Silent movies - The Haunted House

Hold on to your seats, ladies and gentlemen, it's going to get really scary now.
Please welcome Mister Buster Keaton in "The Haunted House" from 1921!

Are your nerves ready for the plot (and spoilers)?

Keaton is a bank teller.
And one of his co-workers is a crook who deals with counterfeit money and plans to rob the bank together with his gang and then hide in a "haunted house" in spooky disguises.
The morning goes by with business as usual, that is if you count getting money and glue mixed up.
Now if you think that isn't scary, you seem to have forgotten my toxic relationship with glue. I swear I yelled out loud when I saw this! 😉

Glue, glue everywhere,
hands, floor, bottoms, pockets, and hair!

At that moment, the gang turn up and thanks to the glue Keaton almost manages to thwart the robbery, but when the manager sees him with the gun, they all run after him.
He manages to escape and unknowingly hide in the "haunted" house, but he's not the only one. A theater troupe flees the stage after royally messing up "Faust" and being pelted with vegetables - guess where they end up.

So now we have Buster, the theater people, and the gangsters in the house, scaring and getting scared.
It doesn't help that the stairs keep turning into a slide so Buster has to find ways of avoiding falling down again and again.

GIF by nishaane on Tenor

This isn't the only surprise in the house, though. We have the exploding candle, a trap door, the "living" chair, and of course ghosts, skeletons building a real man, and the devil (Mephisto from the theater)!

Keaton runs and jumps and climbs and falls, but then he finds out that the "ghosts" are just men in sheets.
And finally the bank manager and police have also made it to the house. They fall through the trap door into the basement and arrest the whole gang thanks to Buster who has disguised as a ghost himself by now.

Before being taken away, the boss hits our hero on the head, though, and he's dead.
Two angels show him the long stairway to heaven which he walks up ...

... where he's refused entry by Saint Peter who pulls the lever and turns the stairs into a slide ...

... right into hell.

A helper devil gets to work poking Buster with a burning fork ... which wakes him up as it has just been a dream, but the fire is real!
The bank manager's daughter is very happy to see that he's alive and they embrace.

The two-reeler (runtime 24 minutes) is clearly divided into two parts, the bank and the haunted house.
While there are some fun gags in the bank, such as Buster's clothes being caught for hours in the door of the time locked safe (why didn't he try to take them off?), that part is quite repetitive with the different glue shenanigans.

"After searching everywhere else
the police found him where he was."

The second part, however, was hilarious thanks to Buster Keaton's energy. There were some great pratfalls and jumps, and I liked the choreography of the characters meeting or missing one another.
The main protagonist beside Keaton (and the glue) was of course the stairs/slide combo whose heavenly version may look familiar to you if you have seen the 1946 movie "A Matter of Life and Death" with David Niven (which I can recommend, by the way).

I loved the different ways Buster tries to avoid the fall down the slide by jumping up the last few steps, trying to slide down while it's still stairs, sliding down the bannister, even running up the slide!
So while it wasn't the funniest Keaton film I have seen so far - you also have to keep in mind this was one of the earlier ones - I still enjoyed it.

I hope I didn't scare you too much 😉

Silent movies - The Monster

I really put some time in today's movie by investing two and a half minutes! Talk about attention span, people ...
The short I have for you is "The Monster" from 1903 and is by Georges Méliès, so you may know what to expect. It's a kind of magic .... (admit that you sang it)

Here's the very short plot full of spoilers 😉

An Egyptian prince and a priest meet in front of the Sphinx during a full moon.
 

Please note that the Sphinx still has its nose 😉

The priest brings a decorated chest and takes out a skeleton which makes the prince turn away in distress.
Next the priest wraps the skeleton in fabric and it starts a strange dance during which it distorts, gets smaller and taller.

The priest wraps more fabric around the skeleton and when he takes it off again, it has been revived to a beautiful young woman. The prince can't believe it, he reaches out for her longingly ...

... but the priest wraps her up again, lifts her, and throws her at the prince who's shocked to find she has turned into a skeleton again, drops her, and runs after the fleeing priest.
 

Last week, I boldly claimed that the narrative probably wasn't the important part in these films. Yes, there is a "but" now.
BUT obviously there was more to the story. This film was supposed to have a spoken narration (remember that I mentioned a "benshi" or film narrator in the post on "Namakura Gatana" as well?) which is known from Méliès's catalogs (see the source) and which tells us that the skeleton is the prince's wife.
Has anyone seen "The Mummy" with Boris Karloff? He also tried to revive his love almost 30 years later and didn't succeed, either.
Let this be a warning to you.

People have been fascinated by the old Egypt for a long time and they still are today, in literature, art, movies, science (and I haven't been completely immune to it myself how one of my jewelry pieces inspired by Khepri shows (I hadn't planned it that way, but it's still one of my personal favorites)).

Now the question is - did the priest fail or did he do this on purpose? And who is the monster in this film? What do you think?


Source and further reading:

Fritzi Kramer: The Monster (1903) - A Silent Film Review. On: Movies Silently, October 6, 2017

Silent movies - Legend of a Ghost

Heading towards Halloween, it seemed the right moment to start with some horror/fantasy movies.
Today I have a very early short for you. It's "Legend of a Ghost" from 1908.

Here's the plot (spoilers?).

A young lady sits at her spinning wheel when she hears something from the cemetery outside. Through the window she sees something flying and hears a curse.
Next we see her going outside to look for something in the cemetery.

Suddenly a group of skeletons surrounds her and a ghost emerges from a grave and sends her on a quest to "go and find the Devil, to challenge and vanquish him, so he'll give her the inextinguishable flame that she will take to the bottom of the sea to search for the black pearl and bring it back".

