By Chris Hyde

October 14, 2003

Max Linder, one of the world's pioneering silent comedians, has finally been given a much-deserved DVD release that displays the skills that made him an early star.

Born Gabrielle-Maximilien Leuvielle in France in 1883, the young man who would become known as Max Linder first began to study drama at the tender age of 17. His stage career arose in Bordeaux, but he had graduated to Paris by early in the 1900s and began to pick up parts in the new medium of film shortly thereafter. Alternating day film shooting with Pathe with nights on the theater circuit, he found his fame on the silver screen growing rapidly, and by 1908 had switched to working exclusively for the movies. The stage name he had chosen for his screen persona -- Max Linder -- thus became more and more well-known, and by 1910 had become a moniker that was known all over the world.

While at first working under the helmsmanship of others, as his status grew Linder began to take on the duties of writing and directing his short comedic films himself. By the time the first World War broke out, Linder's popularity was at its peak, as he had his screen persona defined, was in control of his own product, and his name was well-known nearly everywhere that films were shown. Alas, the war was to mark a downturn in Linder's life, as he would enter into service for France and would suffer both serious shrapnel wounds as well as chemical attacks that would affect him for the rest of his life. Exiting the military, Linder returned to the screen only to find that his popularity in his home country severely diminished. He then went to America to make a series of two-reelers, though his wobbly health would necessitate an almost immediate return to the continent after a bout with pneumonia.

Linder, however, refused to let his weak constitution derail his movie career, and after a period of convalescence in Switzerland returned to the United States and founded his own film production unit. From this outfit were to come three feature length films that are said to rank among the best that the comedian ever starred in, one of which (Seven Years Bad Luck) forms the core of the current DVD release. Unfortunately, though his artistic skills seemed to be in as fine a fettle as ever, the films were only mild hits and the comedian found gaining distribution for his product to be more difficult than he'd hoped. When an attempt to latch on with Sam Goldwyn failed to come to fruition, Linder returned to Europe -- but had little luck with restarting his moribund career on the other side of the pond. With his star in rapid declination, the 41-year-old Linder and his wife made a suicide pact and were found dead in their Paris hotel room one night in 1925.

The tragic end to Linder's career should not obscure the man's great contribution to screen comedy. The comedian's trademark style was to play a dandy from the upper class brought to heel by the machinations of a capricious universe, with his genteel characters often suffering badly at the hands of fate. Many of Linder's seminal gags were to be copied and used by other comedians, with the perfect example being the mirror routine that forms the basis of the plot for Seven Years Bad Luck. This joke has been reused in comedy for nearly a hundred years now, with perhaps its most famous exposition having been made by the Marx Brothers in their masterpiece Duck Soup. Linder's characters were also a great influence on many other silent comedians, most notably Charlie Chaplin, whose signature style obviously owes a great debt to the work of Max Linder.

Though he was one of the biggest stars of early silent comedy, much of Linder's work has remained unavailable since the silent years and he is far less well known than Chaplin, Keaton or even Harold Lloyd. Luckily, the tireless campaigning of his daughter did eventually result in the creation of two compilation films of his work in 1963 and 1983. Some material was also released on VHS and LaserDisc, though comparatively little when held up against the star's career output. With any luck, this new DVD release by Image will be just the first installment of a new appreciation of the artistic material of this forgotten great from the early years of cinema.

Image's Laugh With Max Linder disc centers around the aforementioned Seven Years Bad Luck, one of Linder's American features. Here he plays a genteel, high society character whose servants break a full-length mirror while horsing around one day in his house. Looking to cover up their misdeed, the servants choose an employee who looks a bit like Max to act as their master's mirror image until they can get a replacement. What follows is a hilarious drawn out routine where Linder attempts to discern whether there's something amiss or if he's just feeling out of sorts due to his massive hangover. Ultimately, the mirror busting does seem to bring plenty of misfortune to Linder, with the results being all sorts of complications to his love life that confound him as he tries to get back into the good graces of the woman that he loves. The rest of the film is a hysterical collection of sight gags and slapstick, with some standout scenes that exemplify the comedian's great skills. Especially of note is a scene where Linder escapes a police chase by hiding out in a cage filled with lions, which looks very much the same as an incident in Chaplin's The Circus. Overall, this is a top-notch bit of silent comedy that demonstrates what made Linder such a successful star in his day and it's also helped out by a new soundtrack by Robert Israel that complements the film in ideal fashion.

In addition to the feature presentation, this disk also contains a number of short films from earlier in Linder's career. Four two-reelers are included: Troubles of a Grasswidower, Love's Surprises, Max Takes a Picture, and Max Sets the Style. All are representative of the comedian's work, and while they vary in quality, it's a treat to see all of them presented in this form. These have also been provided with brand new musical accompaniment, and visually they all look very nice -- though there's the usual print damage that you'd expect from films of this vintage. Also included here is an excellent and fairly lengthy excerpt from the comedian's second American feature, Be My Wife, and lastly there's also some footage included of Linder fooling around on set with fellow French filmmaker Maurice Tourneur (the father of horror film directing great Jacques Tourneur).

Taken together, all of the material assembled in this package stands as a wonderful tribute to the work of a great silent comedian whose name has mostly disappeared from view since his heyday. It's great to finally be able to see some of the career work of a man that was idolized by Charlie Chaplin, and Image's care in presenting the material as well as their attention to detail in giving the movies brand new soundtracks should be appreciated by those who value such celluloid archaeology. Hopefully we'll see even more of Linder's output resurface in years to come, as it's a true shame that this actor has seen his amazing comedic talent be utterly forgotten by the world at large. In any case, this DVD is certainly a fitting start to the resurrection of the career of Max Linder, and as such it represents one of the best silent film releases to hit the shelves during this calendar year. Film's history is so rich and varied that quite often gems such as these simply vanish into the void never to be seen again; it's to our great benefit that these few here have been dug out to shine in the light of the television screen once again.