- =FILM -- PRESERVATION -------------- ASSOCIATES 8307 San Fernando Road Sun Valley, CA 91352 Telephone: 818 768-5376 BLACKHAWK FILMS in 16mm OJ the three dozen exceptional vintage .ftlms announced here, more than a third are Hal Roach productions In continuing commemoration of the 100th birthday of that great comedy producer. Look among th.em for outstanding films never offered before by Blackhawk, Including The Bargain of the Century (Pttts and Todd directed by Chase}, Mighty Uke a Moose (Chase directed by McCarey) and Slipping Wives, one of the very.first Laurel and Hardys. Ch.eek out our other romedy releases for thrills and acttonl Historians of serious international film will be thrtUed to dtscouer for the first ttme among Blackhawk's non­ fiction offerings Three Songs of Lenin by Dztga Vertou, probably the greatest film of this pioneer propagandist whose work, like Lent Rtefenstahl's, transcends Its sponsorship; and John Grterson's Drifters, the founding .ftlm of the British doct.unentary movement (with a newly-added music track). Several other Important silents also appear here with mustc tracks for the first ttmel In sharp, first-generation quality we've restored an tmportant and complete Georges Meltes film preutou.sly belteued to exist only in a short fragment, The Good Shepherdess and the Evil Princess! Perhaps 16mm film has become an economic indulgence -- but every month we hear from a few more thrilled customers who have retwned to the screen from the tube and have thus rediscovered the unique power of projected silver images to create, as iffor the first time, the magic of our precious film heritage. THE BARGAIN OF THE CENTURY • (1933) $100 Charley Cbue directs Za.Su Pitta and Thelma Todd who. speeding off to a white sale fo r bargain sheets, Involve traffic cop Jame• Burtla in their maelstrom and get him fired. A year later he's somehow still freeloading from them but fills his idle days Inventing far-fetched security devices for their apartment. Thelma entices Captain Bill:, Gilbert to dessert ("well, maybe a little Ice creamj In hope Officer Butterworth can wheedle his old Job back -· and after a Jong "magic" routine involving the repatriation of the Captain's 25-year-servlce watch from ZaSu's frozen confection, there are two surprise twists to the ending Well, we didn't expect you to be convulsed by the catalog copy but there are great laughs in the characters and their business. and the outstanding reputation of this comedy Is more than borne out! Excellent prints with all original titles. (20 minutes). MIGHTY LIKE A MOOSE THE COUNT TAKES THE COUNT • (1925) $160 (1936) $160 Mr. Moose has buck teeth like flying buttresses; Mrs. Moose Charle:, Cbue Is an insurance salesman who Issues a has a nose that would frighten a witch. Each secretly gets mllllon-dollar policy to guarantee the wedding of "f1Xed" and, designing to philander, falls in love with the Antoinette Lees, daughter to a wealthy industrialist who other without recognizing him/her; then when the truth aspires to nobility-by-marriage, and a Count who aspires to finally dawns, each spouse resolves to deliver a lesson In wealth. The insurance company sends Charley to make sweet revenge. We rank this short starring Charley Chue sure all goes as planned; after choice confusion (with, and directed by Leo McCuey hlgh on our list of the world's among other things. Charley handcuffed to a sheriff who greatest comedies Including Keaton's, Chaplin's walks in his sleep) all ends matrtmon!ally between -- you Shakespeare's, anyone's. Prints are excellent. (21 minutes guessed It -- Charley arx:! Antoinette. (20 minutes) at 24 fps, silent) WINTER 1992 SUPPLEMENT T coo ' THE GROCERY CLERK (1920) $100 Proriu,»d by Hal R.,a,:h Studio&; • Ratncted ID U. S. and Ganada Larry Semon was once rated alongside Buster Keaton as a king among clowns. He ll'I at his brilliant peak In this gag-filled Vltagraph comedy which climaxes In spectacular action !Semon SLIPPING WIVES • often spent $80,000 making a two-reel comedy - as much 8l'I many (1926, released 1927) $100 studios spent on Class "A" features). Semon said at this time that his films "only deal with the lighter thingll In life, side-stepping the On thctrway up, the b:,y9 arc secn for the second time together under wdghty problems, and !IO they an, always timely." PcrhaP" thl,. wa., the Hal Roach banner In this All-Star comedy with Prisc!lla Dean a serious miscalculation. since Semon Is almost forgotten: but his and Herbert Rawlinson, Btg Stars on their way down. "As Jarvis the best films [this among them) arc Indeed beautiful, surrealistic poems butler, Hardy takes an Instant dtsllke to Laurel, and spends most of dedicated