German Expressionist director F.W. Murnau, who is known for films such as Nosferatu, Faust, Sunrise, and The Last Man, directed only one true comedy film. This film was 1924's "Finances of the Grand Duke". While this may not be as great of a work of art, as those previous films I mentioned, it is a very entertaining, and interesting experiment, that shows a different side to one of Germany's greatest film makers.
The famous Hollywood comedy director Ernst Lubitsch (To Be or Not to Be, The Shop Around the Corner) began his career in Germany as an an actor, mostly appearing in shorts.
After being accused of rape (probably falsely) silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle no longer appeared in front of the camera. However he would direct some films under the name William Goodrich. His friend Buster Keaton suggested the name Will B. Good, but Arbuckle thought that would be too obvious.
There is a joke in the Marx Brother's film The Big Store in which Margret Dumount says to Groucho, "I'm afraid after we're married awhile, a beautiful young girl will come along, and, uh, you'll forget all about me" to which Groucho replies "Don't be silly. I'll write you twice a week.". Producer L. K. Sidney did not like this joke (for unknown to me reasons) and wanted it taken out of the movie. Director, Charles Reisner however insisted the joke stay in. Since this was an MGM picture, this argument was brought to Louie B. Mayer. When asked about the joke Louie B. Mayer replied "greatest line in the picture". The joke is still in the movie.
Comedy producer extraordinaire, Hal Roach (Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang (Little Rascals), Charley Chase) is credited (On IMDb) with producing 1,198 films and 8 TV Series.
Friends and colleges of Charlie Chaplin tried to talk him out of making his film Shoulder Arms. Shoulder Arms was a comedy about WW1, made during WW1, and most of his friends and colleges felt it was too sensitive a subject to be made into a comedy. However Chaplin made it anyway, and it became his biggest hit up to that point.
Shoulder Arms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyZzEH85FKM
-Michael J. Ruhland
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Happy PI Day, and "Battle of the Century" (1927)
Happy PI day everybody. Why not celebrate with a Pie Fight. In fact why not celebrate with film histories greatest Pie fight.
This film is "Battle of the Century" (1927) staring Laurel and Hardy and directed by Clyde Bruckman (Who did much writing for Harold Lloyd and The Three Stooges), and Leo McCarey (Who directed "Duck Soup" with The Marx Brothers as well as "The Awful Truth" with Irene Dunn and Cary Grant). The pie fight scene in this film used some 3,000 pies. Lou Costello is an extra in the boxing scene. While sadly incomplete this film is a hilarious example of Laurel and Hardy during the silent era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlIXByXcUHw
-Michael J. Ruhland
This film is "Battle of the Century" (1927) staring Laurel and Hardy and directed by Clyde Bruckman (Who did much writing for Harold Lloyd and The Three Stooges), and Leo McCarey (Who directed "Duck Soup" with The Marx Brothers as well as "The Awful Truth" with Irene Dunn and Cary Grant). The pie fight scene in this film used some 3,000 pies. Lou Costello is an extra in the boxing scene. While sadly incomplete this film is a hilarious example of Laurel and Hardy during the silent era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlIXByXcUHw
-Michael J. Ruhland
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Classic Film Comedy Short Stories #4
"Punch Drunks" was the only film with The Three Stooges that they wrote themselves. This is because they were unhappy with their previous film for Colombia "Woman Haters" since it was not their style of humor, and wanted to show them how a Three Stooges film should work.
Buster Keaton wanted the film "Spite Marriage" to be a talkie. However MGM (The studio he was working for) wanted it to be a silent for budget reasons. "Spite Marriage" was Buster Keaton's last silent, and sadly the last film which would grant him any creative control (Which with this film was already slipping away).
The ending of "The Graduate" was inspired by the ending of 1924's "Girl Shy". "Graduate" director Mike Nicholas, had ""Girl Shy" actor/producer Harold Lloyd on set to somewhat supervise the scene.
In "The Big Noise" Laurel and Hardy repeated a sketch (About trying to sleep in a train berth) that they had previously done in the film "Berth Marks". Stan Laurel suggested they change the location from a train to an airplane to improve on what they had done before, but producer Sol Wurtzel told them they would do it as they had before. This is a sign of how much creative control Laurel and Hardy had lost once the moved to 20th century fox. Also during that scene if you listen closely you can clearly hear the crew laughing offstage.
The films "The Cococonuts" and "Animal Crackers" were both originally stage plays that also stared the Marx Brothers (Just like the films), these were also the first two films with The Marx Brothers.
In 1940's "One Night in the Tropics", we first hear Abbott and Costello's voices before we see them. This is because this was the film debut of the classic comedy duo. However they were already famous radio comedians, so this was a cleaver way to introduce them as film stars.
-Michael J. Ruhland
Buster Keaton wanted the film "Spite Marriage" to be a talkie. However MGM (The studio he was working for) wanted it to be a silent for budget reasons. "Spite Marriage" was Buster Keaton's last silent, and sadly the last film which would grant him any creative control (Which with this film was already slipping away).
The ending of "The Graduate" was inspired by the ending of 1924's "Girl Shy". "Graduate" director Mike Nicholas, had ""Girl Shy" actor/producer Harold Lloyd on set to somewhat supervise the scene.
In "The Big Noise" Laurel and Hardy repeated a sketch (About trying to sleep in a train berth) that they had previously done in the film "Berth Marks". Stan Laurel suggested they change the location from a train to an airplane to improve on what they had done before, but producer Sol Wurtzel told them they would do it as they had before. This is a sign of how much creative control Laurel and Hardy had lost once the moved to 20th century fox. Also during that scene if you listen closely you can clearly hear the crew laughing offstage.
The films "The Cococonuts" and "Animal Crackers" were both originally stage plays that also stared the Marx Brothers (Just like the films), these were also the first two films with The Marx Brothers.
In 1940's "One Night in the Tropics", we first hear Abbott and Costello's voices before we see them. This is because this was the film debut of the classic comedy duo. However they were already famous radio comedians, so this was a cleaver way to introduce them as film stars.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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