Works, By Title: M-R (98)

Total: 479 works

Featured image for Mariage forcé

Mariage forcé

When Max walks in on his manservant lovingly looking over a newly purchased dress, the servant admits his passion - and Max reaches for his hip pocket. But not for a gun, as the servant fears, but for his wallet - and Max immediately pays him to act as his bride (Broad-minded chap, this fellow Max).

Cross-dressing strictly for deception is an old gag - as in Max and the Maid (1912). But pulling off a project of deception by enlisting the aid of someone who cross-dresses for pleasure is not a common gag. But if Max doesn't marry soon he won't get any more money from his uncle (a premise that returns in Max's King of the Circus (1924)). The uncle, who showed no interest in Max's other marriage prospects, goes nuts over the male-order bride. An uncommon gag - and also a subtle satire of upper-class sexual conventions.

Goof: Around 8:27 the door is opened and then shut but no one appears - perhaps an aborted entrance?

Featured image for Mary Jane's Mishap

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.

Featured image for Master Of The House (Du skal ære din hustru)

Master Of The House (Du skal ære din hustru)

When a boy, who is given severe beatings by his nanny, grows up to be a severely abusive husband, his nanny returns to straighten him out with even more abuse and severe humiliation. Hint - this is a movie with a message: whenever you see men abusive to women, ask yourself what kind of women raised them to be that way.

Featured image for Max And The Donkey (L'âne jaloux)

Max And The Donkey (L'âne jaloux)

Max is fooled into believing he is stalked by a jealous donkey. Note that here Max is chased down a wall by the donkey, and in "Max Takes A Bath" he is chased up a similar wall by cops.

Featured image for Max and the Flirtometer (Le Baromètre de la Fidélité)

Max and the Flirtometer (Le Baromètre de la Fidélité)

The Linders are given a long tube filled with clear liquid and told that their fidelity is proven as long as the liquid stays clear (no swabs or body fluid samples required!). It is missing the opening scene, as described at the Film: Ab Initio blog, which notes “Its brand of humour makes it a forerunner for the screwball comedies of the thirties and forties”. Features the Max Slide.

Featured image for Max And The Fowl (Max reprend sa liberté)

Max And The Fowl (Max reprend sa liberté)

Max flips the bird to his chick, but then flips his wig over a chicken. A darker remake of the 1908 "Troubles of a Grasswidower" - in both lighting and humor - yet even more zany. But here Linder plays against character: although Max is normally a loveable upper class twit, here he is a complete cad from the first scene to the last.

Featured image for Rescued By Rover

Rescued By Rover

1905 is known as a 'miracle year' for physics, when Einstein published papers that changed views on space, time, mass, and energy. That year, the international blockbuster hit movie was of a dog performing tricks for the camera. That this nonetheless appears as a coherent story of a character moving through space and time, has to mark 1905 as also a 'miracle year' for motion pictures.

Featured image for Return to Reason (Le Retour à la Raison)

Return to Reason (Le Retour à la Raison)

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

Featured image for Revenge!

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.