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Voidsville Follies

Works featuring "slapstick" (54)

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Showing 1-20 of 54 works

Happy Hooligan

G.W. Bitzer (cinematographer)
Frederick Opper (author)
American Mutoscope and Biograph (production)

Language: Silent, released in Jun 1903
Minutes: 1

Happy's jam is iced by the heat, but he has the last laugh.

Featured elements:

: comedy; slapstick; tramp

Misfortune Never Comes Alone

Georges Méliès (director)
Star (production)

Language: Silent, released in Jun 1903
Minutes: 3

Anarchic comedy (with a cool noir-ish title), away from standard Star fare. [Star Film 451-452]

Featured elements:

: comedy; slapstick

An Interesting Story

James Williamson (director)
Williamson (production)

Language: Silent, released in Oct 1904
Minutes: 4

A cautionary tale for smartphone addicts.

Featured elements:

: comedy; extended incident; fantasy; slapstick

The Suburbanites

American Mutoscope and Biograph (production)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Nov 1904
Minutes: 9

Funny slapstick spoof of suburban life, using titles dripping in irony. Doesn't feel outdated, because films on this topic haven't changed much.

Featured elements:

: comedy; roughhouse; slapstick

The Unfortunate Policeman

R.W. Paul's (production)

Language: Silent, released in 1905, month unknown
Minutes: 4

1 cop + 1 flirt + 1 kiss = 1 incremental chase.

Featured elements:

: chase; comedy; slapstick

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

The Policemen's Little Run (La course des sergents de ville)

Ferdinand Zecca (director)
André Heuzé (writer)
Pathé (production)

Language: Silent, released in Jan 1907
Minutes: 6

Dog goes for sausage, police go after dog.

Featured elements:

: animal act; chase; comedy; crazy cops; emblematic shot; slapstick

The Unskillful Skater/The Skater's Debut/Max Learns To Skate (Début d'un Patineur)

Louis J. Gasnier (director/writer)
Max Linder (lead)
Pathé (production)

Language: Silent, released in Mar 1907
Minutes: 5

Max causes havoc when he joins other skaters on a frozen lake.

Featured elements:

: comedy; emblematic shot; slapstick; sports

The Glue (La Glu)

Alice Guy-Blaché (director)
Gaumont (production)

Language: Silent, released in Nov 1907
Minutes: 5

Just another romantic tale of boy meets glue.

Featured elements:

: comedy; slapstick

The Cleaning Man (Le Frotteur)

Alice Guy-Blaché (director)
Gaumont (production)

Language: Silent, released in 1907, month unknown
Minutes: 4

Fans of Rik Mayall/Ade Edmondson's brand of 'full-on destruction' comedy will bow down in homage to this pioneering work of riotous excess.

Featured elements:

: comedy; roughhouse; slapstick

The Race for the Sausage (Course a la saucisse)

Alice Guy-Blaché (director)
Louis Feuillade (director)
Gaumont (production)

Language: Silent, released in 1907, month unknown
Minutes: 4

Dog goes for sausage, town goes after dog. Similar to Pathé's 'The Policemen's Little Run' (released the same year), but towers over the competition in scoring for PPM (Pratfalls Per Minute).

Featured elements:

: animal act; chase; comedy; emblematic shot; 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 subtitled "Birth of the Burqa: Boys Beware!". As shown in the image above, just some good ole fashioned crotch humor here.

Featured elements:

: comedy; extended incident; slapstick

The Delights of the Shoot

André Deed (lead)
Valentina Frascaroli (lead)

Language: Silent, released in Jan 1910
Minutes: 6

Not clear what's going on, but it appears that Cretinetti goes on a hunting trip with his lover and her husband. Then the two lovers conspire several ways to dump on hubby, so they can do the hanky panky. Fast-moving slapstick, but no laughs.

Featured elements:

: comedy; extended incident; forbidden love; slapstick; treachery

Max Goes Skiing (Max Fait Du Ski)

Lucien Nonguet (director)
Max Linder (lead/writer)
Pathé (production)

Language: Silent, released in May 1910
Minutes: 4

A showcase of the art of the pratfall, harking back to the debut of Max.

