Pat & Patachon

Pat & Patachon. Carl Schenstrøm (Fy / “Fyrtaarnet”), Harald Madsen (Bi / “Bivognen”). Photo: Steve Massa Collection. Please click on the images to enlarge them.

European Slapstick – Prog. 4: Pat & Patachon.
Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM), Pordenone.
Grand piano: Neil Brand.
Teatro Verdi, e-subtitles in English and Italian by Underlight, 10 Oct 2019.

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Antipasto
Early Cinema: Flipbooks
Nuit agitée (FR 1896) 55’’ (121 fotogrammi/frames, 12 fps): attribuito con certezza a / positively attributed to Méliès, forse la prima versione di / possible first version of Star-Film cat. no. 26 (1896), Une nuit terrible.
    AA: A Kafkaesque moment: the sleeper (Georges Méliès) harassed or seeing a nightmare of a giant bug.
    I saw Georges Mélies's Une nuit terrible (1896) three years ago in Bologna's Anno Uno series.

...

European Slapstick – Prog. 4: Pat & Patachon.
Mikael Braae, Ulrich Ruedel (GCM):
Slapstick Scandinavian Style

"“The most striking thing about Pat and Patachon is that comedy of poverty which already formed the major part of the Chaplin comedies. […] But Pat and Patachon do not seem to suffer from poverty in the least. It is the vagabonds’ deliberate poverty out of conviction. They are bohemians, and a discreet, shy-cheeky disdain is evident from their behaviour towards any bourgeois prosperity and property […] And how touching and deeply symbolic is their stereotypical gesture: the expression of a creature’s deepest solidarity. So they wander, hand in hand, through the films as episodes […] But even the grandest movie plots are just episodes of their  wanderings, and that entire bourgeois society is perhaps but a whimsical accident. Eternal is only the county road, their friendship, and the blue haze of Nirvana weaving in a tree’s noontime shadow.” (Béla Balázs, “Pat und Patachon”, Der Tag, 30 December 1924, reprinted in/translated from Béla Balázs, Schriften zum Film, Munich: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1982)"

"After Nordisk Film’s decline during World War I, Danish film needed to make a comeback on the international market, and a new comedy team created by Lau Lauritzen turned out to be the dream ticket. Internationally known as Pat and Patachon, Doublepatte and Patachon, Watt en Halfwatt, Long and Short, etc., they joined the ranks of great silent comedians in Europe, their popularity rivalling that of the Hollywood masters Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, and others, in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, and Russia."

"Systematically devised by veteran comedy director Lau Lauritzen when he joined the newly formed Danish company Palladium in 1921, Pat and Patachon, a duo of warm-hearted comic tramps, was based on the model of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Their brand of comedy was light-hearted, and in their own peculiar way the team made an impact with this quirky, harmless humour. In this genuine Danish-European variant of slapstick, gentleness and comic characterization in a narrative was often set against the beauty of the Danish landscape (and that of the “Pal Bathing Beauties”), and deemed far more important than split-second slapstick timing. Their popularity was almost instant – and not just in Denmark."

"After a couple of predecessors, with the shorter member of the team still portrayed by another actor, Aage Bendixen, the 1921 Film, Flirt og Forlovelse (Film, Flirt and Film Stars / The Film and the Flirt), nominally an Oscar Stribolt comedy, established the winning team of Carl Schenstrøm and Harald Madsen, or “Fy and Bi”, who were an immediate smash hit."

"Harald Madsen (Patachon / Bivognen / Short, 1890–1949) started out as a trapeze artist, a contortionist, and a clown in the circus. One night during a circus performance Lau Lauritzen and Palladium owner Svend Nielsen were in the audience. They were sure they had found one part of a comedy team."

"Carl Schenstrøm (Pat / Fyrtaarnet / Long, 1881–1942) also had a connection with the circus world, through his grandfather, but studied to be an actor at an early age. He started acting in films long before Madsen, at Nordisk Film in 1909, and first  worked with Lauritzen during these early years."

"Palladium soon distributed the team’s films to other European countries, creating the most successful export of 1920s Danish cinema. While most of their films were produced in their home country, Denmark,  for a limited number of productions they were loaned out to Germany, Austria, Sweden, and even England, where they worked under director Monty Banks (who later directed Laurel and Hardy in Great Guns, 1941) and appeared in an early “Cockney talkie”(!), Alf’s Carpet (1929). With more Danish, German, and Austrian talkies, they maintained a fair part of their popularity well into the sound era. All in all, during the period from 1921 to 1940, they eventually made over 40 films."

"Carl Schenstrøm died in 1942, but the team’s popularity lived on, through an attempted revival teaming Madsen with a new partner in Calle og Palle (Calle and Palle, 1948) – Madsen passed away the following year – and then through numerous sonorized and re-edited theatrical and television re-issues and compilations, particularly in Denmark and Germany. Alas, it is these numerous reissues and re-edits (done from the Palladium master materials), in addition to the loss of the original negatives, that account for the poor preservation state of their oeuvre today."

"While books by Marguerite Engberg (Copenhagen, 1979) and Hauke Lange-Fuchs (Germany, 1980) proved significant steps towards an overdue reappraisal, their films have been overshadowed by the masterworks of Laurel and Hardy, and, in comparison, unfairly maligned as slow and unappealing – perhaps in no small part due to the excessive running times reported by Lange-Fuchs, based on an incorrect use of the 16 fps speed, or through poor or re-edited versions. Seen in beautiful tinted nitrates – or proper digitizations thereof – Pat and Patachon’s films can still be as warm, pleasing, and entertaining as they originally were. If far from reaching the artistic heights of a Chaplin or Keaton or the precision and gagman genius of a Harold Lloyd, they deserve to be appreciated on their own terms, as well as in film-history terms. This current digitization of one of their most enduring hits, Filmens Helte [The Film Heroes] (1929), from a beautiful vintage tinted Swedish nitrate print, aims to contribute to this reappraisal and appreciation, but more work remains to be done."

"As part of a huge digitization project by the Danish Film Institute that will take place over the next 5 years and include all the surviving Danish silent films, those of Pat and Patachon will play a major part. All of their silent films will be digitized, and some of them restored using the Palladium and other materials held at the DFI. However, as they were a truly European phenomenon, ideally any effort to bring back Pat and Patachon should also look beyond Denmark. The first surveys suggest that their international popularity is reflected in the presence of a host of surviving export versions preserved in different national archives throughout Europe. Many of their films were shot with two cameras – a practice notably on display on-screen in Filmens Helte (1929) – to create two negatives, one for domestic and one for foreign distribution. Thus, there will also be an ongoing search for Pat & Patachon film material in other European FIAF archives, something that has not been systematically pursued for decades. All of this, and much more, will be included on the DFI’s new silent film website, which is being launched during this year’s Giornate festival."

Mikael Braae, Ulrich Ruedel

Min svigerinde fra Amerika [My Sister-in-law from America] (DK 1917) by Lau Lauritzen Sr. Frederick Bush as the uncle from America and Agnes Andersen as "my sister-in-law from America". Photo: Det Danske Filminstitut, Copenhagen.

MIN SVIGERINDE FRA AMERIKA [My Sister-in-law from America] (DK 1917)
regia/dir: Lau Lauritzen Sr. cast: Frederik Buch, Agnes Andersen, Bertel Krause, Kate Fabian, Gyda Aller. prod: Nordisk Films Kompagni. copia/copy: 35 mm, 172 m, 9′ (16 fps); did./titles: DAN. fonte/source: Det Danske Filminstitut, København.

Ulrich Ruedel (GCM): "Before creating the international hit comedy duo of Pat & Patachon at Palladium studios, former officer Lau Lauritzen had already been extremely prolific, first as an actor and then as a director, since 1909 at Nordisk Film, where he would work with comedians such as Oscar Stribolt (the rotund monk in Benjamin Christensen’s Häxan and frequent co-star of Pat and Patachon), or here, diminutive Frederik Buch, “cinema’s first funny fat man”, who later continued his career in Germany as “Knoppchen”. “My Sister-in-law from America is a typical goofy Lauritzen comedy, where a small household drama unfolds as the husband tries to cover up an affair by presenting his mistress as his brother’s wife.” (Thomas Christensen, Giornate del Cinema Muto, 2016)"

"Lauritzen’s shorts, such as this example, are gentle family or relationship comedies of the same type that would later provide the basic story structure for the first period of Pat and Patachon films. In these, the comedy team acted like a “Robin Hood from Denmark” (per Kaj Wickbom) to help establish, for instance, a romance across social boundaries – creating, in effect, not genuine slapstick features, but rather, typical examples of the popular Danish genre of folkekomedie, simple “people’s comedies” into which, somehow, two slapstick tramps found their way." Ulrich Ruedel (GCM)

AA: Revisited Min svigerinde fra Amerika about which I blogged six years ago at the Nordic archives' meeting in Oslo.

Højt paa en kvist [Up in the Attic] / Moster Malins millioner [Aunt Malin’s Millions] (The Mannequins) (DK?/SE?, 1929) [Swedish trailer]. Photo: Svenska Filminstitutet, Stockholm.

