His Right (1915) - A Silent Film Review. On: Movies Silently, November 27, 2023

Silent movies - Namakura Gatana

Not the first anime, but one of the earliest surviving Japanese animation films is the short I have brought along today. It's "Namakura Gatana" ("The Dull Sword")  from 1917.
 

The plot is told really quickly as the film only runs 4 minutes in the longest available version (there is a 5 minute version now).

A samurai is testing his sword for sharpness.

He goes to the swordsmith called "Dull Sword" where he even struggles to get his katana into the sheath. Not a very smart samurai.
 

On the way back, he decides to try it out on random people he meets (luckily he can't hurt them and gets his butt kicked instead) - first a blind man playing the flute (attacking a blind man from behind, shame on him) ...
 

... then a traveller who walks right over him after defeating him.

When he tries to get up leaning on the sword, it gets all bent which makes him so mad that he throws it away.

To an audience of today this looks like a very weird little film. Not just the idea of a samurai ready to use his sword on unsuspecting people is rather preposterous, but there's also a lot of comical eye rolling and the eyebrows go up and down.

Now, I said it more than once. This film is almost 110 years old.
According to a Reuters story about the find of this short and another one, US and European animation films were first shown in Japan around 1914.
I just don't get why there are always people trying to measure work from that time by modern standards.
Actually, I was surprised how smooth the animation is.
There were also people complaining that there isn't sound ...
Something I didn't know until now is that a standard practice in Japanese silent cinema was to have a "benshi" or film narrator which could be the reason that there are so few title cards. Who knows, maybe we're missing a hilarious exchange between the samurai and the swordsmith.

The film was thought to be lost, but in 2007 it was being sold at an antique market in Osaka together with another film. What a find!
You know how excited I can get about stories like this!


Sources and further reading:

1. Catherine Munroe Hotes: The Dull Sword (なまくら刀, 1917). On: Nishikata Film Review, March 13, 2017
2. National Film Archive of Japan: The Dull Sword. On: Japanese Animated Film Classics

Silent movies - The Reckless Age

Have you ever heard of "Floyd's of London"? I'm quite sure you haven't because it's a joke on "Lloyd's of London", the famous insurance market.
Yes, we are in the world of insurances today and you can imagine it will be an unusual one we are dealing with in "The Reckless Age" from 1924.

First, the plot (spoilers!)

Lord Allan Harrowby from London is meeting with the two top managers of Floyd's of London.
He has an unusual request. He will marry the heiress Cecilia Meyrick soon and wants to take out an insurance for $100,000 against her changing her mind.
The managers agree, but first he has to sign an agreement that there will be no compensation if the wedding is off due to his own actions. Also, they will send their risk manager Richard Minot along to Florida to make sure the wedding goes through.

They put all their trust in Dick who has never disappointed them so far and give him a token of their appreciation, a watch.
The watch is engraved on the back - and no, I have absolutely no idea if they were just too cheap to get the real watch engraved for the film or if that picture was missing in the only existing print and was replaced by this masterpiece (which is shown twice).

On the train, Dick happens to meet Cecilia. Unfortunately, it is love at first sight for him which makes the whole mission very awkward for him now.
Although Cecilia also feels attracted to Dick, she is very keen on arriving in San Marco in time for the lunch where her engagement will be announced.

When the train is held up by a pig family, Dick decides to take a "taxy" to get Cecilia to the lunch in time. The train-car chase makes for a really cool stunt which made me jump.

From that moment on, Dick has a hard time to make this wedding happen.
Cecilia is not at all sure about it anymore, she and Dick keep flirting.
Naive Lord Harrowby is befriended by con man Martin Wall.
A valuable diamond necklace is stolen right off Cecilia's neck.
 

Pushing Cecilia over to Lord Harrowby to faint.

Some other guy turns up and claims to be the real Lord Harrowby. Dick has him taken to Wall's yacht to get him out of the way.
Actress Gabrielle Rose arrives with whom the Lord used to have an affair. She threatens to sue him for breaking his marriage promise. Luckily, Dick finds proof that she had already been married at the time and isn't divorced yet.

Are you already confused? Because, you know, we are not even halfway through the movie yet.

