This one-reel film is yet another example of Max Linder's importance to the development of silent screen comedy. Linder is sadly neglected today, but he was probably the world's first international movie star, certainly the first comic genius of the silver screen, and a major influence on Chaplin, Keaton, the Marx Brothers, and other later comedians. More than anyone else, Linder was responsible for refining slapstick into graceful and surprising athleticism and for coming up with a recurring comic persona (like Chaplin's little tramp or W.C. Fields' boozing misanthrope). Linder's comic persona was "Max," a wealthy and rather dissipated young man.
Here, Linder's character oversleeps and must rush to make a social appointment with his fiancé. (It's never clear, but I assume it's an engagement party. In many of Linder's comedies, he has a falling out with his fiancé or her family shortly before their scheduled wedding.) In his rush, Max inadvertently catches his shoes on fire (!) and buys a pair of comically over-sized boots from a man he passes in the street. When he finally arrives at the party, his fiancé and her family are aghast at Max's appearance, but Max pretends that over-sized boots are the new fad among the social elite. He slips out and places the boots under the dress of nearby woman so that the toes stick out. His fiancé's father sees the boots and decides that they are a new fad. He sends a servant to buy dozens of similar boots, and the film ends with everyone at the party dancing around in the over-sized boots.
The story may not sound terribly inventive or funny today, but it's actually one of the better short comedies that Linder made during the 1910's -- at least that I've seen. Unlike most of the comedies he made in the preceding few years, this one is more than just one long joke. There are several funny moments: Max's feet catching on fire, his entrance into the party with the over-sized boots, the way he convinces his fiancé's father that an older woman is wearing similar shoes, and the final image of everyone trying to dance in such shoes.
Ultimately, however, the real value of this movie is how it demonstrates Linder's influence on later comedians and the development of silent comedy. Max's over-sized shoes echo Chaplin's famous walk as the little tramp, and many comedians (including Chaplin) have scenes where they try to convince others that their hands or feet are the hands or feet of someone else. Also, the whole film plays out like a one-reel segment of a much longer comedy. No doubt this approach helped convince later comedians that feature-length comedies should be a series of loosely connected set-pieces.
This short film is available on the "Laugh with Max Linder" DVD released by Image. There are three other Linder shorts as well as his best-known feature film, "Seven Years Bad Luck," a newsreel, and an excerpt from Linder's otherwise lost feature, "Be My Wife" (which based on the excerpt may well have been Linder's masterpiece).
Here, Linder's character oversleeps and must rush to make a social appointment with his fiancé. (It's never clear, but I assume it's an engagement party. In many of Linder's comedies, he has a falling out with his fiancé or her family shortly before their scheduled wedding.) In his rush, Max inadvertently catches his shoes on fire (!) and buys a pair of comically over-sized boots from a man he passes in the street. When he finally arrives at the party, his fiancé and her family are aghast at Max's appearance, but Max pretends that over-sized boots are the new fad among the social elite. He slips out and places the boots under the dress of nearby woman so that the toes stick out. His fiancé's father sees the boots and decides that they are a new fad. He sends a servant to buy dozens of similar boots, and the film ends with everyone at the party dancing around in the over-sized boots.
The story may not sound terribly inventive or funny today, but it's actually one of the better short comedies that Linder made during the 1910's -- at least that I've seen. Unlike most of the comedies he made in the preceding few years, this one is more than just one long joke. There are several funny moments: Max's feet catching on fire, his entrance into the party with the over-sized boots, the way he convinces his fiancé's father that an older woman is wearing similar shoes, and the final image of everyone trying to dance in such shoes.
Ultimately, however, the real value of this movie is how it demonstrates Linder's influence on later comedians and the development of silent comedy. Max's over-sized shoes echo Chaplin's famous walk as the little tramp, and many comedians (including Chaplin) have scenes where they try to convince others that their hands or feet are the hands or feet of someone else. Also, the whole film plays out like a one-reel segment of a much longer comedy. No doubt this approach helped convince later comedians that feature-length comedies should be a series of loosely connected set-pieces.
This short film is available on the "Laugh with Max Linder" DVD released by Image. There are three other Linder shorts as well as his best-known feature film, "Seven Years Bad Luck," a newsreel, and an excerpt from Linder's otherwise lost feature, "Be My Wife" (which based on the excerpt may well have been Linder's masterpiece).
