January 17

James Earl Jones

My original intent was to watch James Earl Jones films today. I wanted to watch a film in which he had a leading role. I was going to watch The Great White Hope. My library did not have a copy of the film. I went to a movie rental place and they did not have it either. I expected there would be problems in getting DVD of lesser known or older stars, but not finding any James Earl Jones? I was not prepared for that. The Comedians, Gardens of Stone, Great White Hope (I watched part of the film last year on Fox Movies when I was going through a Chester Morris obsession but could not get through the boxing and wanted to give it another try for James Earl Jones) and Cry the Beloved County was not available and Roots was checked out. I could believe it. I tried Redbox, but they only had new films. Netflix had the films, but I am too cheap to join the service. Mr. Jones is a great actor but there are so few films available. I have seen him in Field of Dreams, Coming to America and Hunt for Red October, but I wanted to see him as the main character. He has a great voice and has done wonderful voice overs for cartoons and movies and many audio-books. I am disappointed, but will keep looking.

Mack Sennett

I got out my Chaplin at Keystone set by Flicker Alley and found 2 shorts and a feature were the scenario, producer and director were done by Sennett: Tango Tangles, The Fatal Mallet and Tillie's Punctured Romance. Thank you to Jeffery Vance for the names of the actors. The words below are mine. Slapstick does not write well. I have never seen a Chaplin short I did not like.

The short films were basically the same story about 3 men who love the same girl.

In Tango Tangles, the men are Roscoe “fatty” Arbuckle, Ford Sterling and Charlie Chaplin and the girl is Minta Durfee. Charlie (in non tramp role) is drunk and dances with Minta. The band leader Ford considers Minta his girl, but she is actually Roscoe's girl. Ford asks Roscoe to get him a drink of water so he is out of the way and goes to the dance floor to get Minta away from Charlie. Charlie gets Minta back and Ford challenges Charlie to a fight. Ford wins the fight and declares Minta to be his girl and will fight anyone who tries to steal her. Roscoe gets rid of Ford. Ford meets up with Charlie again and they decide to fight again. They take off their jacks and vests and start to fight (or rather circle each other). They take off their ties and collars and start to unbutton their pants before Ford realizes what he is doing. They go to put their coats on but cannot find their coats and take all the coats and hats off the hooks and throw them on the floor and continue to fight until they are so warn off they each decide the other can have her.

In The Fatal Mallet, the men are Mack Swain, Mack Sennett (I don't think I ever noticed him in a short film before) and Charlie Chaplin and the girl is Mabel Normand. Charlie takes Mabel from Mack. Mack kicks Charlie in the behind and Charlie thinks Mabel did it and he kicks her in retaliation. Mabel smiles and asks Charlie to come closer. When he does she slaps him with a strong left and he falls down. Mabel goes to Mack, who pushes her on a swing right into Charlie. Mack and Mabel run a little bit away where Charlie throws bricks at them and Mabel throws a brick at Charlie. Mack accidentally hits Mabel in the face and Charlie defends Mabel. Swain shows up and Mabel runs right over to him. Swain sits in the swing and Mack and Charlie come up behind him and hit him in the head with a brick. He barely feels it. Mack and Charlie hit him at the same time and Swain chases them. They end up in a barn and find a large mallet. Swain gives up the chase and sits with Mabel. Charlie hits Swain with the mallet and knocks him out. Charlie and Mack take him in the barn and Charlie hits Mack to go back to Mabel. When he goes over to her, there is a little boy now making time with Mabel. Charlie gets rid of the boy. Mack and Swain get out of the barn, Swain fights with Charlie and Swain ends up in the pond. Mack fights with Charlie and Charlie ends up in the pond. Mabel comes over to Mack and they leave the park arm in arm. There are very few title cards in this short. You can pretty much tell what is going on from the action on the actors.

In Tillie's Punctured Romance Marie Dressler plays Tillie a poor country girl who attracts Charlie Chaplin or should I say her father's money attracts Charlie. Charlie plays a slightly darker version of the tramp with a straw hat and a sly look in his eyes. Tillie gets her fathers money and they elope to the city. In getting ready to go to the city Tillie puts on the ugliest hat ever created, with a large bird. Once in the City Charlie meets up with his true girl Mabel Normand. At a restaurant while Mabel is dancing she hands Charlie her purse with the money. Charlie grabs Mabel and they leave the restaurant. Tillie gets a little wild and gets kicked out of the restaurant and is taken away by the police. While in the drunk tank, she reveals that she is a the niece of the “millionaire Banks”, the police take her to his house. Tillie causes some mayhem since she still wants to dance and gets kicked out her uncle's house. Her uncle then goes on a trip to rest up from his nieces visit. Charlie and Mabel go to see a movie, a Keystone Comedy that mirrors what they have done. Sitting next to them is Charley Chase who is a police officer. They leave the theater. Tillie gets a job as a waitress. When she sees Charlie in the restaurant she faints. Charlie and Mabel rush out. When Tillie comes to she grabs a nice and starts to chase after them. Other waitresses rush to her aid and calm her down. The millionaire Banks dies and leaves Tillie as his sole heir. Charlie sees in the newspaper the story that Tillie is the sole heir and rushes back to Tillie saying he wants to marry her. They get married. Tillie realizes why he rushed to marry her. Tillie and Charlie go to her new house and Mabel becomes a maid in the house. During a party Tillie catches Mabel and Charlie kissing. Tillie starts throwing food, suddenly she has a gun and the chase is on. Tillie is shooting at anything that moves and fires more bullets from one gun than 3 would hold. Her uncle is not dead and comes home at this time. He kicks everybody out. Charlie and Mabel run off with Tillie still firing away. The uncle calls the cops (keystone of course) and the action ends up at the pier. Tillie ends up in the water and so do most of the cops who are attempting to rescue her. Tillie is finally rescued and gives Charlie back the wedding ring. Mabel feels so badly at their treatment of her she also dumps Charlie. The cops take Charlie away. Mabel convinces Tillie it was all Charlies fault and they hug. The curtain falls and the principal characters take a bow. The music played by Tillie's Nightmare Ensemble is a great jazz band that really enhances the film. The restoration is great, very clear and only very few imperfections. The last version I saw of the film it was very dark and some scenes were difficult to see.

As I was watching the film the very last credits were a little strange to me. “The appearance of Joe Bordeau is not verified. Contrary to many accounts, Ford Sterling, Eddie Sutherland, Gene Marsh and Milton Berle do not appear in the film. And the Reverend D. Simpson does not appear as “himself”.” It does not say it but these must have been part of the restoration. I particularly like the last one.