I recall when this film was first shown in 1969, that excerpts of the "silent" film segments were shown on THE TONIGHT SHOW to give the public an explanation of what the spoofing was. The film is a spoof of "Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde", but the spoof is also a salute to an early Stan Laurel satire (without Oliver Hardy) called "Dr. Pickle and Mr. Pride". Dick Van Dyke was a fan of Stan Laurel (and even a friend of his at the end of the latter's life) and he and Reiner was saluting Laurel and other silent clowns who in their heyday were great stars but who ended on a somewhat reduced level.
Of the great silent film comics, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd were the luckiest: both were very wealthy men at the conclusion of their lives, and had lived long enough to be recognized by their film peers. Less lucky than them were Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, and Oliver Hardy. Keaton had fallen on hard times due to studio hostility, alcoholism, and his wife Natalie Talmadge's messy divorce (in which she kept his two sons). However, in the 1950s he made a tremendous comeback, and was (if not as wealthy as Chaplin or Lloyd) recognized as a film genius. Stan and Ollie were in demand as entertainers until ill health began plaguing them in the 1950s (Laurel looks very bad in their last film ATOLL K, and Hardy suffered a heart attack before his death in 1957). But neither was impoverished - Laurel having been smart enough to have bought annuities in his heyday. As for the others, Harry Langdon was employed up to his death in 1940 as a gag writer (he even appeared in ZENOBIA opposite Hardy). Raymond Griffith's damaged voice prevented him from continuing as a comic actor in sound films. After a stunning "silent" performance as the dying French soldier in the trench with Lew Ayres in ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, he became a film executive. One can also note W.C.Fields sound film career which is better recalled than his silent film career - and Fields died well off in 1946.
But what of Snub Pollard, Chester Conklin, Hank Mann, and Ford Sterling? There were large numbers of popular comedians in the silent period who did not remain public favorites after sound came in. Even one great comic, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, was not a favorite - although a murder charge can do that. Still Arbuckle was trying to make a comeback at the time of his death in 1933.
THE COMIC was an attempt to show what happened to these film originals due to their personal/private problems and the changes in the film industry (especially due to the coming of sound). Billy Bright (Van Dyke) is one of the great silent comics, but he has marital problems with his wife Mary Gibson (Michele Lee): His extra-marital affairs, and her attraction to film director Frank Powers (Cornell Wilde). Even the birth of a son does not help. On top of that, his films (while artistically great) begin losing money at the box office. He ends a failure in a business that requires money as a symbol of success. In the end he is living in a single room apartment watching his old films, living on his memories.
The films copy elements of the great comic films. His masterpiece, FORGET-ME-NOT, is about an innocent man sent to prison, and is somewhat reminiscent of Laurel & Hardy's comedies THE SECOND HUNDRED YEARS and PARDON US. But Mary appears in it as the heroine (like Harold Lloyd, whose wife was his original co-star), and her role is of a blind girl (reminiscent of Virginia Cherrill in Chaplin's CITY LIGHTS, and the heroine in Harry Langdon's THE STRONG MAN). Part of the fun of the film is trying to second-guess the films that are the basis of Van Dyke and Reiner's spoofs.
With Mickey Rooney as "Cockeye" (a fond remembrance of silent clown Ben Turpin), THE COMIC is a good film, and Van Dyke's strongest dramatic part.
Of the great silent film comics, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd were the luckiest: both were very wealthy men at the conclusion of their lives, and had lived long enough to be recognized by their film peers. Less lucky than them were Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, and Oliver Hardy. Keaton had fallen on hard times due to studio hostility, alcoholism, and his wife Natalie Talmadge's messy divorce (in which she kept his two sons). However, in the 1950s he made a tremendous comeback, and was (if not as wealthy as Chaplin or Lloyd) recognized as a film genius. Stan and Ollie were in demand as entertainers until ill health began plaguing them in the 1950s (Laurel looks very bad in their last film ATOLL K, and Hardy suffered a heart attack before his death in 1957). But neither was impoverished - Laurel having been smart enough to have bought annuities in his heyday. As for the others, Harry Langdon was employed up to his death in 1940 as a gag writer (he even appeared in ZENOBIA opposite Hardy). Raymond Griffith's damaged voice prevented him from continuing as a comic actor in sound films. After a stunning "silent" performance as the dying French soldier in the trench with Lew Ayres in ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, he became a film executive. One can also note W.C.Fields sound film career which is better recalled than his silent film career - and Fields died well off in 1946.
But what of Snub Pollard, Chester Conklin, Hank Mann, and Ford Sterling? There were large numbers of popular comedians in the silent period who did not remain public favorites after sound came in. Even one great comic, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, was not a favorite - although a murder charge can do that. Still Arbuckle was trying to make a comeback at the time of his death in 1933.
THE COMIC was an attempt to show what happened to these film originals due to their personal/private problems and the changes in the film industry (especially due to the coming of sound). Billy Bright (Van Dyke) is one of the great silent comics, but he has marital problems with his wife Mary Gibson (Michele Lee): His extra-marital affairs, and her attraction to film director Frank Powers (Cornell Wilde). Even the birth of a son does not help. On top of that, his films (while artistically great) begin losing money at the box office. He ends a failure in a business that requires money as a symbol of success. In the end he is living in a single room apartment watching his old films, living on his memories.
The films copy elements of the great comic films. His masterpiece, FORGET-ME-NOT, is about an innocent man sent to prison, and is somewhat reminiscent of Laurel & Hardy's comedies THE SECOND HUNDRED YEARS and PARDON US. But Mary appears in it as the heroine (like Harold Lloyd, whose wife was his original co-star), and her role is of a blind girl (reminiscent of Virginia Cherrill in Chaplin's CITY LIGHTS, and the heroine in Harry Langdon's THE STRONG MAN). Part of the fun of the film is trying to second-guess the films that are the basis of Van Dyke and Reiner's spoofs.
With Mickey Rooney as "Cockeye" (a fond remembrance of silent clown Ben Turpin), THE COMIC is a good film, and Van Dyke's strongest dramatic part.