HØJT PAA EN KVIST [Up in the Attic] / MOSTER MALINS MILLIONER [Aunt Malin’s Millions] (The Mannequins) (DK?/SE?, 1929) [Swedish trailer]
regia/dir: ?. cast: Carl Schenstrøm (“Fyrtårnet” [Swe:“Fyrtornet”]), Harald Madsen (“Bivognen” [Swe: “Släpvagnen”]). prod. [feature film]: A/S Dansk Filmindustri Palladium. dist. (Sweden): National Film AB. copia/copy: 35 mm, 96 m, 4′ (22 fps); did./titles: SWE. fonte/source: Svenska Filminstitutet, Stockholm.
    Keikareita, keplottelijoita ja kummituksia / Sprättar, spågummor och spöken / Pat und Patachon als Modekönige.
    Danish premiere: 26 Dec 1929.
    Finnish premiere: 28 April 1930 Punainen Mylly, Piccadilly – control number 16325 – 2280 m.
    Finnish re-release (sonorized): 16 Dec 1945 Scala, released by Kelo-Filmi Oy – 2700 m.
    Finnish re-release: 10 Feb 1956 Pallas, relased by Oy Columbia Films Ab.
    Finnish telecast: 24 June 1965 Yleisradio TV1.

Magnus Rosborn (GCM): "With no other intertitles than the opening credits, a series of the film’s central gags are shown in this Swedish trailer for the Danish Pat & Patachon comedy Højt paa en Kvist (Up in the Attic), 1929. Surely Carl Schenstrøm and Harald Madsen’s brilliant physical comedy, beloved by moviegoers around the world, must have been reason enough to attract fans to cinemas, but unfortunately the end of the trailer is missing, leaving today’s viewers unaware of what the final selling point might have been. It is also not possible to say whether this preserved trailer is representative of how the Pat & Patachon films (or any other films) were marketed in Sweden, since it is one of extremely few Swedish trailers from the silent era to survive."

"The Swedish distributor’s choice of title is particularly interesting. Using the template of a three-word alliteration, typical of many of the comic duo’s earlier films, the Swedish title Moster Malins millioner (Aunt Malin’s Millions) fits much better into the Pat & Patachon oeuvre than the original Danish one."

"About the print: In 2019 a 35 mm black & white duplicate negative was made from a tinted nitrate print. The viewing print was struck from this new negative the same year, using the tinting of the original nitrate as colour reference." Magnus Rosborn (GCM)

AA: A madcap mix of gags in the trailer: pure nonsense. Heavy tint.

BEZOEK WATT EN HALFWATT [Visit of Pat and Patachon] (NL 1924)
Cinegiornale olandese/Dutch newsreel: Weeknummer: 24-06. prod: Polygoon-Profilti. uscita/rel: 17.3.1924. copia/copy: DCP, 2’01”; did./titles: NLD. fonte/source: Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid, Amsterdam

DIE UNZERTRENNLICHEN! ANKUNFT DER BELIEBTEN FILMKOMIKER PAT UND PATACHON IN BERLIN [The Inseparables! Arrival of the Beloved Film Comedians Pat and Patachon in Berlin] (DE 1927) [frammento/fragment]
prod: Firma Fuhrmann-Filmproduktion. uscita/rel: 10.1927. copia/copy: 35 mm, 43 ft, 32″ (24 fps); senza did./no titles.  fonte/source: BFI National Archive, London.

JOURNAAL: RECLAME WATT EN HALFWATT FILMS II [Newsreel: Advertisement, Pat & Patachon Films 2] (NL 1925)
prod: ?. copia/copy: 2’49”; did./titles: senza did./no titles. fonte/source: EYE Filmmuseum, Amsterdam.

Ulrich Ruedel (GCM): "The international popularity of Pat and Patachon is evidenced in these actualities, with images of crowds eager to see the comedy team reminiscent of similar scenes we know for Chaplin or, later, Laurel & Hardy or Martin & Lewis. Bezoek Watt en Halfwatt (Visit of Pat & Patachon) likely shows the very same arrival in Amsterdam in 1924 described by Schenstrøm in his autobiography: “It was the first time I travelled south. I had travel fever. First, Holland. Arriving at Amsterdam station, we were literally ‘crushed’. Thousands wanted to see ‘Watt and Halfwatt’, as we were called in the Netherlands. The police had to make room. Cameramen filmed us disembarking from the train. Greeting dignitaries … cars bring us to the ‘Cinema de Munt’… when we enter, everybody stands up and the orchestra plays ‘Kong Christian stod’ [the Danish national anthem].” (Carl Schenstrøm, Fyrtaarnet Forteller, Copenhagen: Hagerup, 1943, quoted in/translated from Hauke Lange-Fuchs, Pat und Patachon, Schondorf/Ammersee: Roloff & Seeßlen, 1980)"

"In 1927, the Unzertrennlichen (inseparable) Pat and Patachon arrive in Berlin, and, as the tongue-in-cheek intertitle – “Vor dem Denkmal Otto Gebührs!” (In front of the Otto Gebühr Memorial!) – suggests, the pair pay tribute to their fellow actor, famous for his portrayal of Fredericus Rex (Frederick the Great)."

"While these two newsreels show the “real thing,” the Dutch advertising footage from 1925 serves to document  another indicator of the team’s massive success: the emergence of a number of imitators operating on their own terms, or working on advertising the films – as indeed this duo of imitators does (note the team’s Dutch name, Watt en Halfwatt, on the tramps’ oversized luggage). A contemporary article from Der Spiegel, “Urlaub vom Himmel” [Vacation from Heaven], reports on a team of imitators, “Pat” Becky and “Patachon” Willy Klein, still working – and contemplating a film project – as late as 1954." Ulrich Ruedel (GCM)

AA: Newsreels of Pat & Patachon's international visits document their huge and genuine popularity.

Pat & Patachon were known in Denmark as Fy & Bi (Fyrtaarnet & Bivognen), in Sweden as Fyrtornet och Släpvagnen and in Finland as Majakka ja Perävaunu.

They were hugely popular in Finland, and their silent films kept being re-released in sonorized versions. Some of their films had three separate theatrical releases in a time period of over 50 years.

The tradition in Sweden and Finland was to give the Fy & Bi films rhyming three word titles in which each word begins with the same letter (Moster Malins millioner / Keikareita, keplottelijoita ja kummituksia). 

Their films were telecast in Finland in the 1960s. The tv versions might have stemmed from a German distributor.

I saw their films as a child in the 1960s, and our archive has an interesting collection of sonorized re-release versions. When we screen them, hardly anyone comes. Those who come don't laugh, and they are not likely to return.

Mostly Fy & Bi have not stood the test of time, but the trouble may be in the overdone editing of the re-release versions. They may have been "cut to the chase" all too eagerly.

It was revealing to see Gustaf Molander's Fy & Bi comedy Polis Paulus' Påskasmäll (1925) in Pordenone six years ago. The same goes for the good-looking feature Filmens helte in this show (see separate entry). These screenings give a much better impression of Fy & Bi than anything I have seen before.

Neil Brand brought a brisk and vigorous musical current to the show.

Filmens helte

Filmens helte (DK 1928). Patachon (Harald Madsen) and Pat (Carl Schenstrøm). Photo: Steve Massa Collection.

Filmens helte [The Film Heroes] (DK 1928) by Lau Lauritzen. Photo: Det Danske Filminstitut, Copenhagen.

Pat and Patachon. Filmens helte [The Film Heroes] (DK 1928) by Lau Lauritzen. Crying at the restaurant during the premiere of their Western movie. Photo: Det Danske Filminstitut, Copenhagen.

Filmens helte [The Film Heroes] (DK 1928) by Lau Lauritzen. Photo: Det Danske Filminstitut, Copenhagen.

Filmens helte [The Film Heroes] (DK 1928)
regia/dir: Lau Lauritzen. scen: Alice O’Fredericks. cast: Carl Schenstrøm (Pat), Harald Madsen (Patachon). copia/copy: DCP, 67′, col. (da/from 35 mm, imbibito/tinted)*; did./titles: SWE. fonte/source: Det Danske Filminstitut, København.
    * Not tinted but toned.
    PC: A/S Palladium.
    Fy & Bi – Filmens helte / Valkokankaan veikeät veijarit / Elokuvan sankarit / Majakka ja Perävaunu – Elokuvan sankarit / Lustiga luffare / Tjusiga tokars talanger / Pat und Patachon: Die Filmhelden.
    Danish premiere: 1 Oct 1928.
    Finnish premiere: 25 Dec 1928 Piccadilly – 2420 m – control number 15298.
    Finnish telecasts: 9 May 1965, 18 Sep 1983.
    Finnish re-release: 17 Oct 1980 Bristol 2, distributed by O.Y. Kinosto – 2290 m.
Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM), Pordenone.
European Slapstick – Prog. 4: Pat & Patachon
Grand piano: Neil Brand.
Teatro Verdi, e-subtitles in English and Italian by Underlight, 10 Oct 2019.

