"What Price Taxi" question

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Louie Despres
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"What Price Taxi" question

Postby Louie Despres » Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:52 pm

I haven't started reading Richard's book yet, so forgive me if this is covered in it. Was watching 1932's "What Price Taxi" last night and was wondering what was going on with the bits which seem to be shot silent and sound dubbed in, totally silent scenes with music, and straight filmed dialog sequences? Any idea why Roach would be making an amalgamation like this in '32?

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Re: "What Price Taxi" question

Postby Richard M Roberts » Mon Jun 17, 2013 2:48 pm

Louie Despres wrote:I haven't started reading Richard's book yet, so forgive me if this is covered in it. Was watching 1932's "What Price Taxi" last night and was wondering what was going on with the bits which seem to be shot silent and sound dubbed in, totally silent scenes with music, and straight filmed dialog sequences? Any idea why Roach would be making an amalgamation like this in '32?



This is indeed in my book. Del Lord was determined to recreate Silent Comedy's visuals in sound comedy, and these were his attempts.

A lot of action sequences in sound films are shot silent and dubbed after the fact, but Lord was apparently really going for a sort of surreal feel to it.


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Re: "What Price Taxi" question

Postby Pasquale Ventura » Mon Jun 17, 2013 5:24 pm

Really enjoy those Taxi Boy's comedies. WHAT PRICE TAXI? being one of my favorites. Del Lord did a great job on these, bringing his cartoony, surrealistic comic world in them.

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Re: "What Price Taxi" question

Postby Richard M Roberts » Mon Jun 17, 2013 9:47 pm

Pasquale Ventura wrote:Really enjoy those Taxi Boy's comedies. WHAT PRICE TAXI? being one of my favorites. Del Lord did a great job on these, bringing his cartoony, surrealistic comic world in them.



The first few, like THUNDERING TAXIS and WHAT PRICE TAXI are total gems. Unfortunately the series goes downhill fast when Henry Ginsberg slashes the budgets and Ben Blue is added to the cast. No more car stunts, just Ben Blue and Billy Gilbert trying to steal the scene from each other.


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Re: "What Price Taxi" question

Postby Pasquale Ventura » Tue Jun 18, 2013 3:52 pm

Ben Blue hops and twitches around as if something's nibbling on his bum. Billy Gilbert and Clyde Cook are real funny in these. too bad Cook didn't do more.

Wonder if Del Lord was one of the first directors from the silent era to re-introduce under cranking in sound comedies for comic effect. I don't have your book yet, so pardon the questions.

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Re: "What Price Taxi" question

Postby Richard M Roberts » Wed Jun 19, 2013 12:34 am

Pasquale Ventura wrote:Ben Blue hops and twitches around as if something's nibbling on his bum. Billy Gilbert and Clyde Cook are real funny in these. too bad Cook didn't do more.

Wonder if Del Lord was one of the first directors from the silent era to re-introduce under cranking in sound comedies for comic effect. I don't have your book yet, so pardon the questions.

Pasquale


I don't think Del Lord can take credit for shooting action scenes in undercranked silence, I think most directors figured out they could do this in sound pretty quickly,but Lord's specialty was shooting action senes with lots of car stunts and I don't think he wanted to give that up in sound. He's stages some pretty spectacular chases in some of the Phil Ryan-Paramount Chester Conklin Comedies he's helming before joining Roach to do the Taxi Boys. Ironically, he ended giving them up for the most part at Columbia as well because they just didn't have the budgets either.

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Re: "What Price Taxi" question

Postby Gary Johnson » Wed Jun 19, 2013 12:23 pm

The OUR GANG talkies loved under-cranking everytime the kids were being chased by cops, dog-catchers, carnival cannibals and even low-life Son-In-Laws trying to steal their Grandma's life savings.
The series even indulged in over-cranking (is that the technical term?) in SHIVERING SHAKESPEARE in order to make the pies float mysteriously in the air - for some odd reason.

Say Richard, how much of Del Lord's talkies survive outside of his work at Roach and Columbia?

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Re: "What Price Taxi" question

Postby Richard M Roberts » Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:25 pm

Gary Johnson wrote:The OUR GANG talkies loved under-cranking everytime the kids were being chased by cops, dog-catchers, carnival cannibals and even low-life Son-In-Laws trying to steal their Grandma's life savings.
The series even indulged in over-cranking (is that the technical term?) in SHIVERING SHAKESPEARE in order to make the pies float mysteriously in the air - for some odd reason.

Say Richard, how much of Del Lord's talkies survive outside of his work at Roach and Columbia?


All of it, excepting perhaps a Vitaphone short or two, but his other talkie work consists of Sennett Educationals and Phil Ryan Paramount shorts (which curiously, the imdb does not list in his filmography, surprise, they got something wrong) and all of his Columbia work is around.

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Re: "What Price Taxi" question

Postby Gary Johnson » Wed Jun 19, 2013 6:56 pm

I figured his Paramount shorts might have went the same way as Langdon's Paramounts - maybe not lost but definately misplaced.

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Re: "What Price Taxi" question

Postby Richard M Roberts » Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:35 pm

Gary Johnson wrote:I figured his Paramount shorts might have went the same way as Langdon's Paramounts - maybe not lost but definately misplaced.



Actually, the only Paramount shorts that are currently missing are those ArVid Gillstrom-produced ones, which includes the Langdons and a Bing Crosby short or two, and they dissapeared only because the rights reverted back to Gillstrom's estate. Other Paramount shorts have a good survival rate because Paramount sold them all to UM&M/NTA for TV distribution in the 1950's. Plenty of 16mm prints floating around on them, and many of the original negs are still around.


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