Featured elements:

: comedy; slapstick; sports

Max Takes Tonics (Victime du quinquina)

Max Linder (director/lead)
Maurice Delamare (lead/writer)
Pathé (production)

Language: Silent, French titles, English subtitles, released in Dec 1911
Minutes: 17

AKA, “Why Top Hats Fell Out Of Favor”...Max visits a doctor who prescribes a tonic, but Max overdoses and goes about the day in a completely drunken state. A true masterpiece - funnier with every viewing.

Featured elements:

: bad cop; boozy-woozy; comedy; farce; goofs; identity mix-up; infidelity; metakill science; neglected spouse; slapstick; smack attack; social commentary

Help! Help!

Mack Sennett (director)
Mabel Normand (lead)
Fred Mace (lead)
Dell Henderson (lead)
Edward Dillon (lead)
Biograph (production)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Apr 1912
Minutes: 8

Parody of the (unintentionally) much funnier rescue thriller, "The Lonely Villa" (that Sennett wrote and performed in), and steppingstone to the (intentionally) funnier debut (or semi-debut according to some) film of The Keystone Cops released a year later, "The Bangville Police".

Featured elements:

: automobile; comedy; distress call; home invasion; invasion-call-rescue; parody; rescue; slapstick

Love Unconquerable (Amour tenace)

Max Linder (director/lead/writer)
Stacia Napierkowska (lead)
Georges Gorby (lead)
Pathé (production)

Language: Silent, French titles, English subtitles, released in Aug 1912
Minutes: 10

Max is spurned by the father of his love, but still he persists. Note that Max briefly revisits his 1907 debut film, "The Unskillful Skater".

Featured elements:

: comedy; forbidden love; romance; slapstick; sports

The Bangville Police

Henry Lehrman (director)
Mabel Normand (lead)
Fred Mace (lead)
Charles Avery (lead)
Nick Cogley (lead)
Keystone Cops (lead)
Mack Sennett (producer)
Keystone (production)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Apr 1913
Minutes: 9

Debut (or semi-debut according to some) of The Keystone Cops in a parody of the invasion-call-rescue plot formula, popularized by D.W. Griffith films.

Featured elements:

: automobile; comedy; crazy cops; distress call; home invasion; identity mix-up; invasion-call-rescue; parody; rescue; slapstick

Mabel's New Hero/Fatty And The Bathing Beauties

Mack Sennett (director/producer)
Mabel Normand (lead)
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (lead)
Charles Inslee (lead)
Virginia Kirtley (lead)
Keystone Cops (lead)
Keystone (production)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Aug 1913
Minutes: 10

Roscoe and the Keystone Cops in an orgy of pratfalls, while Mabel mugs, bounces, and shows off her wild left roundhouse.

Featured elements:

: comedy; crazy cops; female avenger; fighting; slapstick

Mabel's Dramatic Career

Mack Sennett (director/lead/producer)
Mabel Normand (lead)
Alice Davenport (lead)
Virginia Kirtley (lead)
Ford Sterling (lead)
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (lead)
Charles Avery (lead)
Keystone Cops (lead)
Keystone (production)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Sep 1913
Minutes: 15

Mack Sennett stars as a bumpkin who courts, then quickly dumps, his klutzy housemaid, played by Mabel Normand. The maid later finds success on screen - in Keystone comedies! Sennett assembled a fine cast: Mabel's comic mug (above) and nicely timed pratfalls are enough to carry the comedy by itself, but she gets ample help from Ford Sterling's wacky comic moves. The Keystone-within-a-Keystone is a clever touch that's more realistic than the similar scene in `The False Max Linder`. Unfortunately, Sennett's performance seems amateurishly overacted and drags the pace down. Thankfully, Sennett didn't star in many more of his comedies after this.

Featured elements:

: backstage; comedy; forsaken; identity mix-up; metatheatre; parody; slapstick; slide; zero to hero

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Showing 1-20 of 54 works

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