- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 19,965
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
Anyone with a serious interest in cinema history will want to own this disc.
In a world of disposable on-line shorts shot with iPhones, these dozen wonderful short films have somehow (with a bit of help from the Library of Congress and the British Film Institute) survived the ravages of time - and we are the beneficiaries.
Full disclosure - I'd never heard of comedian/acrobats Bobby Burns (1878-1966) and Walter Stull (1879-1961).
Mr. Burns entered the film industry in 1908, and appeared in hundreds of shorts, with bit parts in features (The Body Snatcher, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Our Town), with a final spot in The Greatest Show on Earth - sharing a final film with William Boyd.
Mr. Stull had a shorter career, starting in 1911, and ending in 1920 with a feature co-directed with Burns, Way Out West (no, not that Way Out West.)
The two appeared together in and generally self-directed shorts for Comic, Vim, Jaxon, Wizard and Lubin.
As far as I can tell, the first with these characters was Pokes and Jabs (1915). The pair appeared in some 90 shorts, ending in 1917 - all within three years.
Made on a shoestring these wonderful films allow us to see the beginnings of the comedic language of the cinema as created on the east coast, as opposed to the early Chaplin, Langdon and Keaton films, along with others on the west.
The overall impression to my eye, is that while the west coast productions advanced more quickly, these remained far more basic, and in some ways, more of a window into the archaeology of early cinema.
While some were extremely inventive - for example the Lubin 1912 A Visit to Lively Town, has the duo visit an early Atlantic City, but with all the hustle and bustle heavily exaggerated as the film was shot with extreme undercrank, with Burns and Stull (in real time) moving at a snail's pace, appearing normal as projected, while the world around them whizzes by.
While this is a disc that's a must own for film schools and classes, it's highly recommended to general lovers of the cinema, as an example of what could be, and was created in the east (NYC, Jacksonville, Yonkers and Providence), generally before the industry moved west.
What is especially nice about them is that while some of the comedy is certainly of that innocent time, much of it holds up today, creating smiles 110 years after these wonderful shorts were created.
I probably also don't have to mention the obvious but shall. Your purchase supports film preservation, and will permit more early films to come out of the vaults.
Image quality if fine 90% of the time. A bit of decomp, but get over it, and consider the alternatives. Professionally scanned and beautifully rendered.
All films have a piano score by Andrew Earle Simpson.
Image
Forensic - n/a
NSD - Works just fine
Audio – n/a
Pass / Fail – Pass
Plays nicely with projectors - Yes
Worth your attention - Definitely
Slipcover rating - n/a
Looks like Film - Yes
Highly Recommended
RAH
In a world of disposable on-line shorts shot with iPhones, these dozen wonderful short films have somehow (with a bit of help from the Library of Congress and the British Film Institute) survived the ravages of time - and we are the beneficiaries.
Full disclosure - I'd never heard of comedian/acrobats Bobby Burns (1878-1966) and Walter Stull (1879-1961).
Mr. Burns entered the film industry in 1908, and appeared in hundreds of shorts, with bit parts in features (The Body Snatcher, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Our Town), with a final spot in The Greatest Show on Earth - sharing a final film with William Boyd.
Mr. Stull had a shorter career, starting in 1911, and ending in 1920 with a feature co-directed with Burns, Way Out West (no, not that Way Out West.)
The two appeared together in and generally self-directed shorts for Comic, Vim, Jaxon, Wizard and Lubin.
As far as I can tell, the first with these characters was Pokes and Jabs (1915). The pair appeared in some 90 shorts, ending in 1917 - all within three years.
Made on a shoestring these wonderful films allow us to see the beginnings of the comedic language of the cinema as created on the east coast, as opposed to the early Chaplin, Langdon and Keaton films, along with others on the west.
The overall impression to my eye, is that while the west coast productions advanced more quickly, these remained far more basic, and in some ways, more of a window into the archaeology of early cinema.
While some were extremely inventive - for example the Lubin 1912 A Visit to Lively Town, has the duo visit an early Atlantic City, but with all the hustle and bustle heavily exaggerated as the film was shot with extreme undercrank, with Burns and Stull (in real time) moving at a snail's pace, appearing normal as projected, while the world around them whizzes by.
While this is a disc that's a must own for film schools and classes, it's highly recommended to general lovers of the cinema, as an example of what could be, and was created in the east (NYC, Jacksonville, Yonkers and Providence), generally before the industry moved west.
What is especially nice about them is that while some of the comedy is certainly of that innocent time, much of it holds up today, creating smiles 110 years after these wonderful shorts were created.
I probably also don't have to mention the obvious but shall. Your purchase supports film preservation, and will permit more early films to come out of the vaults.
Image quality if fine 90% of the time. A bit of decomp, but get over it, and consider the alternatives. Professionally scanned and beautifully rendered.
All films have a piano score by Andrew Earle Simpson.
Image
Forensic - n/a
NSD - Works just fine
Audio – n/a
Pass / Fail – Pass
Plays nicely with projectors - Yes
Worth your attention - Definitely
Slipcover rating - n/a
Looks like Film - Yes
Highly Recommended
RAH
