Clowns

[Richard M Roberts]

Pat and Patachon are a 'holy grail' for me. I've only seen a few clips on you-tube; I'm surprised that more has not shown up, even on European Film Gateway or the now-defunct Europa Film Treasures. The clip from 'William Tell Jr.' was very amusing and I know it's just a matter of time until I see more of them. Actually, it was talking with you at an early Slapsticon that I found out LOC had the Grock film (WHAT FOR?), and I watched it the next year.

I have a video copy of COCKTAILS (1928), Directed by Monty Banks, that I can share with you.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Uli Ruedel]

The lack of access to the Pat & Patachon films might have to do with the fact that, as far as I know, they are still under Palladium's copyright, and aside from a couple 1990s VHS releases, it seems their hasn't been anything made available from their end in Denmark at all. Their non-Danish films such as those by Monte Banks or Molander (the latter's beautifully restored quite recently) might have seemed like a breath of fresh air at the time, but personally I think they lack the naive charm and photographic beauty of the films directed by Lau Lauritzen, the creator of the team, after all.

Uli

[David Denton]

Here are two versions of Grock performances in 1931. It's the same act in both, but not the same show. Don't let the non-English deter you, it's mostly visual and funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN9CWQCZFpU
This is in French with German subtitles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMvL8rV1ssI
This is in German

[Robert Moulton]

Very interesting to watch these side by side. I'm assuming these two different language versions were done the same way as say Laurel and Hardy did multiple languages of the same film. The camera setups vary and for a bit I thought scenes without language were of the same actual performance shot from varying locations. But watching closely enough you can finally tell these are fully different performances. The scripted parts of the performance are pretty hard to tell apart, I could really only see differences in things like how balance was recovered after falling off a chair.

[Uli Ruedel]

That's the second half of Grock, la vie d'un grand artiste (1931), which apparently has often been shown as self-contained piece, probably as it's deemed superior to the first half, which is basically a domestic comedy with the 'real' Mr. Wettach. As briefly mentioned, the French and German version used to be available on a DVD published by Jipi Film, Lausanne, and this filmography http://www.clown-grock.ch/Film_18.html lists German, French and English versions for the entire film, plus Italian and Hungarian variants for the stage part. A very multi-lingual version film indeed!

Have yet to see Grock's 1926 film in its entirety, and wish all three of his features were more readily available.

The superb Grock documentary from Mesch & Ugge (producers of the equally wonderful Chaplin - The Final Years) just may be available on DVD, as this website http://www.meschuggefilm.ch/2014/dokumentarfilme/grock-konig-der-clowns/ refers to their email address for information about DVD availability.

Uli

[David Denton]

Ulli,

This filmography does not list WHAT FOR? (1928), the film I saw part of at LOC. Would it be a logical assumption that it was an anglicized re-release of his 1926 film?

thanks,

David

[Uli Ruedel]

Guess it would, and the Diercksen book does list it an alternate title for the 1926 film, while Naef's filmography doesn't include it. I've only seen part of it as well... did we watch it during the same Slapsticon, or has the 2nd reel of the LOC print gone missing?

BTW, British Pathé has some nice newsreel clips with Grock on Youtube, and, David, sounds like you may not be aware of the German Pat & Patachon DVD set; far from ideal with its problematically edited, German voice-over modified versions... but it's 23 hours or so of P&P in good quality, the only versions of their films available unless you're lucky enough to catch a screening of the select titles restored or still archivally distributed on film.

Uli

[David Denton]

Giacomino was another clown who made films. Born Giacomo Cireni in Milan, he joined a circus at a very young age and ends up in Russia around 1903. If Circopedia is correct, he made three films in Russia in 1913: ZHAKOMINO GETS SEVERELY PUNISHED, THE PUNISHED LOVER OR FOOLED BY THE DRIVER and ZHAKOMINO, THE ENEMY OF HAT PINS (those titles must be losing something in translation). He may have made more; he came to America in 1918, knew Chaplin, was Eddie Polo's clown double (LURE OF THE CIRCUS perhaps?). MPN 1918 mentions him making a 10 reel war picture with Henry McRae. Anyway, he's back in Europe by 1920 and retired in 1945.