Works, By Duration: 1-5 minutes (88)

Total: 463 works

Sandow

Circus showman Sandow, credited with coining the term “body-building”, yawns while checking on his butt and underarm BO.

Tables Turned on the Gardener/The Sprayer Sprayed (L'Arroseur arrosé)

Considered the earliest known instance of film comedy, and the first use of film to portray a fictional story. Also a seminal work in the field of Internet porn, as the first work in the older-male-spanks-twink genre.

A Terrible Night (Une nuit terrible)

Man's sleep disturbed by a giant bug. This gag is expanded in 'The Farmer's Troubles in a Hotel' (1902), then later refined in Max Linder's 1911 'Une nuit agitee' [Star Film 26]

The Farmer's Troubles in a Hotel

Farmer's sleep interrupted by pests.

Should be called “The Farmer's Terrible Night in the Devil's Hotel”, as this augments Méliès' 1896 A Terrible Night (Une nuit terrible) with tricks from Méliès' 1896 Le manoir du diable (The House of the Devil/The Devil's Castle/The Haunted Castle) to add another entry to the rube-in-the-city genre that was then popular.

From description at Sulphur Springs Collection of Pre-Nickelodeon Films: Restoration of this comic trick film salvaged 108 ft. of its original 150 ft. length. Some opening action described by the catalog in which the Farmer first enters the hotel lobby was missing.

Happy Hooligan

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

How Monsieur Takes His Bath (Comment monsieur prend son bain)

Man finds it impossible to undress for bed, because new clothes magically keep appearing on him. Remake of 'Going to Bed Under Difficulties (Le Déshabillage impossible)'.

Going to Bed Under Difficulties (Le Déshabillage impossible)

Man finds it impossible to undress for bed, because new clothes magically keep appearing on him.

In The Bewitched Inn (L'auberge ensorcelée) the man's clothes rebelled by politely departing from the room, but here the clothes aggressively refuse to leave his body, as new ones repeatedly replace the clothes that have been removed.

As in his 1896 film, A Terrible Night (Une nuit terrible) and 1897 The Bewitched Inn (L'auberge ensorcelée), there is no rest for the weary here.

This was remade several times, for example W.R.Booth's 1901 Undressing Extraordinary and Alice Guy-Blaché's 1903 How Monsieur Takes His Bath (Comment monsieur prend son bain). Its influence can also be seen in Tex Avery's 1952 animation Magical Maestro.

[Star Film 312-313]

Stop Thief!

Thief steals, boy and dogs chase. All end up in a barrel. Ends abruptly, as if ending was lost. One of the earliest known surviving chase films, it's a good film to show critics that claim that movies have degenerated into gratuitous violence: this shows violence was there from the beginning. Strips the dude's clothes off, and then goes down to the mud to wrestle with him - kinda kinky...

Uncle Josh At The Moving Picture Show

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

La danse des apaches

According to the Oxford dictionary of dance, the Apaché did not appear in France until about 1908. But here it is, in full bloom, in 1904. Is Oxford lying to us? Check out this Stanford post “The hidden story of the Apache dance” for an explanation. TLDR: Mistinguett's autobiography claims that she created the dance before 1908, as early as 1903.

La Polka des Trottins

The Phonoscène was an antecedent of music video and is regarded as a forerunner of sound film. It combined a sound recording with a film shot with actors lip-synching to the sound recording. The recording and film were synchronized by a mechanism ('Chronophone') patented by Léon Gaumont in 1902.

Featured elements:

The True Jiu-Jitsu (Le Vrai Jiu-Jitsu)

The Phonoscène was an antecedent of music video and is regarded as a forerunner of sound film. It combined a sound recording with a film shot with actors lip-synching to the sound recording. The recording and film were synchronized by a mechanism ('Chronophone') patented by Léon Gaumont in 1902.

Misfortune Never Comes Alone

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

Desperate Poaching Affray

'Alas, my hat...'. Desperate, gun-toting, upper-class posse chases desperate, gun-toting, hat-fetishist poachers.

Pioneering, popular, and influential, this is a fast-paced no-frills thriller. Fight scenes are not the stylized choreography of today, but rough-and-tumble brawls more suitable to men who are “desperate”.

The one distraction comes from one poacher's hat, that naturally takes flight in its own direction. Instead of leaving it behind, as his partner wisely did, the poacher repeatedly pauses from his flight to recover his beloved hat - leaving audiences with a clear message: crime in hats doesn't pay.

Decoyed

A ragtag ruffian forces a 'young girl' to make money on the streets for him. Cleverly uses part of set as a substitute for a title card. But the timeline of events is not clear: all events seem to be happening in real time, but that would mean the 'Reward...Young Girl' poster appears less than a minute after her abductiom!

