Charley Bowers

Rating:
Summary: Eye-popping effects! Definitely of interest to film buffs
Review: Charley Bowers is an almost forgotten master of stop-motion animation. The busy world of Bowers is filled with omnivorous birds that lay miraculous eggs, frisky animals, things that appear out of nowhere, machines that assemble and dismantle themselves, and usually Bowers himself as a typical silent-comedy patsy. The craftsmanship of his films is astounding, and animation enthusiasts will especially enjoy this collection of his rare short films. They are so rare indeed that surviving elements are often incomplete or partially damaged. In this DVD set, some of the silent subjects are shown with French title cards (and optional English subtitles). Others are American prints, and the quality is often extraordinary.

A sampling of Bowers's traditional animated efforts of the 1910s reveals that Bowers was an excellent pen-and-ink artist. The Mutt & Jeff cartoon GRILL ROOM EXPRESS gives the comic-strip characters little pantomimic touches that are very enjoyable. AWOL is a cautionary tale (predating Warners' Private Snafu cartoons) showing what happens when a soldier goes joyriding. (Nothing illicit here, the soldier just has tough luck throughout). In the 1920s Bowers starred in live-action comedies that he embellished with his camera tricks; few exist but the DVD set is representative. The set claims to contain every surviving Charley Bowers title; this is incorrect. (His silent short THERE IT IS!, in which Bowers looks like Buster Keaton and acts like Harry Langdon, is not included.)

There is a certain archaeological fascination in watching the highly visual Mr. Bowers attempt the talking picture. IT'S A BIRD is the bizarre adventure of a bird whose eggs hatch into automobiles. Bowers speaks on the screen for the first time, and mixes silent-comedy visuals with dialogue sequences deftly. but his clown-white makeup is so overdone that he looks anachronistic, even for 1930. This DVD offers the 1947 reissue, circulated shortly after Bowers's death; the print shown here is infinitely clearer and cleaner than the film and video copies offered for years. BELIEVE IT OR DON'T is a rock-bottom-budget compilation fashioning old Bowers clips into a screen magazine. WILD OYSTERS, released as one of Paramount's :"Animated Antics" in 1940, shows "Mom, Pop, and Snoozer" Mouse using household objects as home furnishings, with little Snoozer bedeviled by an angry cat and some vicious oysters. Bowers's 1940 approach is visually the same as his silent-era approach, with razor-sharp photography and amazingly fluid movement of three-dimensional objects -- and on top of animating the action figures, Bowers works in some synchronized dialogue! The source print on the DVD is a French release print with French titles, but the original English soundtrack is heard. A SLEEPLESS NIGHT, from the same series, is shown mute, with what may be a home-movie-distributor title.

The most amazing find in this collection is PETE ROLEUM AND HIS COUSINS, showing the Bowers technique in vivid color. Main and end titles are not shown and there is an occasional jump-splice, but it's good to see what survives. Narrator Bowers reads clever verses about how oil products improve everyday life. PETE ROLEUM resembles one of the George Pal "Puppetoons," but without as much sweetness or polish; instead of being a cute Pal fantasy for kids, it's an odd little industrial film. Bowers's quirky humor comes through despite an inferior soundtrack (the dialogue is distant, as though Bowers recorded it at home). The reel ends on a bright but strange note, with a good swing band accompanying Bowers's peculiar chorus line! The vocalist (sounds like Buddy Clark) and the song will stay with you for days.

The DVD also has a short documentary about Bowers (in French, with optional English subtitles), but it's basically the story of how film curators finally figured out who Bowers was. There is little biography, and nothing about Bowers's behind-the-scenes methods or his longtime director, Harold L. Muller. (Could Muller actually be Bowers? Hmm.)

This DVD set will appeal mostly to a specialized audience. Silent-film enthusiasts will admire the many off-the-wall ideas, while others may consider Bowers's work a little too weird. Either way, it's definitely something different, and one has to admire his painstaking approach to filmmaking, his ingenious special effects, and his flair for the absurd. Technical quality of the DVDs is excellent; print quality varies according to the surviving film elements but is generally excellent; most but not all of the silent subjects have musical accompaniment.

Rating:
Summary: Funny and Inventive
Review: Charley Bowers: the rediscovery of an American comic genius, is a two DVD set containing fifteen films made between 1917 and 1940. Bowers is largely forgotten now, but it is clear from these films that he had a great comic talent. In his silent shorts Bowers is generally a naïve inventor attempting to solve his problems by making weird and wonderful machines. Thus, for example, he builds a machine which makes unbreakable eggs; he builds shoes which will help him win a Charleston contest by dancing for him and solves a mice problem by growing cats from a tree. These films, made in the late twenties, are amazing for they showcase his talent for combining live-action with animation. It is this aspect of his films which gives Bowers his uniqueness and raises him far above the average. The interaction of Charley with the animated world is clever and imaginative. The special effects are usually convincing and must have been extremely difficult to achieve. What makes the trick photography really special however, is that Bowers uses it to express his bizarre ideas in a really funny way. Watching these films I found myself at times astonished, at times bewildered, but nearly always laughing out loud.

