Greatest Silent Shorts -- Comedies : A Project 300 Prequel
Jul 14 '04
The Bottom Line My favorite comic silent movie shorts are gathered here. Get a group, throw a viewing party, laugh until you hurt.
If I was given an assignment to list several of the most entertaining silent movie shorts, Most would be comedies..
The early short films of Griffith and others were melodramas and of historical interest. Early wonders like the magical films of George Melies, particularly Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon (1902- France) were remarkable short- shorts sometimes running less than a minute but I’ve decided not to put them into this list. list. I will also ignore some of the short documentaries involving the Titanic, or the San Francisco Earthquake. They can be fascinating but trying to see enough of them to determine how they rate is more trouble than I can afford. I’ll also pass over things like The Great Train Robbery, The Kiss, and the numerous stripping for your husband shorts that were extremely popular attractions. Several are worth watching (drum tap please), but I want to focus on films that I am interested in owning or at least having easy access to, so I can watch them once or twice a year and share with friends and family. There are also some incredible animation shorts. Koko the clown, early Betty Boop, Gertie the Dinosaur and others. The majority of these I haven’t seen in several years and I would have to do quite a bit of research to get up to speed. Perhaps some day I’ll do an animated short film list. Someone should.
There’s also: Un Chien Andalous (1930) Directed by Bunnuel, co-written/suggested by Dali; an incredible surrealistic short film featuring ants crawling out the palm of a hand and the infamous eyeball/razorblade scene.
The rest of my all time favorites are comedies. I limit myself to a maximum of 3 short films for Keaton, Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Chaplin and Chase. I could easily pick 10 for each. They are listed in the order I personally rate the talented comedians’ strongest bodies of work by the way. Consider Chaplin and L&H tied for 3rd place. I have included as many as 3 shorts for some other folks too, but they won’t be as familiar to you and I’m not sure once you get beyond their best 5 shorts that you will find quite the genius and inventiveness you find in the golden 5 (counting L&H as 1) above.
There are some Keystone cops comedies from Sennett that are quite amusing, but I wasn’t sure which ones are the best to list. So consider them just under the list. Many of the silent Our Gang comedies that I’ve seen are good, but I think most prefer seeing the sound versions and identify Our Gang as The Little Rascals when Spanky and Alfalfa and Darla ruled. A few of the silent comedians produced sound short comedies but Keaton’s efforts don’t compare to his silent work. Chaplin and Lloyd didn’t make sound shorts. Most consistent were Laurel and Hardy and sound added a dimension to their shorts that they used brilliantly. These however are my favorite Silent Short Comedies:
1. Buster Keaton: Acrobatic physical comedian raised as a child by vaudeville parents. He became part of the Battling Keatons and was known as the Human Mop!!! He was a genius and thought up influential ways to use the camera inventing or discovering many in-camera visual effects. He enjoyed surprising his audience and not always giving them what they expected. He got his start in the movies because of Fatty Arbuckle. Later as sound began and he worked for MGM he lost control of his films and of his life when he became a serious alcoholic. Nearly all his early sound films were severely flawed. A series of shorts he did with Educational Films were not anything close to his silent one. He delivered a few interesting sound films when he worked for Columbia, but he didn’t have control and the budgets were too small and he was drinking too much. In the 40’s almost forgotten he collaborated with many MGM stars as a gag writer on many films. He worked a lot on several of Red Skeleton’s films which in several cases were remakes of Keaton’s silent films. He found work in the early days of television and returned in small supporting roles in several films including Chaplin’s Limelight and Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard. He had a memorable part in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He was rediscovered by the public before his death on February 1 1966. He gave us one final nearly silent film short with The Railrodder shot in Canada in 1965.
ONE WEEK (1920)
Buster Keaton’s first solo short. Keaton was famous for his acrobatic skills and dangerous stunts. He’s the inspiration of Jackie Chan but he also was an extremely innovative technician . This short film features the infamous falling wall sequence where a matter of inches or a slight miscalculation would have meant serious injury or death. He repeated this gag and the storm sequence in his 1928 feature Steamboat Bill Jr. Watch as newlywed Keaton tries to build his new bride a house. The creative solutions he comes up with for his problems, the twists he plays on audience expectations. None better.