Meanwhile, Allan has endorsed the policy to Wall for a loan of the money he thinks he needs to get rid of Gabrielle Rose. Of course, Wall sees his chance to make a lot of money if he brings the other Lord back into the game.
Cecilia's father demands identification for the wedding to take place.
Allan's reaction is to run off. It's not looking good for him. Good for Dick and Cecilia, though. Only she doesn't want to see that because she still doesn't know why Dick has done everything to push that wedding through while saying he loves her. It's quite understandable that she's mad.

And don't you know it, the Lord is back! He's in company of the Duke and Duchess of Lismore who are friends of his and also of the Meyricks.
The other Lord gets introduced and Lismore recognizes him as the former butler. Another obstacle is removed.

Martin Wall, however, is still working on his plan. He offers the local paper's editor $1,000 to put the insurance story in the next issue.
The editor thinks he can do better than that, prints the story and goes to Cecilia's father offering him to destroy the issue if he buys the paper for $20,000.
Of course, Wall isn't happy when he finds out, they start fighting, Dick arrives and joins the fight (Denny used to be a boxer and started out in boxing two-reelers), then the employees, and in the end the whole office is in shambles. When Allan and Cecilia turn up, Cecilia learns about the insurance and Dick's role in it. Obviously, the marriage is off for good now and Dick doesn't have good cards, either.

Wall tries to claim the money, but since it was Allan's fault for telling him, the policy is invalid. To top it off, a police officer turns up because they found the necklace and jewels in Wall's room, yes, he has even stolen the yacht!

Dick and Cecilia meet again when the train they're on has a problem and they go for the same "taxy". The driver can tell there's something wrong between them and drives so wildly on purpose that they keep bumping into one another - until they can't resist anymore.

I know that it sounds like a very confusing movie, but it really isn't.
Dick handles one problem after the other and Floyd's trust in him is absolutely justified because he handles them well.
Denny was a popular actor in the 20s (and still worked in film until his death beside being an engineer and inventor) which isn't surprising as he was good at romance, comedy, but also action.
He and Ruth Dwyer make this a cute little romantic comedy.
As you might know, dollar princesses absolutely existed - rich heiresses marrying into titled families who needed money. In this case, the Lord is even in love with Cecilia - that wasn't always the case with these marriages - although I'm not sure about her feelings because she falls for Dick awfully quickly.
Not even the insurance is that unusual. There is indeed an insurance company offering a "change of heart" policy, just not that shortly before the wedding date.
The only awkward bit was that there was one example of blackface with the taxi driver.

When I saw that the movie was an adaptation of the book "Love Insurance" by Earl Derr Biggers, I had just finished another book and figured why not?
Although I had only read one or two of the books and watched one or two of the movies years ago, Biggers was familiar to me as the creator of Charlie Chan. I hadn't been aware that he was a journalist and playwright as well and also wrote other successful novels before Charlie Chan.

You thought there was a lot happening in the movie?
Although the basic plot was the same, the book had even more people and twists! For some reason, the movie turned Lloyd's into Floyd's and turned Cynthia into Cecilia.
The story had been serialized in several newspapers in 1914 and was published as a book later that year. It was quite amusing to read, so much so that I put other Biggers pre-Chan books on my list, but I think reading it in installments might have made more sense to keep the whirlwind feeling down a bit. Oh well, those sleepless night.


Source:

Marc Wanamaker/Kimberly Pucci/Janice Simpson: The Reckless Age (L'età frenetica). On: Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 36, Pordenone, 30 September | 7 October 2017

Silent movies - A Dog's Life

Today I got two Chaplins for you. I don't mean two Chaplin movies, but two Chaplins in one movie - Charlie and his brother Sydney.
Let's have a look at "A Dog's Life" from 1918.

Here's the plot with spoilers.

The Little Tramp is trying to make the best of his life in the streets although he's sleeping rough, is sometimes forced to steal food, and has his run-ins with the law.

It's not that he doesn't want to work, but at the agency the others keep pushing him out of the way and in the end there's no job left for him.
Then he meets Scraps. The little stray has found a bone which attracts a lot of other dogs, and Charlie saves Scraps from the fight.

