Any person interested in the history of film comedy should never turn down an opportunity to see an early French comedy film. This is where it all started.
In the 1912 Lux comedy Cunégonde trop curieuse, a nosey neighbor gets her head stuck in window shutters. You can find the full comedy at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M50LFGSBLGI.
Cunégonde fait du spiritisme, a 1913 Lux comedy, involves children tricking a novice spiritualist into believing that she has summoned a spirit. You can find the full comedy at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FZBYuoTiTM.
In the 1913 Lux comedy Cunégonde femme cochère, a curse by an Indian mystic causes a taxi coach to transform into a variety of objects. You can find the full comedy at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffA61bGoSPU.
The police chase a car thief in a 1912 Pathé comedy, Filendouce est insaisissable (Filendouce is elusive).
A 1912 Pathé comedy L’erreur du policeman (released in the United States as A Simple Mistake) involves an excitable man (Billy Quirk) who makes unwanted advances on a woman while her husband is away. The husband arrives home early and promptly gets rid of the pest. You can find the full comedy at http://vimeo.com/415902189.
It was a standard premise in early French comedies for a man to create havoc of one sort or the other in a busy public marketplace. This is certainly the case in the 1908 Gaumont comedy Rolling Bed. A crowd is drawn to a man who has been evicted from his lodgings and has taken to rolling his bed down the street as he searches for a new home. The man loses control of the bed when he comes to a sharp incline in the road and, with gravity now in charge, he proceeds to take a wild and fast ride on the bed through traffic. At one point, the bed turns off the street and plummets down a lengthy staircase.
Here are Italian comedies from the same period.
Cocciutelli affissatore, a 1911 comedy from the Milano Films, features the misadventures of a sign poster. You can find the full comedy at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjbV8Tial4s.
Ernesto Vaser is anxious to attend his first high-class party in a 1910 Ambrosio comedy, I bottoni delle bretelle. Vaser annoys people by practicing bowing on the boulevard. At the party, his bowing causes him to bust the buttons on his suspenders, which makes his pants fall down. You can find the full comedy at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iov90PdMEvk.
A man develops superpowered breath in the 1912 Ambrosio comedy Groslard ha buoni pulmoni (aka Plenty of Good Lungs). Here, his breath sends a streetcar hurtling backwards down the street. You can find the full comedy at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idfp4pcRTxA.
Two women compete desperately for the affections of Cretinetti (André Deed) in a 1911 Itala comedy, Le due innamorate di Cretinetti. You can find the full comedy at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu8FVCoMlEM.
Fricot innamorato, a 1912 comedy produced by Ambrosio, is an old-fashioned drag comedy. You can find the full comedy at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga_DBDvglAs.
The 1911 Itala comedy Il Natale di Cretinetti (released in the United States as Foolshead's Christmas) has intriguing plot. In a hurry to attend a Christmas party, Cretinelli (André Deed) knocks into a postman and mixes up one of his gift boxes with a box that contains three bottles of ether. At the party, the bottles are accidentally broken and the ether gas quickly affects the mood of the partygoers. One mixture incites fear, another stirs up mirth, and the final one arouses anger.
You can find the full comedy at https://vimeo.com/374913534.
In La paura degli aeromobili nemici (1915), Deed becomes terrified of a zeppelin attack on his wedding day.
Duels were often a source of humor in early films. Take, for instance, the 1908 Itala comedy Il duello dei paurosi. Two woman get into an argument at a restaurant and demand that their quivering husbands engage in a duel to defend their honor.
You can find the full comedy at https://vimeo.com/155507201.
Then, we have a 1910 Ambrosio comedy, Il duello di Robinet. Robinet (Marcel Perez) is also terrified to be challenged to a duel. You can find the full comedy at https://vimeo.com/323117326.
Here's a 7-minute compilation video that I put together.
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