The Goat (1921)
Keaton’s best chase comedy short (slightly better than COPS) Policemen are after Keaton and after getting away from them cleverly several times they then believe he must be a dangerous murderer. So people are running from him and after him. Don’t miss it.
THE PLAYHOUSE (1921)
Without the luxury of CGI or even post production tinkering, Keaton plays 10 roles often appearing simultaneously with himself in this amazing film. And that’s just the first part of this film. The second part delivers some acrobatic silliness and Keaton dressed up as a monkey. It’s not actually his best short, but it’s such an amazing short film, particularly if you keep in mind when it was made, I have to recommend you watch this one. (Shameless plug for The Hi Sign, The Boat, The Electric House, Cops and Neighbors).
2. HAROLD LLYOD As popular as Chaplin in his day, Lloyd for some reason is not as well known as Keaton or Chaplin today but certainly should be. Many of his features (Safety Last, Why Worry, The Freshman) hold up very well. He had remarkable acrobatic ability. Not quite as technically innovative as Keaton, he delivered comedy and thrills with the best of them.
Never Weaken (1921)
Lloyd is in love with the girl in the next office. In order to help her he drums up business for her boss, an osteopath. He gets an actor friend of his, to pretend he is hurt so the doctor can ‘cure’ him and build a great reputation for the doc. Then he finds out the girl is going to marry someone else and he decides to end his life. He starts climbing around a tall building under construction taking ridiculous risks but failing at his attempts to commit suicide.
BUMPING INTO BROADWAY 1919
Lloyd is a struggling playwright who falls for a pretty show-girl. He needs to pay her boarding house rent. Chases and sight gags highlight Lloyd’s dexterity. (This was made prior to the accident Lloyd had where he lost two fingers and wore a prosthetic glove to fool the public). He winds up in a fancy speakeasy winning right before the cops rush in to bust everyone. Fast, funny and one not to miss. Bebe Daniels is his love interest.
HIGH AND DIZZY (1920)
The second thrill-comedy Lloyd made and still one of the best. Plot is real simple. Harold has to rescue a sleepwalking damsel in distress.. she’s on the ledge of a very tall building. At one point Harold looks down and his hair stands straight up.
3. CHARLIE CHAPLIN: The tramp. As graceful as a ballerina, Chaplin created a classic comic character and invented, borrowed and perfected classic comic scenarios that everyone has been using ever since. He also mixed pathos and humor as his career progressed finding the perfect balance in his 1931 masterpiece feature film City Lights. But before then….
A Dog's Life" (1918)
One of Chaplin’s funniest in which canine and human try to succeed against all odds. is not only the satisfying story of canine and human underdogs succeeding in spite of the odds against them, it's also a series of side-splitting gags and slapstick routines that are as funny today as they were when the film was released and became an instant hit. Highlights include: the fight over the rolls with the cops, the "human puppet" sequence, the fight with the wild dogs and the employment center sequence. You ready to laugh?
The Immigrant (1917)
Chaplin as the Tramp comes to America on a ‘tramp’ steamer. He tries to walk and then eat soup as the boat rocks, He meets a pretty young lady (Edna Purviance) who is taking care of her sick mother. He is falsely accused of stealing money but gets out of that one. There’s a magical moment when the boat approaches the Statue of Liberty and we see the faces of the immigrants believing they are arriving in a promised land. Chaplin is broke, finds a coin, eats a meal, loses his coin and sees the young lady (E.P.) in the restaurant. It’s one of the all time great Chaplin shorts. Don’t miss it.
EASY STREET 1917
One of the funniest comedies he made with Lone Star/Mutual. Easy Street is set in the slums of London (where Chaplin grew up) and has him as the down-and-out tramp who falls in love with a pretty girl at a mission (Chaplin's long-time screen partner, Purviance) he reforms, becomes a cop and helps others to rid the neighborhood of thugs. Well .. he tries.. Chaplin's made 12 films with Mutual and the company collapsed when Chaplin left (as happened previously to Essanay) to make a multi-million dollar salary with First National.
