Rest In Peace Tobe Hooper 1943-2017

The Silent Image In Modern Medium: "Uncle Grandpa" and The Funny Face Party

I just happened to be watching a streaming episode of the very quirky and strangely entertaining cartoon Uncle Grandpa yesterday, which features the funny face party of season one.  I immediately thought of  a Georges Melies film of 1901 that goes by several names, the two most famous being The Man With A Rubber Head or The India Rubber Head (L'homme á la téte de caoutchouc) , which had to be both the inspiration for the episode and an out and out homage to the Melies.  Both are hilarious and speak for themselves as imagery.  

Countdown To Halloween Movie Celebration

I know I posted this last year, but I'm such a Melies fan, I figured, what the hell....re-post!  This represented one of the earliest horror movies.  Happy Early Halloween

The man himself.

Now Or Never With Chamber Music

A Harold Lloyd classic from 1921, this version of Now Or Never, a sepia toned comedy farce, features a specially composed chamber music soundtrack by Donald Sosin.

Edited Silent Crazy Car Films

I found this on the internet while looking for early films that feature racing cars.  It is completely insane...and hilarious.  Good editing job.

The Dippy Dentist (1920)

This is a Hal Roach film from 1920.  In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter Joel and Ethan Coen talk about their shared approach to screenwriting, they mention that Hal Roach would employ a person he referred to as a "wildie" to come in and just say random, crazy stuff that he would then use in his films.  Sometimes this was just some drunk guy, but more often than not, it was someone from a lunatic asylum.  This is a good example of film that utilizes the strangeness of a "wildie."

The Haunted House (1921)

This is a hilarious early haunted house short film (a little over 20 minutes) starring the legendary Buster Keaton.  Happy Halloween Season!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

I was busy with Christmas Evening wrapping yesterday that I didn't get my last day's countdown to Christmas up...heck I didn't even have time for email!  So I'm doubling up today

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The first film is a funny little silent film I found on You Tube.  It proves that not all silent movies need to be really old!

This next "movie" is a clip of numerous Christmas silents from all sorts of sources.  Have a Merry one, one and all!

Countdown To Christmas Day 1

This is another Edison Christmas short produced in 1914, I wanted to juxtapose it with the earlier Little Girl Who Didn't Believe In Santa from 1907 because their plots are almost polar opposites of each other, but alas no "Little Girl" on You Tube and I am way to busy trying to catch up on Christmas stuff to upload it right now--maybe later.


In any case, this is quite funny, considering "the wrong Santa" is a bugling burglar!

The Cat And The Canary (1927)

All Night Long (1924)

More violent and hilarious slapstick, this time from Mack Sennett and comedic "fubble bum" Harry Langdon--with soldiers and criminals to boot!

Watch All Night Long in Comedy  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The Very First Keystone Cops! The Bangville Police (1913)

This version has been restored and is in HD.

The ? Motorist (1906)

Also known as "The Made Motorist" it is listed on the catalogs of Science Fiction films.  It is certainly a hilarious little fantasy, that showcases some early slipstick in the Keystone Kops vein.