Errol Flynn does the "Mirror Routine"

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Richard M Roberts
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Errol Flynn does the "Mirror Routine"

Postby Richard M Roberts » Sun Dec 25, 2011 11:09 am

So we're watching NEVER SAY GOODBYE (1946), a minor Errol Flynn Warners comedy with a Christmas theme last night, and in the middle of it, he and Donald Woods, both dressed as Santa Claus, do the Mirror Routine! So add this one to the list with Charlie Chaplin, Charley Chase, The Marx Brothers, and Lucille Ball!


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Ed Watz
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Re: Errol Flynn does the "Mirror Routine"

Postby Ed Watz » Sun Dec 25, 2011 11:16 pm

It sounds as though the ever-popular Mirror Routine was being beaten to death during the mid-1940's: in 1944 Bob Hope & Victor McLaglan do their version in THE PRINCESS AND THE PIRATE, in '45 it's Lou Costello & Joe Sawyer in NAUGHTY NINETIES, and then in '46 it's this Errol Flynn picture! I haven't seen it in years but I have vague recollections that the routine might also make an appearance in A&C's LOST IN A HAREM, 1944.

DUCK SOUP's solid reputation notwithstanding, my favorite version of this classic routine is in that exquisitely constructed Charley Chase one-reeler SITTING PRETTY, between Charley and his brother Jimmy Parrott. (A candidate for the worst version is in THE NAUGHTY NINETIES, where the comic action looks like a rehearsal played in slow motion.)
"Of course he smiled -- just like you and me." -- Harold Goodwin, on Buster Keaton (1976)

Richard M Roberts
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Re: Errol Flynn does the "Mirror Routine"

Postby Richard M Roberts » Sun Dec 25, 2011 11:39 pm

It sounds as though the ever-popular Mirror Routine was being beaten to death during the mid-1940's: in 1944 Bob Hope & Victor McLaglan do their version in THE PRINCESS AND THE PIRATE, in '45 it's Lou Costello & Joe Sawyer in NAUGHTY NINETIES, and then in '46 it's this Errol Flynn picture! I haven't seen it in years but I have vague recollections that the routine might also make an appearance in A&C's LOST IN A HAREM, 1944.




Did Abbott and Costello ever do ANY routine just once?



DUCK SOUP's solid reputation notwithstanding, my favorite version of this classic routine is in that exquisitely constructed Charley Chase one-reeler SITTING PRETTY, between Charley and his brother Jimmy Parrott. (A candidate for the worst version is in THE NAUGHTY NINETIES, where the comic action looks like a rehearsal played in slow motion.
[/quote]


I still think the Marxes top it, but the best thing about both those versions of the routine is it is done by genuine siblings, and you really do get to ponder their familial similarities facially and physically. It gives both those version something special apart from just the apeing of movement between two clowns.


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Re: Errol Flynn does the "Mirror Routine"

Postby Joe Moore » Mon Dec 26, 2011 5:34 am

More recently (1999) the bit with the mirror was done in a two-part sixth season episode of The X-Files where Mulder's mind changes bodies with another person. He only sees what he looks like to others when he looks in the mirror. The storyline has a number of comedic bits and one includes a variation of the mirror routine. The writers (as is made clear in a making of documentary on the DVD set) were quite familiar with both the Marx's Duck Soup version and Lucy's take on it.

Happy Holidays

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Re: Errol Flynn does the "Mirror Routine"

Postby Gary Johnson » Mon Dec 26, 2011 12:14 pm

There is also Max Linder's version in SEVEN YEARS BAD LUCK which had it's moments.

I just like the way that McCarey stages both versions with Chase and the Marxes. And he must had to since many of the same shots from SITTING PRETTY are in DUCK SOUP. (Although, was he calling the shots yet behind the camera in late '24 or was it still mostly Chase?)