I'll happily admit that this made me feel
all mushy right away. The rest of the
pack raided a grocer's shop in the meantime.

At a coffee stall, Scraps takes the chance to steal some sausages and the Tramp stuffs himself with food every time the proprietor isn't looking.

A hilarious scene. The stall owner is Sydney Chaplin, by the way.

Now that they had something to eat, the Tramp heads for a dance hall. Unfortunately, the "Green Lantern" offers free dancing, but doesn't allow dogs, and they get thrown out.
He won't leave Scraps outside, though, and cleverly hides him. If only the tail wouldn't peek out through a hole in the pants, wagging like crazy.

There's a new singer and hostess in the bar who moves the audience to tears with her sad song.
The bar owner, however, wants his guests happy ... and thirsty! "If you smile and wink, they'll buy a drink."
So she tries her luck with the Tramp. After a bit of confusion, he asks her for a dance which turns out interesting, to say the least.
As the bartender finds out he has no money to buy drinks, however, he throws him out.

Flirting 101.

Outside, two villains mug a drunk gentleman and take his wallet. Being followed by police, one of them buries it in a hole next to the Tramp's favored sleeping spot.
Luckily, Scraps finds the wallet and they head back to the "Green Lantern".
Meanwhile, the singer has got herself sacked for refusing to dance with another customer. She's desperate because the owner doesn't want to pay her, but the Tramp shows her the money he has found and says they will settle in the country.
Too bad that the villains overhear them and take the wallet back. The Tramp doesn't give up that quickly, though, and manages to get the money back. 

"Giving" the villain his arms - a splendid performance.

The villains chase him to the coffee stall, during the struggle the wallet falls on the ground - from where Scraps successfully recovers it while the villains get arrested by the police and the Tramp escapes, leaving the poor stall owner behind confused and the worse for wear.

In the end, you see the happy couple on their farm and a bassinet stands on the floor - not with one baby, but a whole litter!

There are two things clearly standing out in this movie.

1. Scraps (called Mutt in real life) absolutely stole the show. Sorry, Charlie and Edna and the others, you were funny, but we all know who was the real heroine here.
2. The singer's dress. I just couldn't get over this masterpiece of fashion design. We should all wear dresses like that, women, men, children.
It looked like a long whitish skirt with a black diaphanous top over which there was kind of a black apron whose two parts were connected at the hips with black strips. But wait, there's more! Uhm, a flapping piece of curtain fastened to the back?
"We still need a dress for Edna. Oh hey, there's still some leftover fabrics here. I can do something with that!" Absolutely brilliant 😂

Not only Scraps leads a dog's life in the movie, but also the Tramp and the singer, even if not literally.
The association between the scenes of the Tramp losing the fight for a job at the agency and Scraps the one for the bone is obvious.
All three of them are forced into that life which actually makes it extra heartwarming to see them get their happy ending (even if founded on ill-gotten money). I was fully prepared to see them go down a lonely road into an uncertain future, but I liked this much better.

I also enjoyed the gags very much and the "choreography" that Chaplin was so good at.
32 minutes well spent indeed.

P.S. Did you notice something about the pictures? The familiar cane is missing. I guess a cane and a leash would have been too much.

Silent movies - Our Hospitality

I don't know if you are familiar with Lucky Luke, the hero of a Belgian Western comic album series that is very popular in Europe. One of the albums is called "The Rivals of Painful Gulch". The O'Timmins (with big noses) and the O'Hara (with big ears) families have been in a decade long feud without even remembering why. Lucky Luke is made mayor in order to end this feud.
The story was inspired by the historical Hatfield-McCoy feud in 19th century West Virginia/Kentucky.
You want to know what that has to do with silent movies? I'm glad you asked.
May I present to you "Our Hospitality" from 1923?

The plot (spoilers ahead)!

After his father John and James Canfield have shot each other, baby Willie McKay is taken to New York by his mother where he grows up without being told about the feud between the families (have you noticed the similarity of the names to the real names?), raised by his aunt after his mother's death.

That's Keaton's and Talmadge's first son
Jimmy, by the way.

