The Charley Chase Talkies
The Charley Chase Talkies

Author: James L. Neibaur

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2013-09-05

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 081089162X

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Charley Chase began his film career in early 1913 working as a comedian, writer, and director at the Al Christie studios under his real name, Charles Parrott. Chase then joined Mack Sennett's Keystone studio in 1914, costarring in early films of Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, as well as directing the frenetic Keystone Cops. By 1924 he was starring in a series of one-reel comedies at Hal Roach studios, graduating to two-reel films the following year. In 1929, he made the transition to sound films. Along with the continuing popularity of his own short comedies, Chase often directed the films of others, including several popular Three Stooges efforts. In The Charley Chase Talkies: 1929-1940, James L. Neibaur examines, film-by-film, the comedian's seventy-nine short subjects at Roach and Columbia studios. The first book to examine any portion of Chase’s filmography, this volume discusses the various methods Chase employed in his earliest sound films, his variations on common themes, his use of music, and the modification of his character as he reached the age of forty. Neibaur also acknowledges the handful of feature film appearances Chase made during this period. A filmmaker whom Time magazine once declared was receiving the most fan mail of any comedian in movies, Charley Chase remains quite popular among classic film buffs, as well as historians and scholars. A detailed look into the work of an artist whose career straddled the silent and sound eras, The Charley Chase Talkies will be appreciated by those interested in film comedy of the 1920s and 30s.

Smile When the Raindrops Fall
Smile When the Raindrops Fall

Author: Brian Anthony

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 1997-12-23

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1461734185

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Details the life of Charley Chase—a major force in the shaping of motion picture comedy.

Charley Chase
Charley Chase

Author: I. Joseph Hyatt

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-05-31

Total Pages: 90

ISBN-13: 9781547084319

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"Charley Chase: The Hal Roach Years" celebrates Chases's films with selected full color lobby cards, press books, posters and trade ads from the original theatrical releases of his films that were from the Hal Roach Studios. Press books from "Poker at Eight," "Life Hesitates at 40," "Vamp 'till Ready," and "The Count Takes the Count" are fully reproduced here so you can see the original material that creative theater managers could use to draw in an audience back in the days when movie exhibition was an art form.

The Silent Films of Harry Langdon (1923-1928)
The Silent Films of Harry Langdon (1923-1928)

Author: James L. Neibaur

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2012-07-06

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0810885301

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Harry Langdon was a silent screen comedian unlike any other. Slower in pace, more studied in movement, and quirkier in nature, Langdon challenged the comic norm by offering comedies that were frequently edgy and often surreal. After a successful run of short comedies with Mack Sennett, Langdon became his own producer at First National Pictures, making such features as Tramp Tramp Tramp, The Strong Man, and Long Pants before becoming his own director for Three's a Crowd, The Chaser, and Heart Trouble. In The Silent Films of Harry Langdon (1923-1928), film historian James Neibaur examines Langdon's strange, fascinating work during the silent era, when he made landmark films that were often ahead of their time. Extensively reviewing the comedian's silent screen work film by film, Neibaur makes the case that Langdon should be accorded the same lofty status as his contemporaries: Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. With fascinating insights into the work of an under-appreciated artist, this book will be of interest to both fans and scholars of silent cinema.

Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy

Author: Leonard Maltin

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781595821195

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"Portions of this book originally appeared in issues of Leonard Maltin's movie crazy"--T.p. verso.

The Fall of Buster Keaton
The Fall of Buster Keaton

Author: James L. Neibaur

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2010-07-16

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 0810876833

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Born into a family of vaudevillians, Buster Keaton made his first film appearance in 1917 at the age of 21. By the early 1920s, he had established himself as one of the geniuses of silent cinema with such films as Sherlock, Jr. and The Navigator and his 1925 work, The General, placed at number 18 in the American Film Institute's poll of the 100 greatest features, the highest ranked silent film on the survey. But with the advent of sound in the late 1920s, silent stars like Keaton began to fall out of favor and the great comedian's career began to decline. In The Fall of Buster Keaton, James Neibaur assesses Keaton's work during the talking picture era, especially those made at MGM, Educational, and Columbia studios. While giving some attention to the early part of Keaton's career, Neibaur focuses on Keaton's contract work with the three studios, as well as his subsequent work as a gagman, supporting player, and television pitchman. The book also recounts the resurgence of interest in Keaton's silent work, which resulted in a lifetime achievement Oscar and worldwide recognition before his death in 1966. This fascinating account of an artist's struggle and triumph during the more challenging period of his career will be of interest to anyone wanting to learn about one of film's most influential performers.

The Cinema of Attractions Reloaded
The Cinema of Attractions Reloaded

Author: Wanda Strauven

Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 9053569456

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Twenty years ago, noted film scholars Tom Gunning and André Gaudreault introduced the phrase “cinema of attractions” to describe the essential qualities of films made in the medium’s earliest days, those produced between 1895 and 1906. Now, The Cinema of Attractions Reloaded critically examines the term and its subsequent wide-ranging use in film studies. The collection opens with a history of the term, tracing the collaboration between Gaudreault and Gunning, the genesis of the term in their attempts to explain the spectacular effects of motion that lay at the heart of early cinema, and the pair’s debts to Sergei Eisenstein and others. This reconstruction is followed by a look at applications of the term to more recent film productions, from the works of the Wachowski brothers to virtual reality and video games. With essays by an impressive collection of international film scholars—and featuring contributions by Gunning and Gaudreault as well—The Cinema of Attractions Reloaded will be necessary reading for all scholars of early film and its continuing influence.