Joined Lips (Lèvres Collées)

When man kisses maid, whose mouth is used for affixing postage stamps, their lips become glued. Only interesting as a benchmark for Alice Guy-Blaché's superior version, 'A Sticky Woman (La femme collante)', which elevates this silly gag to a grim social satire.

A Very Fine Lady (Une Dame Vraiment Bien)

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.

No More Bald Men

Simple gag, smooth execution. Year uncertain, estimates ranging from 1905 to 1912, with 1908 most common.

Too Much Beauty (Cretinetti che bello!/Troppo Bello)

When Cretinetti is invited to a wedding, he heads out in his most dapper looks - thus making him irresistable to every woman who sees him (including the bride!). A setup for yet another remake of 1904's 'Personal' - with a twist ending that reflects Deed's roots with Georges Méliès.

Sidney Street Siege

A newsreel of the state response to the challenge of a couple of anarchists in 1911 London that fought off the combined force of police and military. Was the inspiration for the shootout in the final scene of Hitchcock's 1934 "The Man Who Knew Too Much".

Return to Reason (Le Retour à la Raison)

A rather boring collection of shapes and semi-white noise.

Midwife to the Upper Class (Sage-femme de première classe)

Remake of the 1900 film The Cabbage Fairy (La Fee aux Choux).

Mary Jane's Mishap

Got Fire! here, but no heroic rescues: the eugenicists were glad to see Mary Jane go...

Atypical of the era, includes four medium shots when other films included none or just one. The shots reveal the character of Mary Jane in that scene:

  1. a yawning (and probably inattentive) sleepyhead
  2. a careless simpleton, smudging her face while polishing shoes
  3. a playful airhead, goofing with her mistake
  4. the most dangerous type of fool: winks to the camera showing she is pleased with her 'clever' idea of lighting the stove with paraffin
Even more atypically, all of the shots remain within the narrative. Thus, we know all this about Mary Jane that morning without the aid of narration or symbols, but solely through the skillful use of both pantomime and camerawork.

A Daring Daylight Burglary

One of the models for 'The Great Train Robbery'and 'The Bold Bank Robbery'. Also provides an early taste of the police procedural, in the form of a detailed rendering of emergency medical assistance for the injured policemen (a digression that, regrettably, breaks the pace of the chase).

Buy Your Own Cherries

A short morality tale on redemption through temperance, skillfully structured and executed.

A Railway Tragedy

A petty crime that quickly escalates...

Revenge!

This revenge is not so sweet - quite nasty, in fact - showing that producers learned early that exploiting human fascination with viewing violence can be profitable.

1904 seems to have been the year that the fledgling film industry made an important but unheralded discovery: audiences also like to root for outlaws - even when they know those outlaws are doomed to fail.

Just look at Revenge, and compare it with another crime film by the same director, released just ten months earlier: The Pickpocket. Although the titles might lead one to believe The Pickpocket is a character study while Revenge is not, actually neither reveals anything about the protagonist.

But although both begin with commission of the crime that sets off the action, nothing in the portayal of the pickpocket garners audience sympathy for the outlaw or his crime. On the other hand, the protagonist of Revenge is shown committing his crime as a victim of betrayal, his life ripped apart by those in power and authority. Finally, the film industry had tapped into an archetype that cinema audiences never seem to tire of identifying with: the protagonist who feels wronged by the powers that be, so sets out for to make things right by slaughtering everything in sight.

The Irresistible Piano (Le Piano Irresistible)

Dance fever - the musical version of the incremental chase. Max Linder films used a scaled-down version of this gag at least twice. Like other Alice Guy comedies, mostly it's the unrestrained comic flair of the anonymous (uncredited) performers that elevates this from a simple gag to delightful madness.

Madam's Fancies/Madame's Cravings (Madame a des envies)

This shows that pregnancy is an opportunity for a woman to ruthlessly indulge every passing fancy. But her jones, can break his bones - partners beware! Uses medium shots within the narrative, in a way similar to the 1903 'Mary Jane's Mishap.'

The Cleaning Man (Le Frotteur)

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.

The Race for the Sausage (Course a la saucisse)

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).

The Torn Trousers/In A Difficult Position (Mon Pantalon Est Décousu)

Max uses finesse to try to hide a rip in his trousers during a dance. This is quintessential Max: the dapper and loveable upper-class twit whose efforts to impress ladies crash and burn while he tries to keep face, in the modern man's dilemma of maintaining the delusion of stability as his world falls apart.

Max Goes Skiing (Max Fait Du Ski)

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

Fire!

Read the title - that's all you need to know.

Note the exclamation point (also in the title of the other Williamson film that was shown with this one: Stop Thief!). These titles are shouting and, though short, their feeling is strong.