Then, however, he gets a letter telling him to claim his father's estate in the South and he starts dreaming big (in fact it's just a small rundown hut).
Before he leaves, though, his aunt tells him about the feud.

On the train - "Onward sped the iron monster toward the Blue Ridge Mountains" according to the intertitle (always followed by Willie's dog!) - he meets a young lady.
The train ride is quite eventful. They have to remove a tramp, a guy hurls stones at the engineer who throws back wood from his fuel cart which is quickly collected by the guy, they have a very bumpy ride as the tracks are literally laid over trees and rocks, they have to move the tracks because a stubborn donkey refuses to move (of course he walks off after the train has passed), they derail and the train runs on the bare ground, and at one point the engine even loses the wagons and is suddenly behind them - and that's not all (I'm glad my commute wasn't like that).

Once arrived, we - but not Willie - find out that the young lady on the train is Virginia Canfield as she's picked up by her father and two brothers Clayton and Lee.
Later Willie encounters Lee who, upon hearing that Willie is a McKay, immediately tries to kill him without success and runs home to inform his father and Clayton. While they choose their weapons, Willie happens to see Virginia in her yard and she invites him to supper.

By now, all male Canfields go after Willie who has some very lucky - and funny -  escapes.
When he calls for supper, the Canfields are shocked to see that he's Virginia's guest. Neverless, Father Canfield tells his sons that they will have to grant him their hospitality because their code of honor ... but only inside the house while he's fair game outside of it. Overhearing them plotting, Willie asks the butler whose house it is.
From here on, Willie and the Canfields have an eye on each other as they just wait for him to leave the house and get their chance.

The parson is saying grace, but only he and
Virginia have their eyes closed ...

Luckily, it rains hard when the parson wants to go home after supper. He's invited to stay and Willie extends that invitation to himself, determined never to leave the house again. When Virginia learns that he's a McKay, however, she can't imagine a future for them.
Willie hopes to escape in disguise and the chase begins (which gives Keaton ample opportunity for his daring stunts).

Thanks to the parson, there's a happy ending as he manages to marry Willie und Virginia in time before the Canfields arrive at home and how could Dad resist the look in his daughter's eyes?

Now this was a movie I really had fun with!
I'm shamelessly going to steal a bit from Jim Emerson's review (link below, unfortunately it's only part of an article whose link doesn't work anymore).

"Among the things you will learn from watching Buster Keaton’s “Our Hospitality”:

● A novel method for easily collecting firewood.

● How to move a donkey away from railroad tracks, or vice-versa.

● How to improvise a boat.

● How to make a lady from a horse’s behind.

● How to put on a top hat in a low-ceilinged carriage (and why a porkpie hat is so obviously preferable).

In other words, the act of seeing this movie will immeasurably improve your life."

Keaton who loved trains set the movie earlier than the historical feud, so he could use a replica of the 1829 British steam engines Stephenson's Rocket. The train ride is my favorite part of the movie, it's hilarious. I had a hard time keeping the number of pictures for it down.
That doesn't mean, however, that the chase wasn't funny and actually exciting as well.
As usual, Keaton did most of his own stunts. Two of them got dangerous for him, once when a wire broke and Keaton was swept away in the water - as you can see in the movie because the cameraman had instructions to keep filming - and once when he was dangling over the waterfall and swallowed so much water that he had to have his stomach pumped!

There are a lot of sight gags, but no slapstick as that wouldn't have worked for a feature film that depended on its narrative that's based on tragic events.
This was Keaton's second feature film, but the first one had still been episodic. It was also a family venture. The producer Joseph M. Schenck was the husband of Keaton's sister-in-law, we have already seen baby Keaton, Virginia is Natalie Talmadge - still married to Buster at the time and pregnant with their second child - and the engineer is Joe Keaton, Buster's father.

A wholehearted recommendation from me!


Sources and further reading:

1. Jim Emerson: Our Hospitality: Buster Keaton and gravity. On: RogerEbert.com, Scanners, December 14, 2012
2. Jeffrey Vance: Our Hospitality. On: San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Essay. 2019
3. Hal C. F. Astell: Our Hospitality (1923). On: Apocalypse Later, November 19, 2023