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IMDbPro

Charles Reisner(1887-1962)

  • Director
  • Actor
  • Writer
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Charlotte Greenwood, Leila Hyams, and Charles Reisner in Stepping Out (1931)
Charles Reisner (also frequently billed as "Riesner") started his professional life as a prizefighter. He performed in vaudeville for ten years and eventually wound up writing lyrics for musical comedy on Broadway. After a spell under the auspices of impresario Charles B. Dillingham, Reisner moved to California in 1915, finding a job as an actor in one-reel comedies at Universal. He added further credentials to his resume at Vitagraph before his arrival at Keystone, where he made the acquaintance of Charles Chaplin. Before long his innate ability to devise intricate visual sight gags got him involved as a gag writer (as well as occasional bit part actor) in classic Chaplin comedies at First National, including A Dog's Life (1918) and The Kid (1921). His collaboration with the famous comic ended with The Gold Rush (1925), for which Reisner was credited as assistant director.

Moving on to Warner Brothers, he directed Charles' brother Syd Chaplin in The Man on the Box (1925), Oh! What a Nurse! (1926) and The Better 'Ole (1926). Reisner also worked on the frenetic Buster Keaton comedy Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), using many of the old sight gags from bygone days of vaudeville comedy. Alas, it failed at the box office and proved to be Keaton's last film for his own production company.

During the 1930s Reisner made occasional forays into mystery and crime drama with minor entries like Sophie Lang Goes West (1937), but he was always more comfortable directing the screen's zaniest comedians, from Jack Benny in It's in the Air (1935) to The Marx Brothers in their hilarious and underrated The Big Store (1941), from Bud Abbott and Lou Costello who were Lost in a Harem (1944) to Joan Davis in one of the screen's last full-on slapstick farces, The Traveling Saleswoman (1950).
BornMarch 14, 1887
DiedSeptember 24, 1962(75)
BornMarch 14, 1887
DiedSeptember 24, 1962(75)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Awards

Photos

Lucille Ball, Charles Laughton, Dick Powell, and Charles Reisner in Meet the People (1944)

Known for

Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
7.8
  • Director(as Chas. F. Reisner)
  • 1928
Syd Chaplin, Ruth Hiatt, and Akka the Chimp in The Missing Link (1927)
The Missing Link
6.0
  • Director
  • 1927
Charlotte Greenwood and Bert Lahr in Flying High (1931)
Flying High
5.6
  • Director(as Charles F. Reisner)
  • 1931
Charles King and Bessie Love in Chasing Rainbows (1930)
Chasing Rainbows
5.9
  • Director
  • 1930

Credits

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IMDbPro

Director

  • The March of Time
  • Joan Davis, Andy Devine, and Adele Jergens in The Traveling Saleswoman (1950)
    The Traveling Saleswoman
    • (as Charles F. Reisner)
  • L'ultima cena (1948)
    L'ultima cena
    • (supervisor)
  • Scott Brady and Mary Meade in In This Corner (1948)
    In This Corner
    • (as Charles F. Riesner)
  • Richard Fraser, Richard Loo, and Sheila Ryan in The Cobra Strikes (1948)
    The Cobra Strikes
    • (as Charles F. Reisner)
  • Bus Pests
  • Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, and Marilyn Maxwell in Lost in a Harem (1944)
    Lost in a Harem
    • (as Charles Riesner)
  • Lucille Ball, Spike Jones, Bert Lahr, Vaughn Monroe, Virginia O'Brien, and Dick Powell in Meet the People (1944)
    Meet the People
    • (as Charles Riesner)
  • Frank Craven, William Gargan, and Bobby Readick in Harrigan's Kid (1943)
    Harrigan's Kid
  • This Time for Keeps (1942)
    This Time for Keeps
    • (as Charles Riesner)
  • Groucho Marx, Douglass Dumbrille, Margaret Dumont, Virginia Grey, Tony Martin, Chico Marx, and Harpo Marx in The Big Store (1941)
    The Big Store
    • (as Charles Riesner)
  • Alex in Wonderland
  • Richard Carlson and Ann Sheridan in Winter Carnival (1939)
    Winter Carnival
  • Gene Autry, Leo Carrillo, Ann Dvorak, Tamara Geva, James Gleason, Phil Regan, Ted Lewis and His Orchestra, Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra, and Kay Thompson and Her Ensemble in Manhattan Merry-Go-Round (1937)
    Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
    • (as Charles F. Reisner)
  • Lee Bowman and Gertrude Michael in Sophie Lang Goes West (1937)
    Sophie Lang Goes West
  • Murder Goes to College (1937)
    Murder Goes to College

Actor

  • The Man on the Box
    • (as Charles F. Reisner)
  • Justice of the Far North (1925)
    Justice of the Far North
  • The Title Holder
  • Bring Him In
  • Jack Dempsey and George Ovey in All's Swell on the Ocean (1924)
    All's Swell on the Ocean
  • So This Is Paris
    • (as Chuck Reisner)
  • Lloyd Hamilton, Patsy Ruth Miller, and Cameo the Dog in A Self-Made Failure (1924)
    A Self-Made Failure
    • (as Chuck Reisner)
  • Winning His Way (1924)
    Winning His Way
    • (as Chuck Reisner)
  • Jack Dempsey and Esther Ralston in Fight and Win (1924)
    Fight and Win
    • (as Chuck Reisner)
  • Her Temporary Husband (1923)
    Her Temporary Husband
    • (as Chuck Reisner)
  • So Long Sultan
  • Cracked Wedding Bells
  • Breaking Into Society (1923)
    Breaking Into Society
  • Jollywood
  • The Pencil Pushers

Writer

  • Don Castle, Richard Dix, and Frances Gifford in Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die (1942)
    Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die
    • (as Charles 'Chuck' Reisner)
  • Charley Chase and Elissa Landi in Hollywood Party (1937)
    Hollywood Party
    • (uncredited)
  • Charlotte Greenwood and Bert Lahr in Flying High (1931)
    Flying High
    • (as Charles F. Riesner)
  • Charles King and Bessie Love in Chasing Rainbows (1930)
    Chasing Rainbows
    • (as Charles F. Reisner)
  • Syd Chaplin, Ruth Hiatt, and Akka the Chimp in The Missing Link (1927)
    The Missing Link
  • Syd Chaplin in The Better 'Ole (1926)
    The Better 'Ole
    • (as Charles 'Chuck' Reisner)
  • So Long Sultan
  • Cracked Wedding Bells
  • Jollywood
  • The Pencil Pushers
  • The Misfit Pair
  • Lloyd Hamilton and Kathleen Myers in The Greenhorn (1921)
    The Greenhorn
    • (as Chuck Reisner)
  • Stuffed Lions (1921)
    Stuffed Lions
  • Won: One Flivver
  • Milk and Yeggs

Personal details

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    • March 14, 1887
    • Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
    • September 24, 1962
    • La Jolla, San Diego, California, USA(heart attack)
  • Publicity listings
    • 6 Articles

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Father of Dean Riesner.

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