Works, By Title: M-R (102)

Total: 485 works

Featured image for Max And His Mother-in-law (Max et sa belle-mère)

Max And His Mother-in-law (Max et sa belle-mère)

Max has a new bride, but can't escape his mother-in-law. Twice the length, but fraction of laughs. Virtually every moment of the film shows Max in anger, yet that is not where Max's comic attraction dwells - he is lovable as a hapless twit. But it does provide historic confirmation for an axiom of comedy: your act is in trouble when you find yourself resorting to mother-in-law jokes.

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 Speaks English (L'anglais tel que Max le parle)

Max Speaks English (L'anglais tel que Max le parle)

Max meets an English girl on a train, and uses drawings to woo her. Few laughs, but effortlessly oozes charm.

Featured image for Max Takes A Bath (Max prend un bain)

Max Takes A Bath (Max prend un bain)

Max does a nervous twitch so effectively, it is almost contagious. When doctor prescribes hot baths, Max buys a tub which, hilariously, leads to a wall-scaling chase, as first seen in the 1906 "The ? Motorist", adding to the the wonderful absurdity of it all.

Featured image for Max Takes A Picture (Max fait de la photo)

Max Takes A Picture (Max fait de la photo)

Max goes nuts when he sees big butt. Max tries to sneak snapshots of a Rubenesque beauty on the beach, but she gets payback - as Max ends up frantic with guilt. Too little content, dragged out too long.

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.

Featured image for Revolution In Russia (La révolution en Russie)

Revolution In Russia (La révolution en Russie)

A dramatization of the 1905 Odessa uprising in Russia, later retold in Eisenstein's 1925 epic 'Battleship Potemkin'.

Featured image for Riddle Gawne

Riddle Gawne

The film is mostly lost, about 11 minutes of scattered fragments remain. But there is some Hart slapstick, a peek at Lon Chaney with too much hair and, for a change, Hart's character stops kissing his horse and instead French-kisses his preteen niece - though he really had his eye on the dog...