Mikael Braae, Ulrich Ruedel (GCM): "Two down-on-their-luck actors get a break as part of a wager between a producer and a director. The director boldly promises that he will make stars of even the worst actors they can find. It all seems to fail, but in the end they prevail as comic stars."

"This “meta-film” – Pat and Patachon are effectively shown working in the Palladium film studio, which produced their Danish films in the late silent period – gives a very good impression of what the comedy duo “Fy og Bi” (Fyrtårnet og Bivognen / Lighthouse and Trailer) was all about, and why a large part of the European world  embraced them. Their popularity – which may seem hard to understand today – rivalled that of the great American clowns, and indeed anticipated the success of Laurel and Hardy several years later."

"This was specifically intended as an “anniversary film” to mark “Lau Lauritzen’s 25th Palladium comedy with Pat and Patachon.” (Hauke Lange-Fuchs, Pat und Patachon, 1980)."

"Apparently deemed the ideal showcase for their specific brand of comedy, it was reissued as the centrepiece of the theatrical compilation Filmens Helte as late as 1979, and similarly served as the source for the first two episodes of the German television show Pat and Patachon (1984)."
"The film has been digitized from a beautiful vintage tinted Swedish nitrate print." Mikael Braae, Ulrich Ruedel (GCM)

AA: The title of this Swedish release version is Tjusiga tokars talanger.

I have seen many Pat & Patachon films but they have all been sonorized re-release version except this and Gustaf Molander's Polis Paulus' Påskasmäll, seen in Pordenone six years ago. The difference is huge. The original versions are much more charming because they include the build-up and the post-processing of the gags. The humour is more satisfying; the films are not just mere strings of goofy bits of action.

Filmens helte, "Heroes of the Screen", fits also to Pordenone's "Films on Film" theme this year. We get an authentic, albeit humoristic, look into the functioning of an established film studio: from auditions to the shooting to the premiere of a Western film. Meant as a serious Western drama it turns into a farce – and a big hit for the film company.

Let's register the presence of funny ladies in this film: Eli Lehmann and Inger Schmidt appear as the producer's daughters. The vibrant "Josephine Baker" character with a sunny smile has not been credited – she plays the Native American princess in the film-in-the-film. There is innocent eroticism in the sequence where Bivognen tries to catch the princess with his lasso, and Fyrtaarnet swings his knife between his legs. A gun is fired. Moments of genuine anxiety are caused by Fy's knife-throwing towards Bi who is tied onto a tree.

The romantic department is mostly clumsy and embarrassing. The daughters of the producer have flirtations of their own, and there is a comedy bit about their hiding in a coalbox and needing a bath. Increasingly Bi wants to get out of the picture. Being the butt of Fy's blows is not funny anymore. The play turns to reality when he begins to strike back.

(At this point the screening was interrupted because of a medical case. It happened a few seats removed in the same row where I was sitting. The person's friends, the theatre staff and the paramedics acted fast, and our colleague got help.)

Having seen Filmens helte like this I need to reassess Fy & Bi. More proof is needed.

The visual quality: I like the charming sepia toning adopted from the Swedish nitrate source.

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AA Facebook capsule:

Filmens helte anttialanenfilmdiary.blogspot.com I have seen quite a few Pat & Patachon / Fy & Bi / Majakka & Perävaunu silent films: they were telecast in my childhood, and as late as in the 1980s they were theatrically re-released by major distributors in Helsinki. But I always found them "poor man's Laurel & Hardy" although Fy & Bi were huge international stars long before L&H. In Pordenone I realize that I had seen truncated and boringly sonorized versions. The originals have real build-up and post-processing of gags, surprising female characters and moments of genuine pathos, sorrow and agony like Chaplin. Neil Brand electrified the show at the grand piano. Thanks: Mikael Braae and Uli Ruedel.

Højt paa en Kvist / [Up in the Attic]

Lau Lauritzen: Højt paa en Kvist (DK 1929) Fy & Bi / Pat & Patachon. Harald Madsen (Bivognen/Patachon) and Carl Schenstrøm (Fyrtårnet/Pat). From IMDb.

Lau Lauritzen: Højt paa en Kvist (DK 1929). Two dancers across the street: Marguerite Viby, Nina Kalckar. From IMDb.

Lau Lauritzen: Højt paa en Kvist (DK 1929). Two dancers across the street: Marguerite Viby, Nina Kalckar. From IMDb.

Lau Lauritzen: Højt paa en Kvist (DK 1929). Fy & Bi meet the dancing duo. Harald Madsen, Marguerite Viby, Nina Kalckar and Carl Schenstrøm. From IMDb.

[Su un soffitta] (Moster Malins Millioner) [I milioni di zia Malin/Aunt Malin’s Millions] (The Mannequins) / Keikareita, keplottelijoita ja kummituksia
    DK 1929. regia/dir: Lau Lauritzen Sr. scen: Lau Lauritzen Sr., Alice O’Fredericks, A. V. Olsen, Lau Lauritzen Jr. photog: Carlo Bentsen, Einar Olsen. asst. dir.: Alice O’Fredericks. 

    cast: Carl Schenstrøm (“Fyrtårnet” [SWE:“Fyrtornet”]) / Pat / “Lighthouse”), Harald Madsen (“Bivognen” [SWE: “Släpvagnen] / Patachon / “Sidecar”), Marguerite Viby, Nina Kalckar (le due ragazze / the two girls), Bruno Tyron (il pugile/the boxer), Emmy Schønfeld (Aunt Malin/the fortune teller), Mathilde Felumb-Friis (padrona di casa/landlady), Victor Wulff (l’avvocato/the lawyer), Gerda Kofoed (sua figlia/his daughter), Alex Suhr (impiegato/the clerk), Christian Arhoff (maestro di balletto/the ballet master), Anton de Verdier (il giudice/the judge), Lau Lauritzen Jr. (agente di polizia/police officer), Asbjørn Andersen (il signore in attesa/waiting gentleman), Aage Bendixen (falsario/counterfeiter), Arthur Jensen (vicino del piano di sotto/downstairs neighbor), 

    Henrik Malberg. prod: Palladium-Film. exec. prod: Svend Nielsen. uscita/rel: 26.12.1929 (Kosmorama, København). copia/copy: DCP, 97' (da/from 35 mm nitr. pos., orig. l. 2935 m, 24 fps); did./titles: SWE. fonte/source: Det Danske Filminstitut, København.

    Finnish premiere: 28 April 1930 Punainen Mylly, Piccadilly – control number 16325 – 2280 m.

    Finnish re-release (sonorized): 16 Dec 1945 Scala, released by Kelo-Filmi Oy – 2700 m.

    Finnish re-release: 10 Feb 1956 Pallas, relased by Oy Columbia Films Ab.

    Finnish telecast: 24 June 1965 Yleisradio TV1.

    Grand piano: Meg Morley.

    Teatro Verdi, Pordenone, Le Giornate del Cinema Muro (GCM): Slapstick Prog. 4 Odd Couples, 12 Oct 2023

Ulrich Rüdel (GCM 2023): " By the late 1920s Pat and Patachon had cemented their stardom as Europe’s most popular comedy duo prior to their American successors in audience affection, Laurel & Hardy. During this time, they churned out more feature comedies than Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd combined, though obviously they never achieved comparable artistic heights. However, after 30 feature films variation was overdue, and they were loaned out for foreign productions in Sweden, Britain, and Austria, appearing under the direction of such well-known names as Hans Steinhoff and Monty Banks (Banks also directed Laurel and Hardy, in Great Guns, 1941). This strategy provided the necessary shake-up and further underlined their international popularity, but also bore the risk of straying from a highly successful blueprint. By 1928’s Filmens Helte, the “jubilee” 25th Palladium/Lau Lauritzen/Pat and Patachon collaboration, the formula had become both tried and tested but also somewhat tired and stale, yet Højt paa en Kvist the following year provided a charming return to old form at Palladium with director Lauritzen. "

" The title roughly translates literally as “High Up on a Twig,” a reference to the domestic comedy’s setting in an attic flat, conveniently allowing for some slapstick rooftop antics, as well as an ominous prediction by a fortune teller, a mix-up with a brutish boxer, and innocent romance with two pretty dancer neighbors thrown in for good measure. In the process the film greatly benefits from featuring not just one but two odd couples, with Marguerite Viby and Nina Kalckar adding considerable charm as the dancers the comics are smitten with. Another important duo helped with scriptwriting duties: Alice O’Fredericks (1899-1968) would become, teamed with the director’s actor son Lau Lauritzen Jr., the dominating creative force in a specific Danish genre, folkekomedie, a warm, gentle, and ultimately untranslatable word that literally means “folk comedy,” which established Marguerite Viby as a major Danish comedienne for decades. "

" Having appeared in a handful of Pat and Patachon films before (as well as in Benjamin Christensen’s Häxan), and having won a scriptwriting competition for Filmens Helte, O’Frederick made her debut as assistant director in Højt paa en Kvist. It is tempting to think that these female contributions in front of and behind the camera can take some share of the credit for the gentleness and charm that marks many of the Pat and Patachon films, particularly this one. "

