Troublesome Secretaries (1911) User Reviews

One of the few surviving Bunny films.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 6 February 2019]

Back in the early days of film, John Bunny was one of the first comedy stars, if not the first. However, sadly, nearly all his films have disappeared....due to the effects of aging on the very unstable nitrate prints. Here in "Troublesome Secretaries" (available on YouTube), he's teamed up with Mabel Normand in one of her first films.

The story is a relatively complex one for 1911, when MOST comedies were very, very short and featured tons of slapstick violence....quite unlike this one. Bunny plays a businessman who is annoyed. One of his secretaries fell in love with his daughter (Normand) and he fired him. The next was a lady and she fell for Bunny! So, he decides to hire an old one...and the original returns dressed like a dottering old man. Sadly, the end of the movie seems to be missing.

While I would not consider this a film of comedy genius, it is well made and thankfully is not just mindless bonking and shooting like too many comedies of the day. But missing the finale...that makes watching this one troublesome and it's a shame that few other Bunny moives exist.

Troublesome Secretaries review

[JoeytheBrit · 5/10 · 19 May 2020]

John Bunny and Mabel Normand, two of early silent comedy's biggest stars, share the screen for the only time in Vitagraph's Troublesome Secretaries. It's a mild, restrained comedy that is at least enhanced by their presence even if it doesn't really deliver any big laughs.

The Grandaddy of Sophisticated American Comedy! Bunny and Normand Are Awesome!

[caribeno · 15 August 2002]

"Troublesome Secretaries" teamed for the first and only time two of the first and greatest American film comedians: Mabel Normand and John Bunny. This "dream team" play daughter and father, respectively. For 1911 (and for years afterward), the playing of Bunny and Normand is playful, subtle, sophisticated, and always charming. Although they were certainly physical comedians, "Troublesome Secretaries" displays nuances in their acting and in the photography that presage the romantic comedies and Andy Hardy films of the 1930's and 1940's.

"Troublesome Secretaries" is a delight from start to finish!

Troublesome Secretaries was my first exposure to John Bunny

[tavm · 2/10 · 29 July 2009]

While searching on YouTube for anything on forgotten silent comedian John Bunny, this was the earliest of his I could find. His co-star here is Mabel Normand who plays his daughter Betty. It seems male secretaries fall for Betty-since one of them just became engaged to her-and female ones fall for her father-though I'm not sure if that's actually true here since the one here just acts so over-the-top that I'm sure something's fishy there. Solution, get a sixty-year-old! I won't spoil anything else but what I saw wasn't funny to me although it's fascinating to see Ms. Normand before she signed with Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and I am glad to see something of Mr. Bunny since so much of his work is lost. So I say Troublesome Secretaries is worth a look.

" Veteran Actor John Bunny And Frisky Mabel Normand "

[PamelaShort · 8/10 · 14 December 2013]

It is an absolute miracle this early John Bunny film still survives. A simple comedy story of the day along with the delightful performances by John Bunny and a very young, frisky Mabel Normand make this short film a treat to watch. The story is about Betty ( Mabel Normand ) and Ralph, who are are in love, trouble is Ralph is her father's ( John Bunny ) secretary and they must keep their feelings for each other a secret. When Bunny catches Ralph the secretary flirting with his daughter he immediately fires the young man. The new secretary is a girlfriend of Mabel's and together they conspire to annoy her father. The new secretary sprays the room with perfume and flirts wildly with Bunny, she to is fired. Finally the desperate father puts an ad in the paper for a secretary who must be over sixty years, meanwhile Mabel has asked Ralph to disguise himself as an old man. The fooled father hires him much to the amusement of a very delighted Mabel. Simple but very charming, this film is worth a look for those who appreciate early silent cinema.

Mabel Normand's Earliest Surviving Staring Role and John Bunny Too

[jayraskin1 · 8/10 · 20 October 2012]

This is Mabel Normand's eight film. However except for a couple of films where she plays extras, and D.W. Griffith's melodrama "Saved From Himself" this is, I believe, the earliest film that survives of her in a staring role. It is a great example of her being vivacious, adorable and bubbly in one of her first important comedies.

It is also the 18th film of John Bunny. He is a Charles Laughton lookalike, who is considered one of the first great movie screen comedians. He was around sixty years old when he became a movie star.

This is basically a two practical-joke comedy. Bunny is a businessman father and Mabel plays Betty, his lovable daughter. The first practical joke is Betty getting her girlfriend to be daddy's secretary. The secretary sprays perfume on all his papers and tries to make out with him. The second practical joke has Betty getting her boyfriend to put on a wig and old man's outfit and apply for the job of daddy's secretary.

This movie relies more on situation comedy than slapstick. There are a couple of wonderful shots with Mabel in the deep background and Bunny in the foreground that are quite interesting.

The movie is amusing enough to still bring a chuckle or two and one can easily see why John Bunny was a star at this time and Mabel Normand was about to be.