When Comedy Was King (1960)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Robert Youngson

Writer:

Robert Youngson (writer)

Release Date:

29 March 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Documentary

Plot:

A feature-length documentary devoted to the great clowns of silent comedy. |

Plot Keywords:

Dog

Cast

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle	...	edited from 'fatty & mabel adrift' (archive footage) (as Fatty Arbuckle)
Wallace Beery	...	edited from 'teddy at the throttle' (archive footage)
Charles Chaplin	...	(archive footage) (as Charlie Chaplin)
Charley Chase	...	edited from 'movie night' (archive footage) (as Charlie Chase)
Buster Keaton	...	edited from 'cops' (archive footage)
Edgar Kennedy	...	edited from 'a pair of tights' (archive footage)
Keystone Kops	...	(archive footage) (as The Keystone Cops)
Harry Langdon	...	edited from 'the first 100 years' (archive footage)
Stan Laurel	...	edited from 'big business' (archive footage) (as Laurel)
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie (archive footage) (as Hardy)
Mabel Normand	...	edited from 'fatty & mabel adrift' (archive footage)
The Sennett Girls	...	edited from 'yukon jake' (archive footage)
Gloria Swanson	...	edited from 'teddy at the throttle' (archive footage)
Ben Turpin	...	edited from 'yukon jake' (archive footage)
Billy Bevan	...	(archive footage)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Robert Youngson Productions

Trivia:

Footage excerpted from Movie Night (1929), Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916), Teddy at the Throttle (1917), The First 100 Years (1924), It's a Gift (1923), A Pair of Tights (1929), Cops (1922), Yukon Jake (1924), Big Business (1929) and others.

Movie Connections:

Edited from Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies (1925)

Soundtrack:

Where, Oh Where, Has My little Dog Gone?

REALLY tough to rate,...plus, it's missing something

First, I must point out that it is VERY VERY hard to give a rating score to a movie that is really just a compilation film. The only original content is the mostly good narration, sound effects and music. So a good score is 100% impossible--so take my 8 with a "grain of salt".

Second, while I loved watching this film, it makes a serious omission. It talks about the "3 great comics" but never even mentions Harold Lloyd--who, for a while, was the highest paid and most popular comic alive. The problem was that when the movie was made, Lloyd retained ownership of his films and Robert Youngson (who created this film) couldn't show Lloyd clips. While I do understand this, it was a great disservice to Lloyd and probably contributed to his being forgotten for many years. A discussion of slapstick without mentioning Lloyd is akin to doing the same and not mentioning Keton or Chaplin--it just isn't right.

However, despite this, the clips chosen were very funny and well worth seeing. In particular, I loved the Snub Pollard clip with his amazing car!! I use this film for my history classes, as it's a great introduction to slapstick American comedy.