" It’s precisely these qualities that make them, as the DFI’s Madeleine Schlawitz proposed, the ideal comedy team for the 21st century, lacking the humiliation and harshness one associates with some aspects of American slapstick that have not aged too well. This is not necessarily a new observation: “They own a gently tempered Danish humor, which compared to American knockabout comedy feels more tame, but also more congenially personable. Even Chaplin can be excessively tart […]. With the […] Copenhagen couple, the humor has a homely, sometimes even slowish quality to it.” (Robert Ramin, Filmkomik und Filmkomiker, Wegweiser Kalender 1931, Berlin) Arguably, the price to pay for this modus operandi was comic timing, precision, and the gag-focused approach of many an American (or British music-hall-trained) slapstick master. Where Laurel and Hardy might expertly revisit, vary, and ref ine sight gags and comedy routines sometimes even dating back to their solo careers, or where Abbott & Costello basically preserved a catalogue of burlesque routines on film in various permutations, Pat and Patachon focused on a comedy of  characterization, through amusing pantomimed reactions, here for instance with their infatuation with the two young dancers, or Patachon’s burgeoning appetite for their neighbor’s breakfast. Perhaps in that sense they anticipated the deliberate “slowness” of Harry Langdon (and, in turn, his influence on the “Stan” character) much more than echoing the gagmen ingenuity of a Chaplin, Lloyd, or Laurel. This is not, however, to say that Lauritzen’s actor/circus clown duo lacked slapstick skills; this is aptly evidenced not just by their popularity, which in many countries was on a par with their more famous U.S. colleagues, but, here, for instance, also in the clumsy yet zany and effective rooftop antics that nicely contrast with the domestic comedy. "

" The ongoing popularity of the Pat and Patachon films resulted in a number of sonorized re-releases and compilations, sometimes sporting elaborate musical settings and/or dubbing, an aspect of this comedy team’s enduring European appeal over decades which offers much promise for further research but also resulted in the loss of the original versions. In the case of Højt paa en Kvist, the re-release benefitted from music by prominent Danish film composer Sven Gyldmark. "

" All Palladium film materials are now with DFI in Copenhagen. However, as with many of the Pat and Patachon features that survive at the archive in reasonably or entirely complete form – which, alas, applies roughly to only a third of their output – this digitization derives from a Swedish nitrate distribution print, with a surprising number of changes to the number and content of intertitles compared to the Danish release, as well as several cast names (Carl Schenstrøm is credited as Karl Schenström, Emmy Schønfeld as Emmy Schönfeld, and Mathilde Felumb Friis as Mathilde Felumb). A 35 mm tinted Swedish trailer for this film was shown at the Giornate in 2019. " – Ulrich Rüdel

AA: I thank the Danish and Swedish archives for reconstructing Pat & Patachon feature films to their original lengths. I was introduced to them as a child (possibly also to Højt paa en Kvist in a 1965 Finnish telecast) in truncated versions, probably cropped, in overspeed (it was considered hilarious) with overdone sound effects (such as banging a sledgehammer when there is a pat on the back).

I have liked the achievements with Polis Paulus' påskasmäll (1925, GCM 2013) and Filmens Helte (1928, GCM 2019) and now Højt paa en Kvist. 

As a child, I rated Pat & Patachon to the same category as the Finnish comedy duo Pekka & Pätkä, but I now realize how much better they are. On a different level altogether.

In truncated versions, physical farce elements were highlighted, and aspects of character and atmosphere pruned. In longer / complete versions, the balance is reset.

The impact is similar to the access to the Harold Lloyd legacy: in the 1970s, the abridged television versions of his masterpieces were appealing enough, but only when the original complete versions became available, the full grandeur re-emerged.

The physical farce aspect in Højt paa en Kvist is embarrassingly inept.

But as soon as Marguerite Viby and Nina Kalckar, the dancing duo across the street, appear, the film becomes tender and appealing. It turns into a comedy of character and relationships.

A similar revelation was the presence of the funny ladies Eli Lehmann and Inger Schmidt in Filmens Helte, as well as the uncredited "Josephine Baker" character with the sunny smile, playing the Native American princess in the film-in-the film.

There is fun in Højt paa en Kvist with clothes borrowed without permission from a neighbour and clothes made by a tailor. But more durable fun is provided by the characters themselves, a fun that is innate, the impact perhaps not far from the folkekomedie later pursued by Alice O'Fredericks as highlighted by Ulrich Rüdel in his program notes quoted above. It is about creating a world of fun, in which the tiniest pretext may give an excuse to laugh. It is about inviting us to a company of people having a great time.

Polis Paulus' påskasmäll / [Constable Paulus's Easter Crackers] (a new print from SFI Filmarkivet with Desmet colour)

POLIS PAULUS’ PÅSKASMÄLL / Poliisi Paavalin pääsiäispamaus (The Smugglers) [Lo scherzo pasquale del poliziotto Paulus / Constable Paulus’ Easter Crackers] (AB Svensk Filmindustri, SE 1925) D: Gustaf Molander; SC: Tre herrar vid en grogg = “Three gentlemen having a drink” [Gustaf Molander, Oscar Hemberg, Paul Merzbach]; DP: Axel Lindblom; C: Carl Schenstrøm (Lunken), Harald Madsen (Paulus Storm, il capo della polizia/chief of police), Gucken Cederborg (Klara Storm, la proprietaria dell’albergo/ hotel proprietress), Stina Berg (Miss Dina Björnbom), Vilhelm Bryde (Baron von Lanck, il contrabbandiere/ smuggler); 35 mm, 2104 m, 103' (18 fps); col. (tinted, Desmet method); print source: Filmarkivet vid Svenska Filminstitutet, Stockholm. Swedish intertitles. Teatro Verdi (Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone), with e-titles in English and Italian, grand piano: Philip C. Carli, 6 Oct 2013

Jon Wengström: "This film stars the two Danish comedians Carl Schenstrøm and Harald Madsen, who were among the most celebrated comedy acts of their time under the name “Fyrtornet and Bivognen”, or “Pat and Patachon”, as they were known internationally. In fact, the duo’s original name, “Fyrtornet og Bivognen”, which literally means “the lighthouse and the little trailer”, has become an expression in Scandinavian languages to label any imbalanced pairing of someone very tall and someone very short. Many people still know this expression without any inkling of its origins, or having seen any of their films, which is an indication of just how popular they once were."

"As Pat and Patachon, Schenstrøm and Madsen made around 50 films between 1921 and 1940. During the silent era they mainly worked in their home country Denmark, but after the transition to sound they also appeared in German and Austrian films. They also participated in three Swedish films, two of them silent, the first being Polis Paulus’ Påskasmäll (The Smugglers), shot and released in the first half of 1925. Many of their films have aged pretty badly, and at times it is now difficult to understand why they were so extremely popular in their day. But unlike most “Pat and Patachon” films, Polis Paulus’ Påskasmäll was made by a skilful director, Gustaf Molander (in fact, this was the first time the comic duo was not directed by their compatriot Lau Lauritzen), and their pranks are well integrated into the action of the film, which explains why it is still so enjoyable today. Molander cast them slightly out of character, as here they are both on the side of law enforcement, but he still used their plastic qualities to their full extent, not least Schenstrøm’s quirky body moves, which are ingeniously employed for comic effect, as in the night-time slapstick sequence at the hotel of the winter resort where the action takes place."

"In the opening credits of the film the script is attributed to “Three gentlemen having a drink”. According to Molander, the men in question were himself, producer Oscar Hemberg, and the Austrian-born director/scriptwriter Paul Merzbach, who later in the 1920s would write a number of scripts for AB Svensk Filmindustri, including Molander’s films Hans engelska fru (Matrimony, 1927), Förseglade läppar (Sealed Lips, 1927), and Synd (Sin, 1928), all included in this year’s edition of the Giornate."

"The Restoration. The film was preserved in 2009, from a tinted nitrate print with German intertitles held by Filmarchiv Austria in Vienna and a black-and-white safety interpositive without intertitles in the collections of the Danish Film Institute in Copenhagen. Neither of these two elements was complete, but fortunately they overlapped, resulting in a full-length duplicate negative. A complete set of the original title cards existed in the library collections of the Swedish Film Institute. These title cards were scanned, and then recorded onto film and inserted into the new negative. The colours were recreated with the Desmet method, using the colours in the Austrian print as reference." – Jon Wengström (The GCM Catalogue)

AA: A wintry Pat and Patachon comedy. In Finland they are called Majakka and Perävaunu, a direct translation of the Danish names of the popular comedy duo. The titles of their films often had three words with an alliteration, a formula also followed in the Finnish-language release titles. I saw their films every now and then as a child on tv, but never was a huge fan. Polis Paulus' påskasmäll might be the best Pat and Patachon film I have seen, and at least one of the best.

Harald Madsen (the short one) is now a chief of police, Paulus, and Carl Schenstrøm (the tall one) a bum, Lunken, often found in jail, arrested for drunkenness. The reason for drinking: once they were rivals, and it was Paulus who won the heart of the sweet waitress of the café, now turned into a harridan.

