SilentComedyMafia.com

On Sept. 27, 2011, in the Dryden:
http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org/films/2011/08/tramp-tramp-tramp-and-counsel-on-de-fence/

Uli

Germany mourns king of comedy Loriot
Death of man who 'taught Germans to laugh' knocks the battle for Tripoli off the front pages
Helen Pidd in Berlin
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 August 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/24/germany-comedy-loriot

Lost in the Hitchcock buzz today, the other new NZ finds include "a tantalising fragment from the Keystone Kops' lost slapstick comedy In the Clutches of the Gang (1914)" -- more on the rediscoveries here: http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/lost-hitchcock-feature-recovered-in-new-zealand...

It's been a couple weeks, but it hasn't been reported here yet -- both discs won a well-deserved award at the Cinema Ritrovato Festival. "BEST REDISCOVERY OF A FORGOTTEN FILM Awarded jointly to Max Davidson and Female Comedy Teams Two priceless collections of silent and early sound slapstick co...

Jim -- the books I have don't seem to indicate a cause of death, but the Danish wikipedia entry on Schenstrøm refers to a brief illness preceding his death. I agree on the apparent lack of interest -- but that's also somewhat true for Europe, even their native Denmark.

Uli

Jim, have a look at this charming website from a Danish collector: http://www.warming.dk/index%20ENGELSK.htm There used to be a great website from the University of Oldenburg, but it appears to be down now, with only partial backups on the Internet Archive. On good old paper and in English, I'd reco...

... and may the review's last five words turn out wrong! And I hope the book will also help to make more of Syd Chaplin's films available, after David Kalat's and Warner Archive's must-have releases. A few minutes of KING, QUEEN... are on the new Criterion release of DICTATOR, for a start....

Uli

Here's the press release (courtesy of dvduell.de) with infos on the extras -- alternate takes, versions not "digitally enhanced" etc.:
http://www.dvduell.de/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/buster-keaton-short-films-blu-ray-usa-kino-press-release-01.jpg

Uli

Well, after the usual disclaimer that a small contribution to this set might render me biased, I'm happy to say that it even surpassed my already high expectations. Fantastic work on the reconstructions, presentations, and exhaustive supplementary materials, and Love 'em and Feed 'em now ranks near ...

Given the convenience of amazon's new Italian branch and the promise of English subs, I finally dared watch COMI INGUAIAMMO IL CINEMA ITALIANO, a feature length documentary on the zany Italian comedy team Franco & Ciccio, Keaton's partners in WAR ITALIAN STYLE. My main interest was, of course, t...