5/10
Character Studies was a partially interesting short about the way celebrities are "impersonated" on film
26 July 2009
Years ago, when there was a syndicated special called "The Best of Gleason 3", one of the segments from "The Jackie Gleason Show" that was shown was one where the host was confronted by a weird-looking man claiming to impersonate various stars. He did this by disappearing behind the curtain and coming out as Zazu Pitts, Charles Laughton, etc. What really happened was those stars actually appeared as themselves, did their trademarks, and then disappeared behind the curtain with that weird man coming back in front to say who else he was going to do. That's pretty much the premise of this short except Carter DeHaven just goes behind his large chest, puts on a few wigs, changes clothes, and then suddenly you see him "as" Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Roscoe Arbuckle (presumably post-scandal since he seems to have lost some weight since his last movie), Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks (in Robin Hood costume), and Jackie Coogan. It's pretty interesting seeing no noticeable cuts when DeHaven "changes" to those stars though because most of the stars didn't really do anything, I found the whole thing a little bland. Still, Character Studies is worth a look if you're a film fan like me. P.S. I just found out Mr. DeHaven was born in my birthtown of Chicago, Ill.
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