Showing posts with label farce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farce. Show all posts
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| Mabel Normand, Charlie Chaplin and Marie Dressler |
Tillie (Marie Dressler) is a hard-working country girl who gets little love and lots of abuse from her father (Mack Swain), who is fond of booting her in the rear. Therefore she is easily duped by a stranger (Charlie Chaplin) into running off with him with her father's stash. Unfortunately for Tillie, the Stranger already has a much prettier girlfriend, Mabel (Mabel Normand), and the two of them run off with Tillie's money. Tillie gets a job as a waitress, but is arrested when she sees the couple and takes after them, but she's released when the cops learn she is the niece of a certain millionaire (Charles Bennett). Tillie's uncle is just as mean to her as her father, but when he falls off a mountain she becomes his heir, a fact that she doesn't know but the Stranger does ... Tillie's Punctured Romance is the film adaptation of Marie Dressler's hit Broadway show Tillie's Nightmare, and it was similarly well-received by the public. The three leads are fine, with Dressler getting the lion's share of the action and most of the laughs. Tillie is so put-upon that you almost can't blame her when she positively runs amok at the end of the picture, although Dressler isn't really given much opportunity to milk her role for pathos in this farcical comedy. She inherits her uncle's millions without benefit of inquest or probate! Some very amusing bits in this, and Dressler, while bordering on the vulgar at times, is ever-delightful [although it perhaps remained for the sound era to unveil her special genius]. This is probably the closest one can come to getting any sense of what Dressler was like in vaudeville and on the legitimate stage.
Verdict: Overlong but quite cute in spots. **1/2.
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| Robert Sella, Arnie Burton, Robert Sella, Arnie Burton |
This is the 30th anniversary of the late Charles Ludlam's "camp classic" The Mystery of Irma Vep, which starts off as a spoof of Rebecca, set at "Mandercrest," throws in a little of The Wolfman and Dracula as well as Jane Eyre and many other Gothic stories, and almost turns into Psycho before it's over -- half the fun is getting the references. All of the parts are played by two wonderful actors, who perform (more than) half the time in drag and the rest out of drag. The maid at Mandercrest, Jane (Robert Sella), thinks that the new Lady, a former actress named Enid (Arnie Burton), is a vulgarian who can't hold a candle to the late Lady Irma, whose picture and aura hang over everything and everybody. The one-legged Nicodemus observes as his Lord Hillcrest snares the werewolf that's been devouring their sheep -- but is it the right wolf? Then there's the question of the Egyptian mummy who looks so much like Lady Enid which the Lord discovers in a surprisingly un-dusty tomb ... Admittedly Irma Vep can be pretty silly and it isn't everyone's cup of java, but if you're in the right mood and appreciate extremely talented farceurs, it will have you steadily laughing. Quinton's direction is inventive and the actors seem to be having as much fun as the audience, and there's a hilarious bit when Jane tries to explain to Lady Enid why Nicodemus can't join them in the room [it's the same actor, of course]. Amazingly, there is a plot and everything is explained at the end.
I first saw this in the late nineties with that genius Everett Quinton playing one of the leads. If memory serves me well there was perhaps more "quick change" artistry in that production, with an actor, say, walking around a column and literally becoming a new character in new dress in what seemed like seconds; I just remember being astonished. There's none of that in the production at the Lucille Lortel but don't be too disappointed -- Robert Sella and Arnie Burton are still amazing and spirited as they good-naturedly spoof cinematic types and conventions and occasionally indulge in some old-style silent movie type flamboyance. Fans of classic movies will perhaps enjoy the show best of all -- it runs until May 11th, 2014.
Verdict: Inspired lunacy with very talented performers. ***1/2.