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Silent Screams – Puppet Masters | The Merry Skeleton (1897)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Oct 10, 2012
While Le squelette joyeux (The Merry Skeleton) is more lighthearted fun with little-to-no scares [to us modern viewers], with it the Lumiere brothers lay the groundwork for using special effects to create monster movie magic, which has advanced a tad in the 100+ years since.
In fact, only 3 yea read more
Silent Screams – The Road to Elm Street | A Nightmare (1896)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Oct 3, 2012
Georges Melies — our defending champion — wins spot #2 in the series as well, this time for Le Cauchemar (aka A Nightmare). It’s not exactly Wes Craven material as the presentation is more humorous than horrific (though Freddy can be a pretty funny dude at times). However, scary read more
Silent Screams – World’s 1st Horror Movie | The Devil’s Castle (1896)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Oct 2, 2012
Considered the first horror movie — and arguably the first vampire movie – Le manoir du diable (aka The Devil’s Castle) is an 1896 Georges Melies film that runs for over 3 minutes, an astonishing length for the time. The film has been known by a variety of alternate names – T read more
From Muted Mayhem to Silent Screams
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Oct 1, 2012
Way back on the first day of Summer, I began a “Slapstick Series” to explore the earliest days of that comedic genre within film. Along the way, I took a break to focus on THIS – which still takes up much of my time and attention (please help!) — and didn’t quite make read more
September Slapstick: Two of a Kind | Fox Trot Finesse (1915)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 30, 2012
I’m including Fox Trot Finesse (dir. Maurice Morris) in this Slapstick Series for 3 reasons: Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Drew were one of the 1st silent film comedy teams. Sidney was the uncle of John, Lionel, and Ethel Barrymore (and therefore the great-granduncle of Drew Barrymore). Mrs. Sidney read more
September Slapstick: The Super Friends | A Film Johnnie (1914)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 30, 2012
On this final day of September, I’m posting a couple entries on silent comedy teams — those two are coming later today.
Before that, I wanted to give a final shout-out to Mack Sennett and his repertory players, specifically Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Fatty Arbuckle, and Ford Sterlin read more
September Slapstick: Laurel before Hardy, Hardy before Laurel
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 30, 2012
Laurel and Hardy were the first double act to gain worldwide fame through film. Together, they made over 100 movies — 32 were silent shorts, 23 were feature-length and contained sound. However, each was already well-established before joining as a duo:
Stanley Arthur “Stan” Jeffers read more
September Slapstick: The Movie Dick | Pool Sharks (1915)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 27, 2012
W.C. Fields (born William Claude Dukenfield) was a comedian, actor, juggler and writer. Despite creating a comic persona as a hard-drinking misanthrope — while publicly expressing his contempt for dogs, women, and children — Fields remained a sympathetic and beloved entertainer.
Here is read more
September Slapstick: The Tramp Appears | Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 26, 2012
The first film appearance of Charlie Chaplin’s famous character, The Tramp.
Note that this was not the first time Chaplin donned the costume – that occurred for the filming of Mabel’s Strange Predicament. However, Kid Auto Races at Venice (directed by Henry Lehrman) was released on read more
September Slapstick: Chaplin’s First Film | Making a Living (1914)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 26, 2012
An entire blog series can be created just for the shorts of Charles “Charlie” Chaplin, and I plan to do this for the next month starting with the letter ‘C’…maybe I should choose a different time. Regardless, Chaplin made his film debut in the appropriately titled, Maki read more
September Slapstick: Creating The Tramp | Mabel’s Strange Predicament (1914)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 26, 2012
The first time Chaplin donned his “Tramp” costume: Mabel’s Strange Predicament, directed by and starring Mabel Normand. From a 1933 interview, Chaplin recalls The Tramp’s inception:
“I was hurriedly told to put on a funny make-up. This time I went to the wardrobe and g read more
September Slapstick: The 1st Fatty | Peeping Pete (1913)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 25, 2012
Roscoe Conkling “Fatty” Arbuckle. One of the most influential, controversial, and tragic stars from early cinema. He was a mentor to Charlie Chaplin, discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope, signed one of the first million-dollar contracts, was accused (and acquitted) in the rape and accid read more
September Slapstick: Villainy Defined | Barney Oldfield’s Race for a Life (1913)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 24, 2012
Barney Oldfield – 1st car racer to break 60mph on an oval, and later 100mph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — is the celebrity focus of the title, but it is Ford Sterling who steals the show, hamming it up as the sneering, mustache-twisting, henchmen-having villain. This 4th Keystone Cops read more
September Slapstick: Keystone “Cops” | The Bangville Police (1913)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 17, 2012
I place “Cops” — sometimes spelled “Kops” — in quotes only because the officers in The Bangville Police more closely resemble a militia or rural vigilantes instead of the uniformed bumblers of later movies. Regardless, this is the oldest surviving appearance of th read more
September Slapstick: Keystone Mack [Sennett] Daddy | The Water Nymph (1912)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 13, 2012
With The Water Nymph (aka The Beach Flirt) — the very first Keystone Comedy — begins an era of dominance in movie slapstick by Mack Sennett and his repertory players.
Those who either received their first break in the movie business at Keystone, or rose to prominence therein, includ read more
World’s Oldest Color Film (just newly discovered)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 12, 2012
Here is video of recently discovered footage, considered to be the world’s earliest color film:
Additional information about these first color films can be found HERE.
Share this:FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditStumbleUponDiggEmailLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. read more
September Slapstick: Laugh With Linder | Troubles of a Grasswidower (1912)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Sep 10, 2012
The Golden Age of Slapstick was ushered in by Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle, better known by his stage name and most popular character: Max [Linder]. Widely considered the first international movie star, Linder appeared in over 500 films (100+ as the top-hatted, dandy), and by 1912 was earning a sala read more
Slapstick Summer Series: Before The Fame | Troublesome Secretaries (1911)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Aug 27, 2012
I was very surprised to stumble upon this [incomplete?] movie starring a pre-Keystone Mabel Normand alongside John Bunny, America’s 1st major film comedian. This was the first (and only surviving) pairing of these film comedy forebears as Normand left Vitagraph very soon after.
With an alterna read more
Slapstick Summer Series: Comedic Timing | Onésime, Clockmaker (1912)
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Aug 20, 2012
With the inception of recurring movie characters, Onésime – portrayed by Ernest Bourbon in 63 different films over the span of just 2 years — was arguably the most popular from the pre-Keystone era. However, the star of today’s spotlight film is not actually Onésime and his fewer read more
How Much Do I Love “The Movies”?
The Giddy Blog Posted by chrisgiddens on Aug 17, 2012
My apologies for slacking on the blog postings recently. It is due in part to this: A Story of Our Hero – To 1930 & Beyond! (which also partly answers the question posed above). Believe it or not, I’m not very good at the whole self-promotion thing, and so I simply ask that you plea read more