Few people outside the film archive circuit know much about the life and work of silent comedy pioneer Max Linder, making this affectionate portrait, compiled by Linder's own daughter, a long overdue but no less welcome discovery. The biographical material is (understandably) meager, but thankfully the film is devoted more to Linder's screen career, and includes some remarkably well-preserved samples from his once extensive catalogue, dating back to long before Charlie Chaplin first appeared in front of a camera. What they show is a fluent but primitive comic who clearly anticipated the great silent (and sound era) clowns, introducing familiar gestures and routines later used by just about everyone, from Chaplin and Keaton to the Marx Brothers and beyond. Little of it is especially funny when seen today (the gags are being shown out of context, after all), but Linder's influence on the development of visual comedy cannot be overstated, and this belated introduction should hopefully restore some shine to his neglected reputation.
Review of The Man in the Silk Hat
