Fool's Gold
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 4:32 am
Here at last, on this first day of April 2011, are the long-awaited notes of the late film historian Raymond K. Brownstrom. These edited highlights concern the ten lost comedies that have eluded collectors for decades, and are reprinted here with the kind permission of Hugh Jasprank.
1. SPAT FAMILY ROBINSON (1926) Roach-Pathe: Hal Roach’s attempt to move The Spats into features did not meet with the success for which he had desperately hoped. To be fair, it may not be the content of the film that kept people away, as much as the widespread news that the cast had actually been stranded on that island after shooting had wrapped, and nobody had bothered to pick them up until well into the Talkie Era.
2. THE COMEDY MANIFESTO (1927) Caravel: A mere decade after the Bolshevik Revolution, Caravel “Comedies Without Custard” felt confident enough try their hand at political satire. It would be fascinating today to see the only on-screen pairing of Harpo Marx and Billy Engle, even if audiences of the day did not appreciate it. So much did they not appreciate it, that for the rest of Caravel’s short existence, they had to insist that their comedies were “without commies”.
3. BUSTER’S NIGHTMARE (1933) M-G-M: In the ongoing attempt to turn what may well be the worst play in the world into an even worse movie, it was Metro who attempted the first talkie version of TILLIE’S PUNCTURED ROMANCE. Turning neither to the play nor the Sennett feature for inspiration, but to the 1928 remake; Jimmy Durante and Buster Keaton re-create the roles of W.C. Fields and Chester Conklin, respectively. Curiously, Marie Dressler reprises her role as Tillie.
4. LLOYDS' OF LINDEN (1934) Paramount: Friendship and business don’t always mix, as Harold Lloyd discovered in this attempt to help down-on-his-luck Lloyd Hamilton. Their only film as a duo has them running the largest insurance firm in the Tri-State area. Many of the jokes about New Jersey are still being used today…mostly by Jon Stewart.
5. HIRAM & THE HARDYS (1939) Roach-UA: Stan Laurel’s frequent disagreements with producer Hal Roach are well-documented. Upon Stan’s return to the studio, after a contract dispute, he opted to bring back his “Hickory Hiram” character, juxtaposing it against The Hardy Family. Audiences were baffled to see him scissor-jumping, and chasing Pasty Kelly all over the house, while Spanky helps Ollie build a panic room, with disastrous results.
6. FORGET-ME-NOW (1942) PRC: In this road movie Harry Langdon and Charles Rogers cross the country to ask Americans whom they consider to be their favourite comedy team. Heartbreaking.
7. THE "B" TEAM (1944) Monogram: Boasting a huge cast including Snub Pollard, Bud Jamison, Vernon Dent, Edgar Kennedy, and Billy Gilbert (among others), one reviewer called it “a dozen sub-plots in search of a movie” and lamented the wisdom of casting Johnny Arthur and Franklin Pangborn in the same feature.
8. ABBOTT & BESSER MEET LOU COSTELLO (1957) Universal-International: When Bud & Joe begin touring the nightclubs with their new act, they are beset by acts of sabotage. But who could possibly want them to fail? The best-case scenario here is that a print of this film does resurface and reveals the title to be another misnomer, like when Abbott & Costello didn’t go to Mars, or when the killer wasn’t Boris Karloff.
9. THE THREE STOOGES MEET TIMOTHY LEARY (1968) Columbia: Without question, the film that put the Stooges’ fan base firmly where it remains today. It is surely the only possible way to get from THE OUTLAWS IS COMING to CURLY IN WONDERLAND.
10. THE NEW CHAPLIN REVIEW (1977) Trampstamp: Having abridged some of his greatest silent work into shorter formats, Sir Charles embarked on his greatest feat yet…truncating all of his talkies into a single, unified, ninety-minute event. Chaplin wrote new music, and provided narration spoken over the original dialogue, to join it up in the fashion of CHASE ME, CHARLIE. The trades announced this film under its working title, THE GREAT COUNTESS VERDOUX LIMELIGHTS NEW YORK.
