More Early French Comedy Films

The 1909 comedy Le monsieur qui a mangé du taureau (English: The Gentleman Who Ate Bull Meat) involves a man who is compelled after dining on a bull steak to behave like a wild bull.  He attacks various people and even attacks a pantomime horse.

 
The police wire authorities in Madrid to send their best bullfighters to apprehend the mad man.

Lucien Cazalis carries a heavy box up a flight of stairs in Jobard, portefaix par amour (1911).

You can see the film by clicking here.

Paul Bertho

During this period, the comedians in French films were in the habit of looking directly into the camera and making a funny face in reaction to the funny developments.  But Paul Bertho did this far more than others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camera looks in Patouillard paie ses dettes (English title: Bill Pays His Debts) (1911)

Bertho was a fixture in French comedy films from 1908 to 1914.  He played the same character at three different studios, although he was required to vary the character's name for legal reasons.  So, he was called Patouillard at Lux, Gavroche at Éclair, and Calino at Pathé Frères.  He was renamed Bill and later Funnicus for the U. S. market.  

Eye Filmmuseum recently published a number of Bertho's Lux comedies to their YouTube channel.  Six of the films stood out for me.

In the 1912 comedy Gare! Les lions!, Patouillard hides in a suit of armor to protect himself from a lion.

 

 
The title translates into English as Beware!  The Lions!, but the film was released in the United States under the title Bill and The Lions.  You can see the film by clicking here.

Patouillard uses a bear to scare away his creditors in the 1911 comedy Patouillard paie ses dettes (English title: Bill Pays His Debts).

 

 
You can see the film by clicking here. 

Patouillard takes his wife clothing shopping in Patouillard a une femme qui veut suivre la mode (1912).

 

 

You can see the film by clicking here. 

Patouillard has trouble getting a squirting bottle of champagne home in the 1911 comedy La bouteille de Patouillard (English title: Bill Buys a Bottle of Champagne).

The bottle has lost every drop of champagne by the time he arrives home.

 

 

 
You can see the film by clicking here.

Patouillard's wife disguises as a man to spy on her flirtatious husband in the 1911 comedy Patouillard a une femme jalouse (English title: Bill Becomes a Favorite with the Ladies).

She chases after her husband to give him a thrashing.

The couple is emotionally devastated in the end.

You can see the film by clicking here.

These are two more recent films that were posted to Eye's YouTube channel.

The 1911 Éclipse comedy Lecture absorbante (English title: Absorbed in Reading) is a remake of a 1904 British comedy called An Interesting Story.  A man reading the morning newspaper as he walks to work collides into people, a horse, a pole, and a wagon.  He tumbles over an old woman (actually a man in drag), which provokes her to attack him with her umbrella.

You can see the film by clicking here. 

Then we have the 1914 comedy Marius adore les chiens (English title: Marius loves dogs).  Marius walks around town getting dogs to do somersaults and balancing tricks for him.  This understandably annoys the dogs' owners.

 

You can see the film by clicking here.

That's it for today.  I have to run.