Two Actors try their hands at stage comedy.Two Actors try their hands at stage comedy.Two Actors try their hands at stage comedy.
Photos
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFilm was made by the 'Historical Feature Film Company [us]' which was a white-run company; but, distributed by the Ebony Film Company [us]' to make it appear that it was released by a black-controlled company.
- Quotes
Knight I: We'vll all dall up.
Featured review
Probably not all that different from the white comedies of the day....in other words it's not all that funny.
"Two Knights of Vaudeville" is a silent slapstick comedy made with an all black cast, though the company itself was white owned. The film isn't all that different from other comedies of the day in that the humor was very broad and not particularly funny. The best silent comedies would come in the following decade--after films started using scripts and comedy was refined. However, while seeing silent comics act like idiots was the norm, some folks in 1915 were bothered by the film's depiction of the characters.
A rich white man accidentally drops some Vaudeville tickets on the ground. Soon, two black men run up and snatch the tickets and soon go to the show along with their lady friend. During the course of the show, the two men behave like total idiots and, not surprisingly, they are tossed out of the theater. So, in anger, they decide to put on a show of their own for their friends.
The main problem with the film is that it isn't all that funny. And, I can see why some folks were offended when the film debuted, as the black characters cannot spell ANYTHING correctly and they behave so poorly. While some of the white comics of the time also behaved similarly, this was one of the only depictions of blacks...and it certainly was not positive in any way. Not a horrible short but one mostly of interest to historians...and the average viewer will have little to enjoy here.
A rich white man accidentally drops some Vaudeville tickets on the ground. Soon, two black men run up and snatch the tickets and soon go to the show along with their lady friend. During the course of the show, the two men behave like total idiots and, not surprisingly, they are tossed out of the theater. So, in anger, they decide to put on a show of their own for their friends.
The main problem with the film is that it isn't all that funny. And, I can see why some folks were offended when the film debuted, as the black characters cannot spell ANYTHING correctly and they behave so poorly. While some of the white comics of the time also behaved similarly, this was one of the only depictions of blacks...and it certainly was not positive in any way. Not a horrible short but one mostly of interest to historians...and the average viewer will have little to enjoy here.
helpful•22
- planktonrules
- Aug 3, 2016
Details
- Runtime11 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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