A spoof of Sherlock Holmes. Directed by Alice Guy-Blache for Solax Film Company.
Brilliantino the Bullfighter (originally titled Flood and Sand) is one of the first spoofs of Blood and Sand, Paramount’s smoldering matador melodrama that set box offices ablaze. Like Mud and Sand, starring Stan Laurel, the Banks parody was rushed into theaters in November 1922, while memory of the Valentino vehicle was fresh. The concept of Monty Banks impersonating the passionate matador must have been innately hilarious to audiences who had seen the original picture.
Unlikely Lothario, the less-than-dashing crossed-eyed Ben Turpin, finds himself pursued by many beautiful ladies.
In this MGM Dogville series short, an all-dog cast play out a story of jealousy, murder and justice thwarted.
Wise-guy carnival barker Windy bilks a group of cowboys out of their money, gets caught and is forced into working off the debt on their ranch. He falls in love with Molly, the pretty owner of the ranch, but runs afoul of foreman Steve, who also loves Molly.
An all-dog cast (with human voiceovers) recreates famous scenes from early musical films, particularly The Broadway Melody. The finale is a chorus line of dogs performing "Singing in the Rain" spoofing Cliff Edwards' original version of the song in The Hollywood Revue of 1929. Also spoofed is Al Jolson's performance of "Mammy" in The Jazz Singer.
It's Prohibition, and the boys wind up behind bars after Stan sells some of their home-brew beer to a policeman.
In this delightful mixture of romance, comedy and music, the director turns back the wheel of time about sixty years and shows the audience an Italy of primitive railroads, high bicycles and the famous "dolce far niente." Taking the visit of a traveling opera company to a small town, where it is scheduled to present "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" and where one of the most important citizens is a retired opera singer, the scenario writer weaves a web of merry complications well calculated to keep the spectators in a happy mood.
A slapstick burlesque of 19th Century Victorian melodrama featuring a parody of Holmes and Watson who rescue a heroine held by a mustache-twirling villain in a den of caricatured Chinese gangsters.
Pooch the Pup takes his girlfriend and an anthropomorphic camera to the jungle in search of the giant ape, King Klunk. They arrive just as the Hot-Cha tribe is offering one of their own girls to the ape as a sacrifice. King Klunk tries to bite down on her head, but even his enormous fangs can't make a dent in her hard skull. His attention turns to Pete the Pup's girl, whom he snatches up in his huge hand. The ape doesn't know what to make of her until Cupid hits him with an arrow. Suddenly, King Klunk is in love. He even battles a dinosaur to prevent her from getting devoured. During the fight, Pooch takes the opportunity to rescue her. After winning his battle, the ape takes after the fleeing pair, but they defeat him by cracking a giant egg over his head. Soon, Pooch and his girl are exhibiting the giant ape in a big-city theater. Mischievous Cupid reappears to reignite the ape's passion for the girl.
In this comedic short, a psychoanalyst encounters a patient who eerily resembles himself.
A parodic remake of the story of the young Gascon D'Artagnan, who arrives in Paris, his heart set on joining the king's Musketeers. He is taken under the wings of three of the most respected and feared Musketeers, Porthos, Aramis, and Athos. Together they fight to save France and the honor of a lady from the machinations of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.
Victorian melodrama is sent up in this spoof of the old production "The Drunkard; or, The Fallen Saved." Dastardly villain Silas Cribbs schemes to get his lusty clutches on the virtuous heroine by driving her naïve husband to alcoholic ruin. Luckily, a temperance lecturer is on hand to set things straight, as is Buster Keaton as William Dalton, the drunkard's friend.
Greedy heirs wait in a mansion for a rich cat lover to die, only to learn her cats come first.
Using edited archive footage, mockery is made of Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini.
Spoof of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) with an all-black cartoon cast.
Popeye sits down to make a cartoon. He shows the results to Olive and his nephews: it's a damsel-in-distress scenario, starring him and Olive, with live music and sound effects by Popeye.
Hairlock Combs, a parody of Sherlock Holmes, and his partner Dr. Gotsome bumble through an investigation of a stolen dinosaur skeleton.
Ronnie Jackson is a lowly baby photographer who secretly fantasizes about being a private detective. When a lovely baroness actually mistakes him for one and asks him to help locate her missing husband, Baron Montay, Ronnie finds himself agreeing. Several days later he is on death row whiling away the hours until his execution by recounting to a group of reporters the bizarre tale of how he ended up there.
Bugs buys the homes of the three little pigs and the wolf starts blowing them down. Of course you know "this means war."