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Voidsville Follies

Works from Romeo Bosetti (4)

The Drunken Mattress (Le matelas epileptique)

Alice Guy-Blaché (director)
Romeo Bosetti (lead/director)
Gaumont (production)

Language: Silent, released in Dec 1906
Minutes: 9

Woman battles a mattress that's stuffed with a drunk. That's the film's only gag, yet it is stretched to 9 long minutes. During the rough and tumble, watch for the moments the 'woman' (Romeo Bosetti) struggles to keep on first his fake boobs, then his wig.

Featured elements:

: boozy-woozy; comedy; extended incident; slapstick

A Very Fine Lady (Une Dame Vraiment Bien)

Romeo Bosetti (director)
Louis Feuillade (director/writer)
Renée Carl (lead)
Gaumont (production)

Language: Silent, released in Oct 1908
Minutes: 3

Could be called “Birth of the Burqa: Boys Beware!”. A spot-on portrait of the folly of men, with a touch of some good old fashioned crotch humor, as shown in the image above.

Featured elements:

: comedy; extended incident; slapstick

Romeo Turns Bandit (Roméo Se Fait Bandit)

Max Linder (lead)
Romeo Bosetti (director)
Pathé (production)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Nov 1909
Minutes: 6

Romeo hires bandits to kidnap Juliet and capture her father. Move on folks, nothing to see here.

Featured elements:

: forbidden love; romance

The False Max Linder (Un idiot qui se croit Max Linder)

Romeo Bosetti (director/lead/writer)
Jules Vial (lead)
Max Linder (lead)

Language: Silent, English and German titles, released in Oct 1914
Minutes: 12

Tries, but fails, to be an imitation Max. Samples "Max Pedicure". Ironic movie posters (for actual movies) suggest a possible subtext of the film. One is titled "Le duel de Max (Max and His Rival)" from 1913. When the imposter takes off the current poster, a poster is revealed for another Pathé Frères film: "La rançon de Rigadin (1914)" starring Charles Prince, whose "Rigadin" character was the only film comic that rivalled Max in popularity (and sometimes both used the same scenario: e.g., The Lady Doctor, and Courting Two Lovers). Was this film a sly putdown in a 1914 hiphop-style battle?