A third hero is the police dog Spej, who keeps a strict discipline on Paulus but who is also very clever with retrieving keys at a crucial moment. This is a funny dog comedy movie.

Pat and Patachon crack the smugglers' ring, and there is a romantic story which proceeds after serious misunderstandings have been solved. In the conclusion Patachon, now a hero, is elevated into the police force, too. "You look adorable in uniform": so there will be romance for him, too.

The best laughs: the lazy horse, the alert dog, the tango charmer, the winter sport antics, Lunken's sneaking around in the pension, the "bear" coming alive, the chase on the ice, the antics around the ice hole.

Expert restoration with beautiful winter scenery and forest landscapes. I have my usual reservations about Desmet colour and would prefer it as subtle as possible.

Carl Schenstrøm, Harald Madsen (”Pat & Patachon”) - Svenska Filminstitutet, Stockholm © 1925 AB Svensk Filmindustri. All rights reserved.

Wir halten fest und treu zusammen / [We Stick Together through Thick and Thin]

[Restiamo saldamente e fedelmente insieme] (DE 1929) regia/dir: Herbert Nossen. scen: Hans Kahan. photog: Willy Hameister.
    cast: Siegfried Arno (“Beef”), Kurt Gerron (“Steak”), Ernst Karchow (Theodor Klabautermann), Vera Schmiterlöw (Kitty, sua figlia/his daughter), Evi Eva (cuoca/cook), Antonie Jaeckel (Freifrau von Gotha, sensale di matrimoni/marriage agent), Lotte Roman (parlor maid), Edith Meller (Carola Triller), Claire Cläry (domestica/maid), Karl Geppert (primo assessore/first assessor).
    prod: Ama-Film, Berlin. copia/copy: 35 mm, 263 m, 13' (18 fps); did./titles: GER. fonte/source: Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, Berlin.

    Grand piano: Meg Morley.

    Teatro Verdi, Pordenone, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): Slapstick: Prog. 4 Odd Couples, 12 Oct 2023

Ulrich Rüdel, Sreya Chatterjee (GCM 2023): " “Beef” and “Steak” are two harmless crooks, who have already done time in prison. But sheer hunger forces them back into the criminal lifestyle. Financed by a gangster syndicate, they unsuccessfully try to be con artists and marriage swindlers. Since nothing works out for them, they voluntarily return to their idyllic and carefree life in prison. (Programme note, Cinefest, Hamburg, 2005) "

" The mid-1920 were the golden age of silent comedy duos. In the US Raymond Hatton and Wallace Beery or Karl Dane and George K. Arthur paved the way for Laurel and Hardy in 1927, who instantly would be carbon-copied by Snub Pollard and Marvin Loback. At the same time, Pat and Patachon had remained a European box-office sensation for several years, considered on a par with the great Hollywood comedians Chaplin, Lloyd, and Keaton. In 1927, when Laurel and Hardy films first began to hit the German market, Jewish Weimar comedians Kurt Gerron and Sig Arno decided it was time to create a German slapstick team equivalent. In spite of its anglicized, mouthwatering moniker “Beef & Steak”, the team was generally perceived as an attempt to compete with the unrivalled Danish duo. DFI scholar Jannie Dahl Astrup has reconstructed how the creation of “a German Pat and Patachon” (Allgemeine Zeitung, 8.5 1929) was even discussed in the Scandinavians’ home country, yet failed to compete artistically, as aptly analyzed by German critic Walter Kaul, who reminded readers that in Pat and Patachon it is the chemistry and characterization rather than comic perfection that mattered: "

" “Gerron and Arno, for all their incomparably stronger, more expressive, and sharper talent in particular, cannot even compete in detail with the two Danish comedians Pat and Patachon, while similarly representing the physical contrast of long and thin and short and fat. But with Pat and Patachon, not only the physiques differ, but so do their corresponding different temperaments: the short fat one is mobile and takes initiative, the long skinny one is slow and reluctant.” (Walter Kaul, Berliner Börsen-Courier, 7.7 1929) "

" Sig Arno (born Siegfried Aron) “embodied, sometimes cheekily, sometimes clumsily, the Jewish petit bourgeois, without emphasizing Jewish stubbornness, and thus became a star of Weimar cinema.” (Ronnie Loew, 2006 article, “IST EIN JÜDISCHER KOMIKER JÜDISCH-KOMISCH oder, wie ein exzellenter jüdischer Geiger, schier ein exzellenter Komiker?” [IS A JEWISH COMEDIAN COMICALLY JEWISH, or, like an excellent Jewish violinist, simply an excellent comedian?]). A German-Jewish film actor, he was also a talented dancer, choreographer, and painter. After service in World War I he returned to the Hamburg stages, and from 1922 onwards performed in renowned Berlin theatres, quickly earning accolades as a popular eccentric comedian, with his tall, lanky gait and pronounced nose. From the mid-1920s, Arno started working in film, mainly comedies. Arno’s performance in Richard Oswald’s Die Frau von vierzig Jahren [The Wife of Forty Years] (1925) won him favorable reviews: “the discovery as an actor is Siegfried Arno, the German Chaplin no less, who just has to rid himself of certain traits to become a completely unique slapstick comedian of enormous stature.” (M-s, Film-Kurier, 1925) Beyond his slapstick roles, Arno appeared in over 90 films in Germany during the silent and sound era, including Pabst’s Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney (The Love of Jeanne Ney, 1926), and Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora’s Box, 1929). Arno left Germany in 1933 to work in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Belgium. In 1939 he moved to Hollywood, where he appeared in around 50 productions, usually in short but memorable roles, perhaps most notably the inventor who jumps out of a window in Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (1940) and as a rebuffed, unnerving gigolo in Preston Sturges’ The Palm Beach Story (1942). "

" Versatile German-Jewish actor and director Kurt Gerron (born Kurt Gerson), with his musical talent, was a rising star in film, theatre, and cabaret in the Weimar Republic. After military service in World War I at the age of 17, Gerron was eventually declared unfit. By 1920 he had turned to acting and achieved considerable success. Due to his war injuries, Gerron suffered from increasing obesity. His massive physical appearance often led to stereotypical casting or supporting roles. In 1928, he sang “Die Moritat von Mackie Messer” [“Mack the Knife”] in Brecht’s Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera). His 60 film roles include appearances alongside Dietrich and Jannings in Der blaue Engel (1930), with Heinz Rühmann in Die Drei von der Tankstelle (1930), and a cameo in Pabst’s Tagebuch einer Verlorenen (1929). But as the National Socialists came to power, Gerron, whose chances to move to Hollywood unfortunately did not work out in time despite the efforts of Peter Lorre and Marlene Dietrich, eventually perished in the Holocaust. "

" Only two “Beef & Steak” films were made. This fragment from the second one is brief, yet it is the longer of the two surviving, artistically apparently flawed, features. Despite this, it stands as a tribute not only to the impact of the great American slapstick comedians and their two Danish peers, but – more importantly – as a stark reminder of the role of Jewish humor in German film, so violently extinguished a decade later. " – Ulrich Rüdel, Sreya Chatterjee

AA: Sig Arno and Kurt Gerron, two multi-talented actors, are disastrously abused as a comic duo in the hands of a well-meaning amateur, medical doctor Herbert Nossen dabbling in film direction. The narrative has Laurel & Hardy affinities: like in The Second Hundred Years and Liberty, the duo is coming from jail. Plain hunger drives them back to a gang of criminals. They fail in their assignments - grand larceny in a restaurant, marriage fraud - so utterly that they decide it's best to return to prison. This type of ending was later used by Roberto Rossellini in Dov'è la libertà... ? starring Totò.

RANDOM MEMORIES OF FILMS SEEN 1964-1968, TAMPERE AND HELSINKI

Walt Disney: The Sword in the Stone (US 1963). D: Wolfgang Reitherman. The last feature-length animation overseen by Disney himself to the finish. It is the Bildungsroman of a young boy who is going to be King Arthur, mentored by Merlin the Magician. Hal Foster's comic strip Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur (US 1937-) / [Prinssi Rohkea in Finnish] had been my introduction to Arthurian legends. After that, Disney's film seemed too soft.

