An interesting short feature. Three men propose to the same woman (Margarita Fischer) - without realising. When they finally realise it they go to see the woman and discover that she was just researching for an article she was writing on how men propose for a magazine!
There isn't much to the film though it has some historic and curiosity value.
A (very) cheap bit of soft-core British sex comedy trash. The perils of Mandy (Gloria Brittain) include being beaten by a pervy old school master, sex in a haystack and being tied to some railway tracks. I suppose it can vaguely bring to mind the film serials of the 1910s such as the Perils of Pauline, though in a rather more racey manner!
Expect plenty of stockings and spenders, don't expect much in the way of coherence or plot or acting for that matter. Unfortunately we are to be forever left hanging with the cliffhanger as to whether Mandy survives her final peril or not as no "Part 2" was ever made.
A rather static though enjoyable little drama.
An old actor (W. Chrystie Miller) loses his role at the theatre due to being too old, he is too embarrassed to tell his family of his failure and therefore uses his make-up skills to disguise himself and becomes a very convincing beggar to earn some coin. The beau (Edwin August) of his daughter (Mary Pickford) accidentally gives him a gold coin and in the kerfuffle his real identity is revealed...
A nice simple little film. Although the camerawork is very static, the little subtle touches and natural acting helps make the film very watchable and tells a good story.
The Norman short comedy films were rather strange, Douglas P MacIntosh made four films about his loser character Norman every five years between 1974 and 1989. So, this is the third film, made five years after Welcome Back, Norman. Norman has checked into a hotel but his desired room has been overbooked due to a taxidermy convention.
Instead he is given the hotel's room from hell. Noisy, cramped, with a broken shower and Norman ends up exposing himself to a maid! This is a very strange little film, amusing if not rip roaringly funny. Quite why it exists is still a mystery, but i am kind of glad it does.
Mrs Culpepper also has a lot of trouble with a cherry but when Stan walks in to serve the salad in his underwear (he was told to serve the salad undressed of course) the cherry is soon forgotten. Good old fashioned fun.
Possibly the earliest appearance of Santa Claus in a film, he is noticeably not quite as rotund as later on (all those mince pies obviously). A short simple film made by George Albert Smith showing Santa Claus visiting a couple of children at Christmas (sound asleep of course), but with some interesting camera effects especially for the day. A simple and lovely way to show the magic of Christmas.
An unusual love story. Ethel (Norma Talmadge) is in love with Cyril (Frank O'Neil), who has prospects though as yet not much else. Unfortunately for Ethel, her parents are poor despite all appearances and want to marry her off to a rich man. When their friend and retired businessman James (Van Dyke Brooke) turns up they want Ethel to marry him and send Cyril off...
When James discovers who Ethel's feelings are truly for he comes up with an ingenious (though somewhat implausible) plan for Ethel to marry money and Cyril...
A short film that packs a lot of story in though. The film has fairly natural acting though technically is still rather static. The film looks like it will go off in one direction though will surprise you with it's enjoyable twist.
Wartime melodrama. During the Mexican-American War, the Mexicans send Juanita (Francis Gibson) across into the American lines to seduce the enemy and find out their secrets. Juanita hits it off with Lieutenant Harvey (Romaine Fielding) who proceeds to... teach her telegraphy. An interesting first date.
However, Juanita is unable to discover the Americans' plans. She sneaks a Mexican officer into the telegraph office who captures Harvey and takes him back to Mexican lines. By now though Juanita is in love with Harvey and as he faces execution, she calls for help from the Americans thanks to her new telegraph skills...
An interesting little film directed by one of the first female filmmakers in Alice Guy Blanche. The film is rather static with the narrative driven mostly by the inter-titles. Not that unusual for it's day.
Stan and Oliver turn up at Mrs Fox's mansion, greeted by the strange butler Jitters (Jack Barty) who plays imaginary cards and serves imaginary food! He warns them that Mrs Fox is going to cut their throats that night. All they have to do is stay awake...
A very inventive Laurel and Hardy comedy, somewhat more surreal and dark than some of their other work. Less slapstick more absurdity
A superb film. There obviously isn't much story other than to hang on a series of comedy set-pieces and slapstick stunts. But who cares, this is true genius.
The boat is bought from a junkyard and needs some work doing to it, of course nothing can go wrong there can it? Or should we say nothing can go right?
Stan and Ollie suffer various mishaps as they try and fix the boat, leading to a bit fall out between the guys. Finally, however the boat is ready to take to the docks... it is all going to OK now isn't it?