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Re: Errol Flynn does the "Mirror Routine"

Postby Richard M Roberts » Mon Dec 26, 2011 12:27 pm

Gary Johnson wrote:There is also Max Linder's version in SEVEN YEARS BAD LUCK which had it's moments.

I just like the way that McCarey stages both versions with Chase and the Marxes. And he must had to since many of the same shots from SITTING PRETTY are in DUCK SOUP. (Although, was he calling the shots yet behind the camera in late '24 or was it still mostly Chase?)



I don't think it really matters, McCarey was obviously calling the shots in 1933 and he is the listed Director on both films.

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Ed Watz
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Re: Errol Flynn does the "Mirror Routine"

Postby Ed Watz » Tue Dec 27, 2011 8:15 am

Has anybody identified the Harold Lloyd one reeler (excerpted anonymously IIRC in Brownlow's THE THIRD GENIUS) where Harold and Gaylord do their version? (I don't mean the bit Harold & Gaylord do together in HIS ROYAL SLYNESS, which resembles Chaplin's business in THE FLOORWALKER.)
"Of course he smiled -- just like you and me." -- Harold Goodwin, on Buster Keaton (1976)

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Re: Errol Flynn does the "Mirror Routine"

Postby Ed Watz » Tue Dec 27, 2011 12:59 pm

Gary Johnson wrote:
I just like the way that McCarey stages both versions with Chase and the Marxes. And he must had to since many of the same shots from SITTING PRETTY are in DUCK SOUP. )


In my experience with audiences, the Marx Brothers version is one of those rare examples where a classic comedy scene plays better in more intimate viewings -- without a large crowd. The lack of background music (or even ambient noises) during the mirror routine in DUCK SOUP tends to make movie audiences somewhat self-conscious of their own laughter. We ran DUCK SOUP back in college to packed houses for three nights and the audience, which had been laughing along enthusiastically to that point, suddenly settled down to titters. Same thing happened when I saw a beautiful 35mm print in MOMA's auditorium a few years later. In the early 30's Paramount had the bounciest tunes and incredible orchestrations, you'd think they could've contrived for Groucho to turn on a second radio before he reached the mirror -- something like "Look What You've Got" would've worked just fine here.
"Of course he smiled -- just like you and me." -- Harold Goodwin, on Buster Keaton (1976)

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Re: Errol Flynn does the "Mirror Routine"

Postby Gary Johnson » Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:01 pm

It was a rather odd post-production choice to play the scene out in that manner. I believe Joe Adamson wrote that the scene plays out "in a world of eerie silence." And silence is not a word one generally associates with the Marxes. Not even with Harpo for his older brother is usually found standing right along side him playing his stooge and narrating the action. So that can throw people off guard when they view the film. If the barren soundtrack does repress the laughter down to giggles as Ed suggests (and which I and probably everyone here have experienced the same reaction with a live audience) I think it also elevates the scene into one of the biggest laughs in the entire film - the moment when Groucho tries to catch Harpo off guard by spinning in a circle and then throwing his arms out into a 'tah-dah' gesture. Harpo merely stands there patiently until Groucho finishes his spin and then supplies his own 'tah-dah'. And the audience always goes wild.

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Re: Errol Flynn does the "Mirror Routine"

Postby Michael J Hayde » Tue Dec 27, 2011 7:28 pm

Ed Watz wrote:In my experience with audiences, the Marx Brothers version is one of those rare examples where a classic comedy scene plays better in more intimate viewings -- without a large crowd. The lack of background music (or even ambient noises) during the mirror routine in DUCK SOUP tends to make movie audiences somewhat self-conscious of their own laughter.


Interesting. It's been just the opposite in my experience. I've seen DUCK SOUP several times in packed theatres, from the old Beverly in West Hollywood to the AFI's Silver in Maryland. In every case, audiences roared so loud and so long after the first few seconds, that the lack of music and sound was absolutely unnoticable. When Groucho does his 360 while Harpo just stands there, both ending with a flourish, laughter was always accompanied by prolonged applause.

Michael


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