That Early French Short with a Crowd Chasing an Ape

[Rob Farr]

Does anyone remember the name of this? And more importantly, what film or DVD collection was this included in? DId Youngson use it? I'm kind of thinking it was used in a more recent compilation. Thanks in advance.

[Steve Massa]

Hi Rob
There is SINGE DE PETRONILLE (1913) an Éclair comedy that stars Sarah Duhamel as a large housemaid who receives a monkey from an uncle in Africa. She tries to keep it a secret in the fancy house where she works but the monkey gets loose and wrecks the place, and the film ends with a huge chase with everyone (monkey included) finally ending up in a fountain. Ben and I showed this a couple of years ago in the "Euro-clown" edition of our MoMA Cruel and Unusual Comedy shows. I'm pretty sure it's on one of sets of European comedies (not sure which one though).

[Rob Farr]

Thanks. You jogged my memory and I think I saw it on comedy episode of "The Amazing Years of Cinema". The interesting thing is that Ferdinand Zecca uses the same gag of climbing up and down the wall in "The Policemen's Little Run" from 1907. Only in that film they are all chasing a dog that steals a gendarme's lunch. It might even be the same horizontal wall set.

[Uli Ruedel]

Hi Rob & Steve,

wouldn't that be La Course au Singe (1909) in Retour de Flamme Vol.2, also included (as The Monkey Race) in Saved from the Flames?

http://www.dvdclassik.com/critique/la-course-au-singe
http://www.flickeralley.com/catalog/item/saved-from-the-flames/hardgood

Uli

[Steve Massa]

Hi Uli
Looks pretty likely. The monkey in the Petronille film I mentioned is a real monkey, so it guess it depends if Rob saw a real monk or someone in an ape suit (usually more fun that way).