Don't be surprised, part of the movie has been
colorized, in amazingly vivid colors.

The skeletons and the lady turn into warriors.
They board a vehicle that takes them to the "lower regions".

Satan is warned, however, assembles his army and rides into battle in his own vehicle (while his army is, uhm, prancing and dancing and jumping a lot) ...

... before they finally stop the lady's vehicle and pull her into the Satanmobile (someone called it that in a comment and that's working for me).

Pick your vehicle! Both of them are quite cool,
modern cars are boring compared to them.

Then they have a fête together in the lower regions. Just bear with me, people, I don't understand what's going on, either.
There's more dancing before some demons jump into a lake. The cave wall is opening to admit the Satanmobile. They get out and Satan gives the lady the flame of life. Why? I have absolutely no clue, he doesn't look very "vanquished" to me. It might be a trap, though.

A frog is taking the lady to the bottom of the sea. Their travel is shown through different painted scenes opening up one after another, vertically or horizontally, a very neat effect.

They arrive and the Queen of the Sea (or whatever) makes a huge shell with a mermaid (or whatever) in it materialize, hands our lady the black pearl and takes her back up in her barge that is drawn by a horse (not a seahorse).

Unfortunately, Satan is out for revenge (probably because he noticed he wasn't vanquished after all?) and throws fire at them. The vehicle is gone, all the warriors are dead - except our heroine - and blue. And the inextinguishable flame has gone out (is there a money back guarantee?)!

Any excuse to show another picture of the vehicle ...

She returns to the cemetery, hands the ghost the black pearl, he drinks from it (weird, I mean it's not a coconut) - and turns into some kind of a prince!

Maybe she could/should just have kissed the frog?

Our lady, however, dies (exhaustion, the aftermath of Satan's attack or shock over this unexpected outcome, who knows) ... and we are in heaven and they have two children (again, don't ask me what's happening here)!

The End.
No, seriously, that's it.

I'm not the only who was confused, but you know something - it was still a fun watch! A very, very weird one and I might have thought I had a drink too much when I really had nothing but water with a bit of cordial, but a fun one.
Maybe a drink would have made it even funnier.

Segundo de Chomón is a new name to me, but it seems it's one to remember.
According to Wikipedia (as a first source), he was "a pioneering Spanish-French film director, cinematographer and screenwriter" and "regarded as the most significant Spanish silent film director in an international context". Like Méliès, he was known for his camera tricks and optical illusions and we have quite a few of these in this film which are very cool to watch.
As with Méliès (based on the very few films I know at this point, mind you), I had the feeling that the narrative wasn't the most important thing, but to try out what could be done with elaborate and beautiful sets and opulent costumes and of course cool vehicles, and some film magic.
Somehow it always makes me wonder how it was on set. "We need more people! Where are the lizard and fish people? We need dancers! We need more of everything! Splashing water, sparks, and the girls have to wave something! We need more, more, more of everything!"

"And we need an extra scene for the frog."
Absolutely. I'm a fan of the very jumpy frog (and was glad to see him star in another short).

A wild ride once more, my friends, but also very interesting 15 minutes.
Isn't that how we like our fairy tales?
More of everything!

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 - Danse Macabre

Another week, another short (sorry, but it's still too hot, and while it's fine to shut your eyes for a bit during a TV show, but weirdly that doesn't work while watching a silent movie ...).
It's an experimental one today, oooh.
Get ready for "Danse Macabre" from 1922.

"Midnight in plague-ridden Spain - - Youth and Love flee from Death who follows their path -
Love feels his uncanny breath and swoons - - - Youth despairs and prays, - when lo! - the cock of dawn crows and Death fades away into the shadow of his tomb."

The skeletons move until they form the title words.

Youth and Love enter a room. Youth lights a candle and the lovers embrace.

If they had thought to be safe here, they are wrong as Death is already following them.

Youth gives Love a shawl and a fan and they dance together.

Love begins to sense Death being close. She feels weak and asks Youth to open the windows.

They keep dancing, but Death keeps haunting them until Love faints and Youth lays her down on a sofa.
Death creeps closer ...

Just in time, the sun rises to a cock's crow ...

... and Death shrinks back from the light and fades while Love recovers in Youth's arms.

The lovers rejoice, they embrace and kiss, they are safe ...
 

... but are they really?

The "Danse Macabre" or "Dance of Death" is an allegory from the late Middle Ages reminding people of the fragility of life - everyone's life, king or peasant, pope or child.
In 1874, the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns wrote a symphonic poem with this title.
The independent director Dudley Murphy and his associate Claude MacGowan had planned a series of Visual Symphonies with the films interpreting classical music starting with this piece.
Big theaters used to put on live shows with music and dance as introductions for the movies, but synchronizing film and music perfectly was more difficult at the time, and while experienced musicians could have coped, the practice wouldn't have worked as well for small theaters.
So although the film got attention, it obviously wasn't enough to keep the series going. 

That's a pity because if "Danse Macabre" was an example of their vision, it would have been great to see what else they could have come up with.
The performers are the ballet dancers and choreographers Adolph Bolm (Youth) and Ruth Page (Love, she was Bolm's student), Death is played by character actor Olin Howland.
As you can see from the pictures, the short is a mix of animation and real film, and honestly, it's really very cool. I had picked it randomly from a playlist of shorts and I'm so glad I did as I loved Saint-Saëns's "Danse Macabre" before this and love the interpretation.


Sources and further reading:

1. Rob Johnson: Danse Macabre 1922. On: The Devil's Manor, July 2012
2. Fritzi Kramer: Danse Macabre (1922) - A Silent Film Review. On: Movies Silently, July 18, 2022