Blu Ray Review: Vitagraph Comedies

Kino Lorber continues its support of film history with this wonderful three-disc collection that explores the earliest examples of screen comedy, and spotlights some of the lesser known practitioners of that particular art.

In a three disc set, we are offered several comedy short films from the Vitagraph company that have been gathered and restored by the Library of Congress. The films range from the early 1900s into the 1920s and contain many gems that are not only significant to cinema’s history, they are very amusing and entertaining.  It is amazing how incredible some of these very old films look.  It is also fascinating to see several examples of screen comedy from a studio that is often overlooked in favor of Mack Sennett or Hal Roach being the more notable representations of silent comedy production.

DISC ONE

An intro segment featuring Library of Congress reps who had worked on the restorations opens this disc.  They discuss the importance of these very early films, and a bit about the restoration process.  It is a very interesting segment where we learn how many of these films were in very rough shape but responded well to modern restoration methods, and how sometimes other archives were necessary to piece together a fragmented film so a complete print was available. Curator Rob Stone, archivists Lynanne Schweighofer and George Willeman, and film historian Rob Farr offer a lot of valuable information.

Many early screen comedians are represented with some of their most notable films.  There are pioneers like John Bunny, Hughie Mack and Billy Quirk, as well as actors Edith Storey and Donald MacBride making some of their first screen appearances before going on the bigger things.

One of the more interesting subjects on this disc is The Disintegrating Convict (1907) which features a convict that is able to escape the most challenging circumstances by contorting his body into shapes that fit through a small knothole, and disappearing all together.  The special effects are quite impressive for 1907, rivalling the methods of Georges Méliès in France.  Pudgy John Bunny is introduced to this set with The New Stenographer (1911) a very funny comedy in which a pretty secretary is sought after by pushy older businessmen, with homely Flora Finch her counterpart.  Office flirtations lead to rivalries and funny situations, showing an early example of farce in screen comedy. 

Bunny became the biggest comedy star in movies, but died in 1915.  Vitagraph attempted to replace him with the equally rotund comic Frank Daniels, and there are films with Daniels that allow us to assess his comic style.

The only surviving movie featuring the comedy team of Montgomery and Rock is also on this disc -- a priceless piece of film. 

DISC TWO

John Bunny is back with more of his best work, including Kitty and the Cowboys (1911) in which he disguises himself as his own sister and flirts with some cowboys to get even for their practical jokes. Bunny also stars in the wildly funny In The Clutches of a Vapor Bath (1911).  We also see more with Frank Daniels and Hughie Mack.

But the real stars of Disc 2 are Mr.and Mrs. Sidney Drew.  The intro segment with curator Rob Stone, archivists Lynanne Schweighofer and George Willeman, and film historian Rob Farr (who wrote a book about the Drews) discuss how these films are the portent for later TV sitcoms, eschewing the wild slapstick of the Keystone comedies and offering a more subtle, more sophisticated style of comedy that relied on character and situations.  There are eight Drew comedies featured here, each one offering a lot of laughs with an approach to comedy that is much different than how silent screen humor is usually considered and presented.  Rob Farr explains that Sidney Drew actually did a lot of these situations on stage with his first wife.  After she died, he entered films with his second wife, Lucille McVey doing many of the old stage bits for cinema.  It is great that so much from this period of comedy history is now restored and accessible.

DISC THREE

The third and final disc in the set is devoted to the comedies of Larry Semon.  Semon is too little known outside of the deeper areas of the silent comedy niche, and too frequently dismissed even within those limited parameters.  He was a very big star in his time, noted for doing gags that were really big and overbearing, but his wild slapstick subjects are often very funny.  Some of Larry Semon’s best are gathered here, including The Sawmill, School Days, and The Grocery Clerk, all dating from the late teens and early twenties.  Semon also directed these comedies, and Oliver Hardy appears as support, years before his teaming with Stan Laurel.  Semon’s outrageous slapstick is perhaps a matter of taste, but the sheer “bigness” of his gags make his films something to experience as comedy on an epic scale.  Larry burned out pretty quickly, and his attempt to do feature films was a bust, leading to a nervous breakdown and an early death. But the comedies presented here are a real blast.

The films are accompanied by various musicians, including Ben Model, Dana Reason, and Andrew Earl Simpson, among others.  Most of the music is wonderful, but on a few films the soundtrack presents noises that don’t blend organically to the footage, and seem like more of a distraction than an enhancement.  This is only on a very few subjects.

The set includes audio commentaries by Anthony Slide, a well known and respected film historian and archivist who is responsible for a lot of very significant work in those fields.

One of the most important video releases this year, Vitagraph Comedies is an absolute must for libraries, research centers, those interested in film history, and fans of vintage comedy.

The set can be ordered at this link:  VITAGRAPH