Raymond K. Brownstrom is the author of 417 books, including his recent posthumous publication, “Ten Films I’d Pay UCLA To Destroy”.
1. SPAT FAMILY ROBINSON (1926) Roach-Pathe: Hal Roach’s attempt to move The Spats into features did not meet with the success for which he had desperately hoped. To be fair, it may not be the content of the film that kept people away, as much as the widespread news that the cast had actually been stranded on that island after shooting had wrapped, and nobody had bothered to pick them up until well into the Talkie Era.
2. THE COMEDY MANIFESTO (1927) Caravel: A mere decade after the Bolshevik Revolution, Caravel “Comedies Without Custard” felt confident enough try their hand at political satire. It would be fascinating today to see the only on-screen pairing of Harpo Marx and Billy Engle, even if audiences of the day did not appreciate it. So much did they not appreciate it, that for the rest of Caravel’s short existence, they had to insist that their comedies were “without commies”.
3. BUSTER’S NIGHTMARE (1933) M-G-M: In the ongoing attempt to turn what may well be the worst play in the world into an even worse movie, it was Metro who attempted the first talkie version of TILLIE’S PUNCTURED ROMANCE. Turning neither to the play nor the Sennett feature for inspiration, but to the 1928 remake; Jimmy Durante and Buster Keaton re-create the roles of W.C. Fields and Chester Conklin, respectively. Curiously, Marie Dressler reprises her role as Tillie.
4. LLOYDS' OF LINDEN (1934) Paramount: Friendship and business don’t always mix, as Harold Lloyd discovered in this attempt to help down-on-his-luck Lloyd Hamilton. Their only film as a duo has them running the largest insurance firm in the Tri-State area. Many of the jokes about New Jersey are still being used today…mostly by Jon Stewart.
5. HIRAM & THE HARDYS (1939) Roach-UA: Stan Laurel’s frequent disagreements with producer Hal Roach are well-documented. Upon Stan’s return to the studio, after a contract dispute, he opted to bring back his “Hickory Hiram” character, juxtaposing it against The Hardy Family. Audiences were baffled to see him scissor-jumping, and chasing Pasty Kelly all over the house, while Spanky helps Ollie build a panic room, with disastrous results.
6. FORGET-ME-NOW (1942) PRC: In this road movie Harry Langdon and Charles Rogers cross the country to ask Americans whom they consider to be their favourite comedy team. Heartbreaking.
7. THE "B" TEAM (1944) Monogram: Boasting a huge cast including Snub Pollard, Bud Jamison, Vernon Dent, Edgar Kennedy, and Billy Gilbert (among others), one reviewer called it “a dozen sub-plots in search of a movie” and lamented the wisdom of casting Johnny Arthur and Franklin Pangborn in the same feature.
8. ABBOTT & BESSER MEET LOU COSTELLO (1957) Universal-International: When Bud & Joe begin touring the nightclubs with their new act, they are beset by acts of sabotage. But who could possibly want them to fail? The best-case scenario here is that a print of this film does resurface and reveals the title to be another misnomer, like when Abbott & Costello didn’t go to Mars, or when the killer wasn’t Boris Karloff.
9. THE THREE STOOGES MEET TIMOTHY LEARY (1968) Columbia: Without question, the film that put the Stooges’ fan base firmly where it remains today. It is surely the only possible way to get from THE OUTLAWS IS COMING to CURLY IN WONDERLAND.
10. THE NEW CHAPLIN REVIEW (1977) Trampstamp: Having abridged some of his greatest silent work into shorter formats, Sir Charles embarked on his greatest feat yet…truncating all of his talkies into a single, unified, ninety-minute event. Chaplin wrote new music, and provided narration spoken over the original dialogue, to join it up in the fashion of CHASE ME, CHARLIE. The trades announced this film under its working title, THE GREAT COUNTESS VERDOUX LIMELIGHTS NEW YORK.
Raymond K. Brownstrom is the author of 417 books, including his recent posthumous publication, “Ten Films I’d Pay UCLA To Destroy”.