to Insanity and silliness. Plano score by Jan Mlrsalls, his time dcvta1ng wa~ to kill htm. Their scenes together arc few and recorded for reproduction at 18 f.p.s. [29 mtnutes) brief... Hardy ls metlculoUl'I and self-Important while Laurel Is appropriately dumb." (Randy Skretvcdt tn Laurel and Hardy: 1he Magu: Behind IN! Moues). Thia comedy was never distributed by the DANGER AHEAD "old" Blackhawk and la one of the rarer L&H titles. We acqulrcd a (1927) $100 decent ncgattvc coploc from a vtntagc 16mm prtnt and have sweated pellets to make the bett prints possible from It. (23 mtnutcs, silent) Independent "no-name" comedies were typically cheap -- actors standing about spouting wise-cracking subtltlu -- since major SHOULD MARRIED MEN GO HOME?* action scenes required extensive production time, c:xpcnslvc props, and acrobatic performers. But this CJ1ceptlonal Weiss Bros. (1928) $100 "Hairbreadth HaJTy" entry more than makes up tn action what It lack-'I In star power, and actually embodies the qualities of slapstick lt'a a peaceful Sunda} morning al the Hardy's -- until Stanley shows which arc associated by later myth wtth that form. The first half Is up. The Hardys prctc:xl to be out but Stan Is 110 pc:rslstcnt that Ollie a spoof on Victorian melodrama and good. out-on-the-street lets him tn. Mrs. Harcy then orders both boys out of the house. They improvisation; the second reel Is an elaborate chaae atop a mavtng head for the golf COW'SC, and as foursomes arc requtrcd, team with train, with all participants !except the train) ending up In the water. two moat attractive y,1ung ladles. And encounter slow-bum Edgar A certAin crowd-pleaser and an excellent prlnll 120 minutes, silent) Kennedy. Edgar's toupee gets mixed up with golf tees and turf, and when Kennedy attcmµll'I to wing It out of the muddy rough. a great mud-sltngtng free-for-all follows. Tots Is one of the top silent-era OUTBOUND L&H comoclles. (21 m.nutes. silent) (1924) $85 ANY OLD PORT • Fasten your scat belts! This Is a great CJ1arnple of the laugh-and­ (1932) $160 thrill comedy that made Educational Films a close competitor of It Mack Sennett's fun factory tn the 19209. In much of one of the St.an and Ollie. home from a whaling voyage. head for Ye Mariner's boys Is "asleep" on his bed suspended upon a beam extending back Roost, a Ocaplt hotel where they rescue slavey Jacqucltnc Wells from and from a heavy truck winding Its way through the curving hilly the unwanted advanCCl'I of proprietor Walter Long. The film roads of Hollywood's Griffith Park. How did It get that way? The contalna a great sequence with Stan battling Long as a prt.zc flghtcr1 truck backed Into the bed tn turning around - what else? With Sid (22 m.tnutcsl Smith and Cliff Bowes, this Cameo Comedy was directed by Harry Edwards. one of the great namu ln slapstick history. 110 mtnutca, silent) THE FIXER UPPERS • (1935) $100 ORANGES AND LEMONS Stan and Ollie arc grc:cttng card aalcsmcn -- Ollie desqp:u the cards. (1923) $85 Stan writes the vcnlCI'. At one apartment they arc met by tearful Mac Buach wh09C artist husband is 110 wmpped up ln his work that she Is Stan Law-el was undoubtedly one of the s!k:nt acrcc:n's finest gagmcn, a "neglected wife.• 11-e boys vohmteer to make the husband jealous. even edging the famed I.any Semon by a shade. Semon reworked with great SUCCCMI A reworking of Sltpplng Wives, offered above. (21 favorite gags to flt his story line, while Laurel flrat conceived the minutes) comic situation and then dulgncd gags to flt. Although his 110!0 work didn't have the enduring quality of his team endeavors with Oliver Hardy. Oranges and Lemorus ts a near-perfect ex.ample of A CHUMP AT OXFORD • Laurel's genius at creating pure gag comedy, with each laugh (1939) carefully paced for maximum Impact. A Hal Roach production, d!rcctcd by George Jeske. (15 m.lnutca at 18 fps, silent) OUr boys arc atrc:ct sweepers -- and unusual ones. They wind up the morning c:1rcull tn fr:>nt of the Ftnlayaon National Bank and move to the curb at the ernployccs entrance to enjoy their lunch. Stan WANDERING PAPAS tmaca a banana peel :m to the pavement and Is reyrtmandocl by Ollie. (1925) $100 That banana peel. tl-ough. becomes the secret of their success. for atmultaneoualy the bank is betng robbed. The exiting bandits careen almost tnto the arms of Stan and Ollie, who get all the credit for the A milestone of sorts ln film comedy, Wandering Papas marks the capture. and the gnt:itude of the bank President as well, who offers fir.it time Stan Laurel and OliYer Hardy worked together al Hal Roach Studios, Hardy appears on-screen while Laurel directed the short; them practically an,thlng they might desire as a reward.