SPRING 1965 IN TAMPERE, SINCE AUTUMN 1965 IN HELSINKI

Tarzan's New York Adventure / Tarzan suurkaupungissa. US 1942
Tarzan and His Mate / Tarzan ja valkoinen nainen. US 1934. The first time I saw a nude woman on screen.
Fort Apache / Apassilinnake. US 1948. Probably my first John Ford movie
Rio Grande / Rio Grande. US 1950. D: John Ford
Gold Rush / Kultakuume. US 1925. Probably my first Charles Chaplin movie
Saboteur / Viidennen kolonnan mies. US 1942. Probably my first Alfred Hitchcock movie
Výnalez zkázy / Salaisuuksien saari. CZ 1947. D: Karel Zeman. Jules Verne
Mary Poppins / Maija Poppanen. US 1964. Walt Disney. P. L. Travers. Viewed in Helsinki, at Sininen Kuu
The Sword in the Stone / Miekka kivessä. US 1963. Walt Disney. King Arthur tales
Rebecca / Rebecca. US 1940. D: Alfred Hitchcock
Heidi / Heidi. US 1937. Shirley Temple. D: Allan Dwan. Johanna Spyri. - And other Shirley Temple films on tv.
The African Queen / Afrikan Kuningatar. GB/US 1951. D: John Huston. Probably my first Humphrey Bogart movie. With Katharine Hepburn
Casablanca / Casablanca. US 1942. D: Michael Curtiz. Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman
Smultronstället / Mansikkapaikka. SE 1957. Probably my first Ingmar Bergman movie. The film that started my serious, life-long interest in the cinema. Seen in the cinema together with my father.
Citizen Kane / Citizen Kane. US 1940. Probably my first Orson Welles movie
I Confess / Minä tunnustan. US 1952. D: Alfred Hitchcock. Viewed in Helsinki on tv in May 1967 the same night I visited my mother and my newborn sister Anukaisa at the delivery hospital.
2001: A Space Odyssey / Avaruusseikkailu 2001. GB/US 1968. Probably my first Stanley Kubrick movie. Viewed in Helsinki in 70 mm at Cinerama Savoy
Här har du ditt liv / Tässä on elämäsi. SE 1966. D: Jan Troell. Eyvind Johnson. An important film for me then.
In the Heat of the Night / Yön kuumuudessa. US 1967. D: Norman Jewison. Starring Sidney Poitier. Probably the first anti-racist film, the first film of black pride I saw. Important.
Bend of the River /Maa vuorten takana. US 1952. Probably the first Anthony Mann / James Stewart film I saw. Engrossing.
The Glenn Miller Story / Kuutamoserenadi. US 1954. Anthony Mann / James Stewart
4 Oct 1964  The Mark of Zorro / Zorron merkki. US 1940. D: Rouben Mamoulian. Tyrone Power. tv. Yle TV1

+
several Tarzan films
+ Disney movies (including 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea / Sukellusveneellä maapallon ympäri. US 1954. D: Richard Fleischer. Jules Verne)
+ adventure films (King Solomon's Mines /Kuningas Salomon kaivokset, US 1950, D: Compton Bennett & Andrew Marton. H. Rider Haggard; Moby Dick / Valkoinen valas , GB 1956, D: John Huston. Herman Melville.
+ comedies (Charles Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, Marx Brothers, maybe something from Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Jerry Lewis, the Danish duo Fy & Bi = Pat & Patachon = Majakka & Perävaunu, something from the Finnish duo Pekka & Pätkä)
+ a silent comedy compilation series on tv which started with a hilarious Keystone Kops clip: the policemen were dragged along the streets in a very long row by a speeding police car, and in an abrupt turn they wound around a pole like a chain of sausages
+ spectacles (The Great Race / Suuri kilpa-ajo. US 1965. D: Blake Edwards)
+ Finnish movies (Niskavuoren Heta / Heta from Niskavuori, FI 1952, D: Edvin Laine. Hella Wuolijoki. - Katariina ja Munkkiniemen kreivi / Katariina and the Count of Munkkiniemi, FI 1943, D: Ossi Elstelä. Regina Linnanheimo, Tauno Palo. - Seitsemän veljestä /Seven Brothers. FI 1939. D: Wilho Ilmari. Aleksis Kivi. - The Inspector Palmu films directed by Matti Kassila, based on Mika Waltari, starring Joel Rinne: Komisario Palmun erehdys / [The Rygseck Mystery], FI 1960. Kaasua, komisario Palmu! / [Who Murdered Mrs. Skrof?], FI 1961. Tähdet kertovat, komisario Palmu / [It's Written in the Stars, Inspector Palmu], FI 1962). - Vatsa sisään, rinta ulos! / [Belly In, Chest Out!], FI 1959, D: Aarne Tarkas, military farce with cross-dressing. - Skandaali tyttökoulussa / [Scandal at Girl School], FI 1960, D: Edvin Laine. - Pitkäjärveläiset / [The People of Pitkäjärvi], FI 1951, D: Wilho Ilmari. - Nummisuutarit / The Village Shoemakers. FI 1938. D: Wilho Ilmari. Aleksis Kivi. - Täällä Pohjantähden alla / Under the North Star. FI 1968. D: Edvin Laine. Väinö Linna. etc. etc.
+ The Old Man and the Sea / Vanhus ja meri. US 1958. D: John Sturges. Ernest Hemingway. Spencer Tracy. on tv
+ Professor Beware / Huomio, professori! US 1938. D: Elliott Nugent. My first Harold Lloyd film. TV1 20 Feb 1964
...
NB: in my childhood on tv silents were almost always shown at overspeed (25 fps), with the wrong gate (heads cut from the top, the left side of the image cropped), copied from terrible prints, and accompanied by a piano out of tune; the films were casually mutilated to fit tv slots; tv was black-and-white in my childhood.

Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2019: Afterthoughts

38th Pordenone Silent Film Festival – Poster. Marion Davies on the set of Beverly of Graustark (1926) by Sidney Franklin. Photo by Ruth Harriet Louise. Graphic processing: Giulio Calderini, Carmen Marchese. Credits: Margaret Herrick Library – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles / Le Giornate del Cinema Muto.

Festival: 38. Le Giornate del Cinema Muto / Pordenone Silent Film Festival, 5–12 ottobre 2019. Associazione Culturale "Le Giornate del Cinema Muto". Direttore: Jay Weissberg. Locations: Teatro Verdi and Cinemazero, Pordenone.

Catalog: 38. Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2019: Catalogo / Catalogue: Pordenone: 5–12 ottobre 2019. Bilingual: Italian and English. Edited by Catherine A. Surowiec. Pordenone: Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, 2019. 325 p.

This year's Le Giornate del Cinema Muto was a showcase for several intelligently curated series and programs of short films such as "European Slapstick", "Nasty Women", "Films on Film", "Weimar Shorts", "Flipbooks", "Musée Albert-Kahn" and Amsterdam's Desmet show. There were also great special screenings such as the film concerts of Fragment of and Empire and The Lodger, and the benshi performance of Chushingura. A major retrospective of William S. Hart's early years confirmed that he was a master of the cinema since the beginning.

Much I missed but I could not have digested more. It took me more than two months to finish my blog remarks. We live in a golden age of the silent cinema revival, reflected in the high quality of the catalogue introductions, musical interpretations, bilingual translations and the overall polish and professionalism of the presentations and arrangements.

EUROPEAN SLAPSTICK

Programming short film comedies is difficult because the films were meant to be shown singly. But in a festival dedicated to film history we want to see them in compilation shows.

Ulrich Rüdel and Steve Massa solved the dilemma in the "European Slapstick" section of Le Giornate del Cinema Muto. The series was built on connections and revelations, based on the concept of transatlantic interaction. Charles Chaplin was not included in the series proper, but The Kid was the opening gala selection, and the connection was made clear to Max Linder, Chaplin's model and inspirer.

We saw an early Linder comedy, Au music-hall, based on a Fred Karno sketch which Chaplin much later filmed as A Night at the Show. Further up on the road Chaplin's success in turn encouraged Linder to more serious work such as Le petit café. Together with Abel Gance the comedian even ventured into horror territory: Au secours!

Jewish comedy was on display in Der Stolz der Firma in which Ernst Lubitsch plays a variation of his familiar brash upstart go-getter character. Steve Massa compared Not Guilty! starring Charles Puffy (Károly Huszár) with Kafka.

Watching an early Lupino Lane comedy, The Blunders of Mr. Butterbun, thoughts inevitably wandered to Brexit. The film is not good by any measure, but in Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi's Twins programme a Lupino Lane masterpiece was seen: Hello Sailor, in which Lupino stars with his brother Wallace.

Starring in the series was also Walter Forde, Britain's only film comedian in the 1920s. In Wait and See, Britain's first feature-length comedy vehicle for a star, Forde appears in his Walter character, comparable with Harold Lloyd.

There was a rare chance to compare cinema's first three comic duos. Apparantly the earliest one was Czech: Cocl and Seff. From them we saw Cocl als Hausherr, based on a sketch by Arthur J. Jefferson, the father of Stan Laurel. The same sketch also served as the basis for Duck Soup (1927) which revealed Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy for the first time as a comedy team.

Laurel & Hardy are the cinema's – arguably all comedy's – most enduring team. But the Danish duo Pat & Patachon (Fy & Bi) started earlier, their films were still re-released in cinemas in the 1980s, and they remain in tv and home distribution to this day. I had only seen truncated versions of their films before and considered them just "poor man's Laurel and Hardy". Seeing finally uncut original versions such as Filmens helte [Heroes of the Screen] in this festival and Polis Paulus påskasmäll / [Constable Paulus's Easter Crackers] six years ago makes me realize that I need to reassess Fy & Bi.

"The Return of the Nasty Women" programmes curated by Maggie Hennefeld and Laura Horak, subtitled "Tyranny at Home" and "Discipline and Anarchy", consisted mostly of comedies. Many were farces of destruction in hyperbole mode. The most memorable entries were in more subtle register. The sisters Rosa and Henny Porten starred in the German Belle Époque comedy of manners Wem gehört das Kind? The French La Peur des ombres builds suspense via shadowplay. The best was saved for the last: Le Charme de Maud in which the heroine has to conceal her charm to avoid harassment.

