A Film Johnnie

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Not a knee-slapper, but still fascinating to see how much comedy Chaplin could eke out from the simple premise of a star-struck rube wandering around a film lot. Plus we get a funnier rendition of “rube at the moving picture show” than Mack Sennett's poor performance in Mabel's Dramatic Career (1913).

Online: Internet Archive

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Mabel's Dramatic Career

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.

Uncle Josh At The Moving Picture Show

A remake of The Countryman And The Cinematograph (1901).