Works featuring "catfight" (12)
Featured image for Carmen [1913]

Carmen [1913]

A fragment of a 1913 Italian-Spanish production of the story of Carmen, minus the ending, and partly in poor condition, thus probably only of interest to Carmen enthusiasts.

Although an opening title declares the film to be: “The famous work of PROSPER MÉRIMÉE faithfully brought to the screen from the book”, like Carmen herself the film's faithfulness is questionable. It actually closely follows the opera's adaptation, even quoting lyrics of the musical numbers. There is one important exception: the opera portrayed José as an upright soldier dragged to disgrace and dishonor by the charms of Carmen. This film retains the backstory of José given in the book: he joined the military as a lamster from a bloody quarrel (possibly deadly - victim's fate is not revealed). So José used a military uniform to cover a roguish past, and his acts of violent rage began long before he met Carmen. That alone might make this film fragment notable to Carmen enthusiasts.

Sources: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carmen_(1913).webm, “Carmen on Screen: An Annotated Filmography and Bibliography” https://books.google.com/books?id=Yl3cwxX2s_oC&printsec=copyright&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Featured image for Mabel's Strange Predicament

Mabel's Strange Predicament

Fans of Mabel's comedy don't like this because the focus is on her charm rather than her comic talents. And although Mabel stars, it's really a showcase for Chaplin - the film where The Tramp was born. But fans of Chaplin's pathos and progressive social commentary don't like to see the lovable Little Tramp obnoxiously drunk, belligerent, lewd, and molesting (though such drunk roles launched Chaplin's fame in the English music halls). So this film has gotten poor reviews. But this work is a gem precisely because it is different - showing how Chaplin's style diverged from American film comics, utilizing small quirky movements and subtle comic expression, not just broad clowning. Actually worthy of the Keystone byline 'farce comedy', and with its subtle humor, this is one for Max Linder fans (both Chaplin and Sennett were big fans): cf. 'Max Takes Tonics' (1911).

Note: there seems to be no agreement on director's credits: Mabel Normand (as claimed by IMDB and Wikipedia), Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett, or Henry Lehman and Mack Sennett.

Featured image for Keno Bates, Liar

Keno Bates, Liar

Keno Bates, Sleazeball, runs a saloon. As every Hart movie has shown, saloon owners are despicable scumbags who run crooked gambling halls. When one of Keno's victims refuses to accept that he'd walked into Keno's trap, he lashes out in armed revenge to retrieve his money - just as the “hero” of Hart's The Silent Man (1917) does. Although both Keno and his henchman were armed, they offered no resistance (which would be considered legitimate self-defense), made no attempt to dissuade the man, and afterwards never notified the law.

Instead Keno Bates, Lyncher and his henchman set out after the money they'd swindled, and the hombre who had the gall to grab it back - despite knowing he was armed and desperate.

When Keno Bates, Murderer eyeballs a snapshot of his victim's sister, he warns his henchman to get ready to take their lying to a whole new level, as Keno Bates, Slimebucket starts scheming how to use the murder he just committed to bust a move on the dead man's sister.

Later, when the sister learns that she has been deceived, she reacts like her brother. First, she lashes out murderously against the innocent messenger - the only honest person in the whole flick, and the one who legitimately pulled a weapon in self-defense.

Then she lashes out in armed revenge against Keno Bates, Sucker, who has fallen for a wild vixen in sheep's clothing, who will bring into his life the hell that he rightly deserves, and the DNA that would eventually result in Norman Bates, Psycho.