4. LAUREL AND HARDY: Stan Laurel was an English vaudeville performer who understudied Charlie Chaplin. He was making some shorts for Hal Roach, bumped into a fellow performer named Oliver Hardy who had also been making shorts for Roach and soon a life-long friendship and partnership began. They made famous the tit for tat, slow burn and one up-man-ship kind of comedy famous. Their characters were complex, their careers among the longest in show business.
BIG BUSINESS (1929)
Considered perhaps the funniest 20 minute film ever made. Laurel and Hardy are two Christmas Tree salesmen in sunny California. James Finlayson is the potential customer who begins a comic tit-tor-tat war with the boys then ends up with the house being torn apart!!!
Liberty (1929)
Two escaped convicts (Laurel & Hardy) change clothes in the getaway car, but they have got each other’s pants on. They simply want to exchange pants but one thing leads to another and before you know it they are high above the street on the steel girders of a construction site.
PUTTING PANTS ON PHILLIP (1927)
Speaking of pants… Do I really choose this slightly off-beat L&H over better known films like Two Tars, Live Ghost, or Battle of the Century where a pie fight becomes World War 1? You’re Darn Tootin’ I do. Pompous J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Hardy), greets his nephew Phillip from Scotland (Laurel,) who arrives in kilts. It’s off to the tailor with Phillip to get him a pair of proper pants. But Phillip doesn’t want pants. He’s also a girl chaser. A bit mean-spirited but very funny stuff.
5. Charley Chase was a multi-talented, funny comedian who could play a variety of characters. He also was instrumental in the careers of Laurel and Hardy. Chase was also a find comedy director who went on to direct the 3 Stooges. He began his career in 1912, worked with Sennett for many years, and transitioned into talkies. He was the obnoxious conventioneer in Laurel and Hardy’s Sons of the Desert. Unfortunately he had some unlucky career breaks and though he remained employed, he was not happy never being a particularly popular star despite his talent. He drank way too much which led to his death in his mid-40s.
Movie Night (1929)
A hysterically funny short in which Charley decides to take his family to the picture show. He tries to get his 12 year old in as a child, his littlest has to go to the bathroom and when he carries out of the auditorium she kicks a whole bunch of people in the back of the head and then later there’s the hiccups. A great one to see with a large audience if at all possible.
Crazy Like a Fox (1926)
Two rich families have decided they will arrange to have their children marry each other. The kids don’t like the idea and run away. Not knowing each other, they wind up meeting at the train station, and fall in love. Each one has decided to ruin their parent’s plans of the arranged marriage. So a plot is hatched. When Chase meets his supposed new in-laws he acts crazy. Then he finds out that the intended is the woman he actually loves!!! Oliver Hardy has a small role in the film. Quite fun and Chases’ comic timing and talent gets a work-out.
Limousine Love (1928)
This is a film that barely survives. It has suffered quite a bit of damage. Part of the film can be seen in the Robert Younson compilation film 4 Clowns (1970). Chase plays a groom on his way to the church to get married. Through innocent circumstances a nearly naked woman is his car. His friends must now help Charley so that the bride to be doesn’t see the woman in the car. It’s timeless and very funny
6. Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle: He weighed 300 pounds and was once more popular than Chaplin. In 1921 he was accused (falsely most now believe) of raping a starlet at a Hollywood party. His career was ruined by Hearst newspapers and two court mis-trials. Just as he was making a come-back in the 1930s, he died in his sleep at age 46. He ‘discovered’ Buster Keaton and Keaton later employed Arbuckle when no one would hire him.
The Butcher Boy (with Keaton) (1917)
The story goes that Buster Keaton was invited to work on the film by Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and improvised his very first scene in front of the camera. (Keaton had lots of experience in Vaudeville and the theater). He does an extended bit involving a barrel of molasses. Fatty is the Butcher Boy with a store full of customers to help. He goes into the freezer with a coat, tries to maintain order, juggles meat cleavers and tries not to be upstaged by Luke the dog.
The Cook (1918) with Keaton
Fatty is the cook and Buster his assistant at a posh seaside restaurant. While attempting to create greater efficiency, chaos occurs and then a robber shows up. Fatty and Buster’s funniest, thought to be a lost film until a print was discovered in 1998 and it was shown for at the Venice Film festival in 1999.