This is one of the most influential of surviving early action films, and it is easy to see why: it begins in a blaze and the momentum never eases. Cutting from the blaze to the approaching fireman and then back again, the film solidly establishes the drama of rescue - a drama device whose popularity still shows no sign of decline.

Was remade for Edison as Edwin S. Porter's (less exciting) 1903 Life of an American Fireman, which led to Porter's 1903 blockbuster The Great Train Robbery.

Les Victimes De L'alcoolisme

A moralizing tale of intemperance. First of numerous adaptations of the novel 'L'Assommoir' (1877), by Émile Zola

Despite its story - of the type hilariously parodied in W.C. Fields' The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933) - the film is still impressive, featuring:

  • An early use of expository intertitles
  • An extended opening shot that establishes the “Interieur du ménage ouvrier, heureux et prospère”: the worker's happy and prosperous home (although his slovenly personal hygiene seems a fatal flaw as bad as booze: coming in off the mean streets of the early industrial era, and immediately sitting down to dinner without washing hands - ugh! But the film is not titled “Victims of Slovenly Personal Hygiene”, so that has to be overlooked).
  • A street scene and tavern scene that somewhat capture the feel of the actual locations, even though they were obviously shot on sets. Unfortunately, as with too many films of this era, the sets dwarf the actors, who never occupy more than half the screen height.

And all capped with an over the top performance of a delirium tremens attack (undoubtedly worsened by his slovenly personal hygiene) - for a full 1.2 minutes (that feels like hours).

The Inn Where No Man Rests (L'auberge du bon repos)

Drunk gags + 'Bewitched Inn' + 'Going to Bed Under Difficulties' + chase, all rolled into one. [Star Film 465-469]

Runaway Match/Marriage by Motor

Papa's attempt to bring back his eloping daughter is foiled by car troubles, in what is credited as the first (extremely brief) film car chase. But everyone's happy in the end. In between we get this close shot of hands and not much else. It seems odd to say a 5-minute film was too long, but watching the clock was more entertaining than watching the film. Thankfully, the added music is gorgeous.

The Child Stealers

Some kids are snatched, one is rescued, the rest - who knows, who cares?

Raid on a Coiner's Den

After an intriguing emblematic shot, the coiners are shown hard at work, though at least one is a bit jittery. His fear turns out to be a premonition, as the heat swarms in while the coiners are out. Strangely, the leader of the raid then trades in his supervisory role to go undercover in the den. But when he tries to make the arrest, he shows us why he should've stuck to supervising, as he botches the raid by letting the coiners get the drop on him.

That was an exciting plot twist, but the film failed to build upon that tension, and instead rushes to wrap up the whole affair (via a chase that's almost too brief to be called that) just two minutes later. Promising start but no delivery, so we're left with a botched film about a botched raid on a coiner's den.

The Strenuous Life, Or, Anti-Race Suicide

A satirical answer to President Teddy Roosevelt's call for Anglo-Saxon women to keep up with the birth rate of ethnic minorities, or risk 'race suicide'. Mike Judge's 2006 'Idiocracy' essentially makes the same call, and is considered a 'cult classic'. Maybe Teddy's call was ridiculed just because it was ahead of its time.

Le Costume Blanc

André Deed was one of film's first comedy stars yet, unfortunately, films like this might leave modern viewers wondering why. Deed's face is seldom visble, and the camera frequently lingers after he is out of frame.

The Game-Keeper's Son (Le Fils du garde chasse)

The game-keeper's son witnesses his father's death while chasing a poacher, then picks up the pursuit himself. Interestingly, it's not clear whether the father is murdered, or dies accidentally after failing to stop in time - and then the same ambiguity occurs again at the end.

His First Cigar (Premier Cigare d'un Collegien)

This is not Max, the dapper and loveable upper-class twit, but appears to be the same schoolboy in 'In Love With The Bearded Woman' (same uniform and still living with parents), who takes a crack at cigar-smoking. Closeup shots showcase Linder's remarkable expressive abilities, as he demonstrates how to choke with finesse.

Pedicure for Love/Unwilling Chiropodist (Pédicure Par Amour)

When papa steps in, Max must stop romancing the daughter and pretend to be a pedicurist.

An early version of what seems to have been a sort of signature skit for Linder: it was remade in 1914, and then a portion of the remake appears in another film as the catalyst that spawns a Max Linder imitator. This version includes André Deed (as the real pedicurist, who ends up romancing the wife), Pathé's star comic before Linder. Deed's exit from Pathé gave Linder his opportunity for stardom. This may be the only surviving film where they are seen together - although with the poor quality and distant camera, actually not much can be seen.

Beginning of the Serpentine Dance (Création de la Serpentine)

Here Linder pays his dues in a way familiar to many comics: as merely the comic lead-in to the girlie show.