Not the best Laurel and Hardy comedy short though still very good fun with plenty of slapstick and comedy timing magic.
Unaware of this Stan fills a bucket of "water" from the well. It doesn't take long until he and Ollie are absolutely hammered. Passing motorist Mrs Hall (Mae Busch) also gets drunk much to her husband's (Charlie Hall) fury...
A highly enjoyable comedy short, a simple idea which is pushed to the max. Silly and perfectly timed with a good dose of slapstick.
The gimmick in this Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy comedy short is that Stan and Ollie are married to each other's sisters - who just happen to look exactly like their brothers except for the voices. As their joint first wedding anniversary (yes of course they got married on the same day!) is today they hold a dinner party. This quickly descends into chaos and a destroyed cake (or two). The two wives don't really like each other...
A simple thing with good slapstick and classic Laurel and Hardy interactions. Although not the best of their comedy shorts, this is a good bit of fun. The only annoying bit is Mrs Hardy's voice which is terribly high pitched. The actress who provided the voice, Carol Tevis, also provided the voice for the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz!
Harold Lloyd and Snub Pollard play a couple of small time con artists who have the fruitful scheme of pretending to lose a valuable ring and then tricking people to hand over cash for rubbish. One of their unsuspecting mugs is the phoney mystic Professor Goulash (William Blaisdell). However, his daughter Miss Goulash (Bebe Daniels) sees through Harold and Snub's scheme and tricks them out of their money!
A charming comedy short. Harold Lloyd plays a bad guy (of sorts) for a change, the film is notable more for it's visual humour than all-out slapstick.
Finally the house is in something vaguely resembling tidy Oliver heads to pick up his impatient wife at the station, Stan decides to light the fire so all is nice and warm and comfy. However, as the fire will not light he gets some paraffin, what is the worst that could happen?
The humour and slapstick is pretty obvious, you can see the situations coming a mile off but they are all executed perfectly. A great comedy short.
With the police still after them, they hide in a workman's lift on a skyscraper building site. They of course end up on top of the building and have to creep along the bare girders with various death defying stunts.
Not the best Laurel and Hardy comedy short but with plenty of invention especially in the skyscraper sequence though this part of the film might go on a bit too long.
To make matters worse, the nurse (Dorothy Coburn) of a hospital next door is demanding that Stan and Ollie make as little noise as possible. As you can imagine this is a forlorn hope...
This is a very funny and very silly film, the story is pretty basic and largely a framework for a series of comedic situations. The slapstick doesn't always work but the film races along a such a pace that you don't have time to dwell on it when it doesn't.
This is an incredibly inventive little film. All of the props were made twice, one normal size and the other larger so Stan and Ollie can realistically play children.
The slapstick and visual gags are standard Laurel and Hardy fare but done so well, they are easily able to carry this film on their own.
A Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy comedy short most famous for it's custard pie fight! Before that though Stan Laurel is the world's most unlikely prize fighter and inevitably gets beaten. Oliver Hardy takes out an insurance policy on Stan (sold by the unscrupulous Eugene Pallette) and then tries to engineer an accident using a banana peel. Things don't go to plan of course and after the banana peel causes a custard pie salesman (Charlie Hall) to slip and fall all Hell breaks out in the resultant custard pie fight!
The custard pie fight goes on for a long time, maybe too long but fulfils all the slapstick requirements of a comedy short of the period. The pie fight was said to have used at least 3, 000 custard pies (and maybe many more according to some sources!) This was one of the earliest official Laurel and Hardy films and they had yet to master their characters but the film is still good fun, though a bit disjointed due to missing parts of the film.
Although they had appeared together in a number of films beforehand (the first being 1921's The Lucky Dog), this was the first official Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy film. Ollie is at the docks waiting for his nephew (Stan) from Scotland. To his surprise, shock and the hilarity of everyone in town his nephew is wearing a kilt. That basically is the premise of the film, everyone finds a man in a kilt so funny, obviously they must be hard up for entertainment.
Fed up by all the attention, Ollie tries to get Stan some trousers. Stan isn't very keen on wearing them though, he is very keen on a flapper (Dorothy Coburn) though she doesn't exactly share the attraction.
So, a bit of a one joke film, which is fine if the joke is good but this one is a bit average. The film is watchable and quite funny but mostly of interest for historic value. The Laurel and Hardy double act was still a work in progress, soon it would conquer the world of comedy but not quite in this film.