FATTY AND MABEL ADRIFT (1916) Charming comedy that builds nicely. Fatty and Mabel (Normand) plan to honeymoon at a sea-side cottage. Complications occur and then villains push the cottage into the sea with Fatty and Mabel asleep inside.
7. The cross eyed antics of Ben Turpin are best showcased in:
Yukon Jake (1924)
Ben is Cyclone Bill the popular sheriff of Mustang Gulch, the town is free of criminals and Bill’s in love with the mayor’s daughter. Yukon Jake and his gang come to town, cause trouble and kidnap Bill’s girl. I laughed quite a bit at this very silly silent comedy.
A Clever Dummy (1917) Ben Turpin joined Mack Sennett’s Keystone Company and within a few months delivered this very funny gem. Ben is a postman who’s in love. He discovers that some mechanics are making a robot that looks just like him. He switches places with the dummy, so when the mechanic introduces his robot it’s actually Ben and… it’s a lot of fun. Chester Conklin and Wallace Beery are also in this one.
8. Harry Langdon was a popular silent film comedian and a talented director as well. I’d describe him as a very shy Pee Wee Herman—a boy in a man’s body, but not completely naïve and innocent. He seemed a bit fragile and fey, but sometimes wound up heroic and with the girl. His best films IMHO are:
Fiddlesticks ( 1927):
Langdon’s character humor shines as he tries to be a musician but it’s obvious from everyone’s reactions he’s terrible. A junk collector eventually discovers his true talents.
The First Hundred Years (1924)
Harry and his wife have trouble with the new cook, but that's the least of their worries when mysterious strangers start popping up all through the house. They can’t all be maids and butlers. Very funny stuff.
Saturday Afternoon (1926)
Harry's buddy talks him into stepping out with two "nice girls,". Harry first has to figure out how to get out of his house and away from his suspicious domineering wife and then when they are out and about, the pair run into the young ladies’ boyfriends. A gentler character based comedy that many will find very entertaining.
9. Max Davidson Distinctive Jewish comedian made the transition into sound films.
PASS THE GRAVY (1928)
Max’s neighbor Schultz breeds chickens that are always getting into Max’s flower seeds. This causes an ongoing feud. When their children announce their engagement the two men decide to make peade and Max decides to have a dinner at his house. He gives his youngest son Ignatz 2 dollars to buy a chicken. Ignatz keeps the 2 dollars and steals Shultz prize breeding rooster (Brigham). Brigham Young the mormon leader with many lives was in the news at the time, thus a rooster name Brigham was funny stuff. The rooster is killed and served up for dinner. Uh oh… there’s a gold band on the chicken leg that is on Schultz’s plate. If he notices the gold band, he’ll know it’s Brigham they are eating and the marriage will be called off and a worse feud will begin. It’s a very funny short comedy and the ethnic humor is at a minimum, though there is a stereotypical black cook.
TIE 10. Move Along (1926)
Lloyd Hamilton made his mark briefly in the Ham and Bud shorts from 1914 to 1917. This is his best film in which a down on his luck Ham is told to “move along” first out of his rooming house, then no loitering on the streets. He has nowhere to go and so inventive sight gags and mis-adventures follow.
Tie 10. Snub Pollard Busy silent film comedian was usually a second banana but made a series of worthwhile comic shorts. He eventually did bit parts in popular low budget westerns (during the 40s and into the 1950s). He’s a small guy with a droopy moustache.
His best is probably:
It’s a Gift 1923
Snub’s house has many clever inventions. They don’t always work the way they are supposed to however. A gem.
There are dozens of others shorts I’m confident would delight modern audiences. The physical dexterity, sight gags, slapstick, timing and often grace of the performers are something to admire. It’s always best to watch these films with an audience in a movie theater if at all possible. Second choice would be to watch them on a large screen television with plenty of appreciative friends and acquaintances.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN 300 PROJECT? I will be writing a series of articles and essays listing more than 300 superb films in celebration of my 300th Epinion contribution.
Copyright© Christopher J. Jarmick 2004
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Member: Chris Jarmick
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