After the twenties Bowers made some live action sound films one of these, about a metal eating bird which eats scrap and lays eggs which hatch into cars, is the equal of his best silent films. Most of his later work however, is pure animation. These films are well made and often fairly funny, but seem somehow to be a waste of his talent. Like other silent comedians Bowers obviously found himself taking work where he could, even making at one point an advertising film for oil. Such films are still interesting but cannot compare to the best of his silent work.

Nearly all of the prints of the films on these DVDs were found in France. Most of these prints are good to very good. One shows signs of severe decomposition and at least two are incomplete. However, in general I was pleased with the quality of the prints. While they often have scratches and minor blemishes, the images are usually full of detail with sharp, bright photography. It is clear from a short French documentary, included as a bonus, that we are extremely fortunate that these films survive at all. That they look as good as they do is lucky indeed. Owing to the fact that these prints derive from France, the title cards are in French with English subtitles. It is a pity that new English titles have not been made. It is also unfortunate that two of the films lack scores, as watching a silent film in silence is a good reminder of how necessary scores are. The rest of the films have good, appropriate music. There is sometimes even a choice of scores. All of the music fits the mood and the action of the films well and adds greatly to the overall enjoyment. This two DVD set runs for nearly four hours and is great value. Charley Bowers is funny and inventive and well worth discovering.

Rating:
Summary: You Will Be Truly Amazed.
Review: It just goes to show that when you think you've seen everything, something comes along to prove you wrong. Such is the case with CHARLEY BOWERS: THE REDISCOVERY OF AN AMERICAN GENIUS. I had heard of Bowers before as two of the offerings on this 2 DVD set have appeared elsewhere (NOW YOU TELL ONE is in the SLAPSTICK ENCYCLOPEDIA set and the cartoon A.W.O.L can be found in the Library of Congress' ORIGIN OF FILM collection) but I had no idea of the depth and breadth of the man's abilities. Bowers began as an animator around 1912 with a series of MUTT AND JEFF cartoons. One of them GRILL ROOM EXPRESS is in this collection. By the mid 20's he had moved into live comedy shorts looking like a cross between Buster Keaton and Harry Langdon with a little Larry Semon thrown in for good measure. He combined live action with stop motion animation and the most surreal series of puppet characters since the great Russian animator Ladislaw Starewicz. With the coming of sound he cut back appearing in his own material and began animating for others. A good example of this is PETE ROLEUM AND HIS COUSINS done for the young Joseph Losey. Charley Bowers died in 1946 at the age of 57 after many years of poor health. While it is not unusual to for an artist to be forgotten during his lifetime or shortly after his death, it seems incomprehensible that Bowers could have been so completely forgotten considering the originality of his material. Part of it may be that none of his work was done for a major studio who would have kept better tabs on it. Whatever the reasons for his obscurity, I shall always be grateful to the French for his rediscovery and for this 2 DVD set. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard or was so amazed as I was by some of these shorts especially EGGED ON and SAY AH-H! although they are all first rate. It seems a shame to have to criticize this set as we are lucky to have any of this material and so much of it in really good shape. However the lack of musical accompaniment for two of the shorts on Disc 2 is really unfortunate given the musical options offered on Disc 1 and could easily have been rectified. It also would have been nice if they could have reinstated the English intertitles (most of the shorts were discovered in France and so they are in French) and that is why I give this set 4 stars instead of 5. Nevertheless if you're a fan of silent comedy or are looking for something truly different, buy this right away and discover the surreal genius of Charley Bowers. You will be truly amazed.

Rating:
Summary: Comic Buried Treasure
Review: This is an amazing package for any silent film buff. Genuinely ingenious comedy films by a forgotten master of comic fantasy.
This is a two-disc set with all the available information on Bowers, a former animator who moved into live-action two-reelers starring hiimself. The coup de grace of every film are the stop motion sequences--precise, inventive and surreal visual gags as bizzare as anything ever done in a cartoon. The meticulous attention to detail in the execution is awe-inspiring. There are also working mechanical marvels that pre-figure the oddball inventions of Dr. Suess and double-exposure tricks that are suprisingly sophisticated. Between "EGGED ON," "THE WILD ROOMER" and "NOW YOU TELL ONE," literally every trick in the book is employed to maximum effect.

There are only nine of twenty silent films here, and the others are considered lost. Thanks go to a Belgian filmographer for hunting down what's here and restoring it.
Each silent comedy is a gem of plotting and escalating lunacy. All are accompanied by French screen captions, which have been more or less faithfully translated back into English in the subtitles. Nice accurate piano recordings on the soundracks of the silents, too, several offer altnernate music.

The only failing in my opinion is Bowers himself, a nimble stuntman who seems like a poor man's Busteer Keaton with zero screen presence. He could almost pass for Keaton in some of the shots, and in a few scenes he seems to be trying on Harold Lloyd's everyman. Unfortunately he just comes off as ordinary.
The other problem is that every film ends on an abrupt downer for the hero. Maybe these things hindered Bowers' popularity with audiences, but he deserves considerable credit for his imaginative storylines, eccentric gag and his meticulous craftsmanship in every aspect of his work.

The second disc has a short but sketchy bio along with two early cartoons by bowers and his last few talkies. These are all technically competent and fascinating, but the advent of sound didn't help him much. The best of the bunch is IT'S A BIRD which is hampered by clumsy, spoken jokes and an anti-climactic spoken punchline.

All quibbles aside--buy this disc if you love silent comedy!