FILMS ON FILM

The "Films on Films" series curated by Dimitrios Latsis focused on different countries in four shows. A highlight in the "Evolution of Hollywood Studio Tours" show was a visit to the Thomas H. Ince studios, including glimpses of the private life of the founder himself. The film was also interesting in the William S. Hart context, although Ince and Hart had parted ways by 1920 when this film was made. Another highlight, also relevant for Hart, was Sprockets and Splices from Paramount.

The French show, titled Histoire(s) du Cinéma, contained three important films, beginning with Raoul Grimoin-Sanson's inside view from the early years, relevant to the archaeology of the cinema. From Julien Duvivier and Henry Lepage we saw the remaining sections of their legendary history of the cinema called La Machine à refaire la vie. From another future master, Pierre Chenal, we saw the beautiful industrial documentary Une cité française du cinéma.

In Weimar Film Tales two sides of German silent cinema were present. In the surviving fragment of Der Film im Film we see Fritz Lang, Robert Wiene, Henny Porten, Asta Nielsen, Conrad Veidt and E. A. Dupont in action. Die Wunder des Films exposes the encyclopaedic variety of the Kulturfilm: from eagles' nests to chemical reactions... the whole range of the visible world.

The last installment of the series brought us ten films from Britain and Canada, starting with William Friese-Greene's funeral and Will Day's seven-part film series of his collection. The final entry, a spoof called What's Wrong with the Cinema, consisted entirely of intertitles. In each of the four shows the pioneer status of the respective country was promoted. Stephen Horne parodied the jingoism by pounding "Rule, Britannia!" on the grand piano.

WEIMAR SHORTS

Curated by Michael Cowan and Anton Kaes, the "Weimar Shorts" series invited us to examine a rich variety of neglected aspects of the golden age of German cinema. Contributing to the excellent program notes was Anke Mebold.

"Nature and the Elements". The golden age of nature films is now, thanks to digital photography. But the Weimar masters were already great in time lapse photography, mountain films, polar exploration adventures and microbiologic films, and they had film species of their own such as Kulturfilm and Querschnittfilm, all on display in the first show of the series. Full of a sense of wonder and a privileged approach to the sublime.

"Work and Leisure". The second Weimar Shorts programme had an emphasis on artists: the puppet master Lotte Pritzel, Otto Dix at the height of his Expressionistic period, and Lola Kreutzberg the documentary explorer, here recording Javanese shadowplays, dances and orchestras. There was also a tale of a lady film editor suffering from hangover... and seeing the Dadaistic results of her day's work on the giant screen of the Ufa-Palast.

"The Social Question".  The programme of the greatest gravity was The Social Question. On display were the key directors Ernö Metzner, Wilfred Basse, Slatan Dudow and Werner Hochbaum (Phil Jutzi's Blutmai 1929 was missing: we look forward to seeing it later). Something had to change in the society, and there were still real alternatives. These images grow with the years, whether classical observations (Markt in Berlin), experimental montages (Überfall) or open propaganda (Zwei Welten).

"How To Be Modern". The last installment focused on modernity. It opened with the avantgarde classic Kipho, a film on film. Die Frankfurter Küche promotes modernity in the heart of the home. Der Rundfunk auf dem Lande extols the virtues of the radio at the farm, keeping track of pork prices and storm warnings and bringing the joy of music to everybody, including animals. Unsichtbare Kräfte is a Kulturfilm about electricity. There were even animations: Der verkannte Schatten recommends more light to the kitchen, and the Lustige Hygiene series gives advice about the common cold and using hot temperatures in laundry to prevent contagion.

EARLY CINEMA

Showcasing early cinema is a mission in which Pordenone excels. The Flipbooks series was an elegant novelty: presenting early cinema via digital transfers of flipbooks, curated by Thierry Lecointe and Robert Byrne. The Musée Albert-Kahn programme, curated by Teresa Castro and Anne Sigaud, was a revelation of dignity and grandeur, with a promise of more to come. Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi's Desmet shows are my favourites. This time there was only one: Desmet Collection 2019 Show: Twins ranging from W. K. L. Dickson to Vitaphone, from Lois Weber to the Sisters Guy.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

As usual, I skipped the most important films and evening gala shows because I'm a morning person and at 20.30 when the lights go down my irresistible reflex is to sleep. But I saw the experimental screening of Murnau's Faust with the original intertitles by Gerhart Hauptmann. I understand why they were not used, but it was a privilege to see the masterpiece differently for a change. Marion Davies was the poster girl of the Festival, and I'm a fan, eager to see more of her early work. Beverly of Graustark is bright and funny, but a bit hollow for my taste. The great comedian Reginald Denny was presented by his granddaughter Kimberly Pucci; there was big fun in the film concert What Happened to Jones? with Juri Dal Dan's sparkling score played by Zerorchestra.

In the film concert Fragment of an Empire we heard one of the greatest ever vintage silent film scores: Vladimir Deshevov's futuristic music performed by Orchestra San Marco, Pordenone, conducted by Günter Buchwald, based on an arrangement by Daan van den Hurk. The definitive experience of a bold classic.

Another game-changing experience of a well-known classic was the film concert The Lodger. Neil Brand caught brilliantly Hitchcock's "sound of suspense" in his original score which was performed by Orchestra San Marco and conducted by Ben Palmer.

To a handful of the festival's greatest highlights belonged also the benshi screening of Chushingura. Ichiro Kataoka was the benshi, performing with the musicians Ayumi Kamiya, Yasumi Miyazawa and Masayoshi Tanaka. I walked out after the first fifteen minutes. Crazy! Indeed, but this was a superlong day with hardly a break due to a force majeure incident in the morning. Anyhow even judging by this short sample I knew that this was the best benshi performance I have ever visited, and I look forward to another chance.

WILLIAM S. HART, KNIGHT OF THE TRAIL

Curated by Richard Abel, Diane Koszarski and Richard Koszarski, "William S. Hart, Knight of the Trail" was a major retrospective of the silent cinema's greatest maker of Westerns. The retrospective focused on Hart's first four years as a film-maker – from 1914 till 1917 – with one film added from the year 1918. Hart had his breakthrough with Ince, mature since the beginning, reaching almost immediate global superstardom in tandem with Chaplin, establishing an influential "strong silent man" character and building a Western corpus only comparable with John Ford. From the start there was a command of the mise-en-scène and the symbolic charge of the landscape. Hart's cinematography is consistently elegant and austere, and the cameraman is often Joseph H. August, the link between Hart and Ford. Hart is a familiar and beloved figure in the Pordenone and Bologna festivals, but there were quite a few new rediscoveries in the retrospective including In the Sage Brush Country, The Aryan, The Gun Fighter and Wolf Lowry.

The Great Gamble (2019 restoration curated by Federico Striuli)

The Great Gamble (US 1919) by Joseph A. Golden. Photo: Photofest © Pathé Exchange. Please do click on the images to enlarge them.

The Great Gamble.

Клеймо преступления
Kleimo prestuplenia / Il gran giuoco.
US 1919 (SU vers.)
regia/dir, prod, scen: Joseph A. Golden.
cast: Charles Hutchison (Ralph Darrell [Ralph Gordon]), Anna Luther (Aline Morton, Eleanor “Nell” Morton [Maud O’Grady, Betty O’Grady]), Richard Neill (Richard Blake [Fred Blake]), William F. “Billy” Moran (Shorty “The Rat” [Barney]), William Cavanaugh (Cooley [Jim]), Warren Cook (Mr. Roger Morton [Mr. Mike O’Grady]), Edith Thornton (Mrs. Catherine Morton [Mrs. Catherine O’Grady]), Karl Dane (il capitano di mare/the sea captain), Laura La Plante?.
prod: Western Photoplays, Inc.
dist: Pathé Exchange, Inc.
riprese/filmed: Crystal-Western Photoplays Studios, Bronx, New York; Umbrella Rock and Lookout Mountain, Tennessee; Miami and the Everglades, Florida; Ausable Chasm, Keeseville, New York; John H. Matthews House, 176 Riverside Drive, New York.
uscita/rel: 15 ep.: 3.8.1919 [1. The Great Gamble]; 10.8.1919 [2. The Clock of Doom]; 17.8.1919 [3. Into the Chasm]; 24.8.1919 [4. In the Law’s Grip]; 31.8.1919 [5. Draught of Death]; 7.9.1919 [6. Out of the Clouds]; 14.9.1919 [7. The Crawling Menace]; 21.9.1919 [8. The Ring of Fire]; 28.9.1919 [9. Through Iron Doors]; 5.10.1919 [10. Written in Blood (The Abduction)]; 12.10.1919 [11. The Stolen Identity]; 19.10.1919 [12. The Wolf Pack]; 26.10.1919 [13. Barriers of Flame]; 2.11.1919 [14. Under Arrest]; 9.11.1919 [15. Out of the Shadows].
copia/copy: DCP, 320′ (da/from SU 35 mm, 24 rl. [3 pt.], 15 fps); did./titles: RUS.
fonte/source: Gosfilmofond of Russia, Moscow; La Cineteca del Friuli, Gemona.
Progetto a cura di/Project curated by: Federico Striuli; scansione e ricostruzione digitale/scanning and digital reconstruction: Alessandro De Zan & Andrea Tessitore, La Cineteca del Friuli.
    Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM), Pordenone.
    Rediscoveries.
    Grand piano: Philip Carli.
    Teatro Verdi, e-subtitles in Italian by Underlight, 10 Oct 2019.

