American Cinematographer - February 1988 - 91

Where do you go,
once

VideoGram

by Mike Maginot
The

Original Keystone Comedies

tantly laughed at for generations to

(Volumes 1-8)
Mack Sennett.

*

Produced by

us

Keystone Comedies don't make
laugh as much as they once did. Time,

imitation, and the reduction to the small
(and a small audience), have turned

bygone

days.
Fast paced compilations, layer¬
ing climax upon climax, have led modern
audiences to think that Sennett's stock
company ran one gigantic chase throughout
the silent era. The Original Keystone Come¬

dies present

another story, characters in
plots propelled by larceny, infidelity, and
disrespect for all. Subjects meant to shock,
as well as amuse the filmgoers of 1914 and
15, for whom these one- and two-reel
comedies were made.
Volumes One through Four pre¬
sent Roscoe

"Fatty" Arbuckle and Mabel

Normand, alone and together, in a variety of
roles and situations. Arbuckle shines as the
"bad boy" whose most incredible indiscre¬
tions are excused for the sake of a laugh.
Normand's finest screen moments were yet
to come.

Volume Five offers

and

some

Fatty in drag
early work by Harold Lloyd and

Charles Chase. Volume Six and Seven pre¬
sent Mack Swain in the role of Ambrose.

This is the low point of the collection, except
for two shorts where Chester Conklin plays
Ambrose's nemesis, Walrus. In these Con¬
klin surpasses Swains weight and mus¬
tache with pure comic nuance.
Volume Eight shows

off the of¬
ten forgotten talents of Charles Chaplin's
half-brother, Sydney. In the role of Gussle,
Sydney Chaplin demonstrates a style some¬
what similar and in many ways equal to his
renowned younger sibling.
Image quality varies on the 27
comedies represented in this collection. The
endearing aspects of these shorts are to be
found in their comedic content and the

landscapes that provide
slapstick.

a

backdrop for the

These tapes are to be scruti¬
nized, analyzed, preserved, and most impor¬

Duplicates

come.

*

Packages

Man Facing Southeast
Produced by Lujan Pflaum.
Directed by Eliseo Subiela.

Markets

Photographed by Ricardo De Angelis.

screen

them into curios and artifacts of

*

you've produced
video tape?

a

Science fiction fans will want to

place Man Facing Southeast on their video
shelf next to The Day the Earth Stood Still
and Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The story: A visitor from another

Advertises
Sells Your

planet mysteriously appears in a psychiatric
hospital. A bored doctor, whose leisure
hours are spent watching home movies and
playing the saxophone, becomes obsessed
with the stranger.
Pedro Aznar's

score

and Andres

Boiarsky's off screen saxophone playing are
in harmony with Ricardo De Angelis' linger¬
ing visuals. Lorenzo Quinteros, Hugo Soto,
and Ines Vernengo are magical in the roles
written by the director, Eliseo Subiela.
*

*

*

And

Tapes

...

Pays You Royalties!
For information

on

how to submit

video tape, write to Anne
Olson, Acquisitions Coordinator
your

at

VIDEO-SIG

The Invisible Man
Produced by Carl Laemmle,

Jr.
by James Whale.
Photographed by Arthur Edeson, ASC.
Directed

Arthur Edeson's use of light and
shadow outshines even the film's best spe¬
cial effects. Odd camera angles and black
humor turn what could be junk into a
cinematic classic that wears well after so
many poor

impersonations.

James Whale directs the un¬
seen Claude Rains through the unpredict¬
able madness of his role with incredible skill
and panache.
*

*

*

1030C East Duane Ave.

Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 730-9291
Ask for Anne Olson
863

The Wolf Man
Produced and directed by

George Waggner.
Photographed by Joseph dentine, ASC.
Where the wolfs bane blooms is
where any

fan of film horror will be. Lon
Chaney, Jr., in his best role next to Lenny in
Of Mice and Men, is the cursed Larry Talbot.
Claude Rains, Bela Lugosi, Maria
Ouspenskaya, and Evelyn Ankers are a few
of the players whom Joseph Valentine's
camera follows through one of filmlands
most famous

February 1988

fogs.

A

For your FREE VIDEO-SIG
CATALOGUE of over 600

"edutaining" video titles

Call 800-245-6717
or 800-222-2996

(California only)

89
American Cinematographer - February 1988

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