Federico Striuli (GCM): "Charles Hutchison (1879–1949) was Pathé’s leading American male adventure serial star from 1918 to 1922, perhaps best known today as the hero in Wolves of Kultur (1918), his first serial, which was screened at the Giornate in 2004 and last year at Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna. While third-billed in that title, he was cast in early February 1919 as the main lead in Western Photoplays’ subsequent serial The Great Gamble, another 15-episode, 31-reel cliffhanger also written, directed and produced by Joseph A. Golden and distributed by Pathé Exchange. The entire serial was shot in about five months, between February and June 1919, with interiors filmed at the Crystal-Western Photoplays Studios, the Bronx, New York, with a great number of exterior locations in six states, among which: Umbrella Rock and Lookout Mountain, Tennessee; Miami and the Everglades, Florida; Ausable Chasm, Keeseville, New York. The now-demolished John H. Matthews House, located in Manhattan at the corner of Riverside Drive and West 90th Street, was also extensively featured."

"Production was not easy: shooting was temporarily suspended when Hutchison had a serious horse-riding accident during one of the Tennessee scenes. Moreover, according to Grace E. Jamieson, somewhere before the serial’s release Western Photoplays went out of business and The Great Gamble was completed by the Astra Film Corporation (which included some key Pathé people, such as Louis J. Gasnier and George B. Seitz), but this is unconfirmed; in any case, the title was always advertised as a Western Photoplays production, directed by Joseph A. Golden."

"Pathé’s publicity stressed the serial as a “tense gripping story of crook life” with social implications, describing it as “electric in its dynamic force and high voltage climaxes.” Articles emphasized that Hutchison performed all the stunts himself, without any safety devices or doubles, planning each one “scientifically” and “mathematically,” though from 1921, after a few accidents, he used a stunt double. The first three completed episodes were screened in April at the Crystal-Western Photoplays Studios, and in the end of June as a trade show for exhibitors, in both cases to great success. Bookings were reported to be strong following the announcement that a weekly release would begin from 3 August; eventually The Great Gamble became one of Pathé’s most successful serials."

"The plot is a convoluted one. The wife of a wealthy mine owner runs off with a crook, taking one of her small twin daughters with her while the other remains with their father. Following the mother’s death, the young daughter is raised by her lover. Many years later, during a robbery, the villain ends up in the rich man’s mansion, where he works out a plan to substitute the two sisters in order to get their legacy. The serial shows the many attempts of the criminal gang to kidnap the good daughter while hindered by Ralph, a young businessman chased by the police for a murder the crook actually committed."

"The title was praised for its cast, rhythm, and stunts, and indeed the serial is filled with daredevil action sequences with Hutchison and his co-star Anna Luther, including jumps, dives, climbs, rope swings, bear fights, alligator pool plunges, and so on. There was also negative criticism, especially for its photography (deemed “mediocre”), its “banal” intertitles, and the lack of plot cohesion and originality."

"The Great Gamble was released, slightly abridged, in France between 1920 and 1921 as Le Grand Jeu, and in Italy in 1921 as Il gran giuoco, where it was partly censored and was still playing as late as 1923. The serial’s mixed fortunes continued for some time: in 1923, stockholders of Western Photoplays sued Pathé Exchange because of money still due for The Great Gamble screenings in 1919 (the court ruled in favour of Pathé). Then the following year Clarion Photoplays, a company of the Weiss Brothers-Artclass group, went on with a typically speculative venture, by releasing five separate 5-reel features “revised from the serials Great Gamble and Wolves of Kultur” and possibly edited or supervised by director Harry O. Hoyt under the titles: Ten After Ten, The Law Demands, The Fatal Plunge, The Radio Flyer, Fangs of the Wolf."

"Joseph A. Golden (1897?–1942) joined the ranks of the American Mutoscope & Biograph in 1907, moving on to a number of other companies including Pathé, where he’s credited with discovering Pearl White. Following The Great Gamble he made just one more film, The Whirlwind (1920), another serial (currently lost) with Hutchison. The star himself continued as a top draw in the 1920s, appearing in several serials in the U.S. and in the UK, frequently as characters whose name was a variant on his own. His leading lady here, Anna Luther (1897-1960), developed a rather scandalous reputation and was named as co-respondent or witness in several divorce cases, earning the nickname “Broadway’s Champ Vamp.” The available footage does not seem to confirm a very early appearance of Laura La Plante, reported by some sources with reference to one of the serial’s re-issues, but at the same time it fully proves an unknown performance of Karl Dane (in the role of the crook sea captain)."

The Russian version 

"The Great Gamble was released in the Soviet Union in 1927 under the title Kleimo prestuplenia (The Stigma of Crime), distributed by Goskinprom Gruzyi, a Georgian Tbilisi-based trust which later became Gruziya-Fil’m, still one of the world’s oldest film studios. The source for this Russian version was definitely France, as proven by the names of several characters which match the French release. Both French and Russian versions were abridged, consisting of 24 reels (released as 12 episodes in France and 3 parts in Russia)."

"Although the serial was distributed during the last part of the USSR’s New Economic Policy period, censorship remained strong. In the original, the good people (both heroes and victims) were capitalist businessmen, clearly unacceptable in Soviet Russia, while the villains tried to lay their hands on the valuable estate of one of them. So the leading characters were changed to aspiring and successful writers, while the crooks were re-envisioned as would-be copyright thieves (thereby setting a new standard for cultured criminals!). Some other changes were made: the mine workers, depicted negatively in the original, were eliminated (writers need no miners). Also, the daughter adopted by the crook appears to have been much more wicked in the original version. This aggressive intervention gave birth to several plot holes which make the story less articulate than originally intended, and also created certain problems in the timing of the events."

The reconstruction 

"A FIAF call confirmed that, so far, the only known existing materials related to The Great Gamble are the ones in the possession of Gosfilmofond of Russia, Moscow. This archive preserves two incomplete safety copies, under the titles Dvoynoye priklyucheniye (Double Adventure, which confusingly is the title of another Charles Hutchison serial), in 19 reels, and Bol’shaya igra (The Big Game), in 22 reels. In January 2016 the former was correctly identified and, the following year, the connection between the two prints was established. Positive prints of Bol’shaya igra were made at Gosfilmofond in 1975-1976 from nitrate dupe negatives which were subsequently destroyed. The positive and dupe negatives of Dvoynoye priklyucheniye were made at Gosfilmofond in 1972-1978 from nitrate positive prints, also then destroyed, which came from VGIK’s film collection. Similar signs of wear reveal that the source of the two copies is the same, possibly a nitrate positive print in the VGIK film collection. The Bol’shaya igra print is cleaner but has flash or removed intertitles, while Dvoynoye priklyucheniye has full-length intertitles but is more worn, and its second part exists only as a dupe negative."

"The reconstruction, carried out at the Cineteca del Friuli labs, aimed at restoring the Russian version, the only one that currently can be reasonably reassembled. The Bol’shaya igra print was used as starting point for the 2K scan and was then completed with the missing sequences and intertitles available in the other copy. It was also possible to restore some intertitles on the basis of censorship records preserved by the same Russian archive and, in some specific cases, a few were also corrected or expanded."

"Apart from censorship records, the main sources available for reconstructing the continuity were the fictionalized synopses published by a Vermont newspaper, The Caledonian-Record, and the novelization of Le Grand Jeu by Guy de Téramond, published in the French periodical Cinémagazine. Regretfully, some of the most damaged parts of The Great Gamble are the stunts, usually located at the end and beginning of the reels. However, by combining the available footage, many of these sequences have been restored and extended."

"Compared to the original, there are many small gaps and three of them are particularly noticeable, although this does not compromise understanding: the prologue has been greatly shortened, and a middle sequence involving Seminole Indians as well as the whole epilogue are currently lost. Moreover, the surviving prologue was inserted at the end as a flashback, while a few other sequences were also moved. The current reconstruction did not correct the sequence order in the Russian version, nor did it attempt to restore the original continuity. The amount of digital intervention (i.e. stabilization, de-flickering, cleaning) has been limited." Federico Striuli (GCM)

AA: I had considered watching the 15 episodes of the serial, edited into three long shows, but the screening started much delayed thanks to a medical episode at Teatro Verdi in this morning's Pat & Patachon screening. I love serials, and this is likely to be an exciting one. During the 15 minutes I saw the performers seemed to lack charisma, the narrative failed to compel, and the visual quality seemed preserved as perfectly as possible with a good digital transfer but with a modest and duped look in the whole.