Mack SennettFilmography

Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Fred Clark, Lynn Bari, "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom, Mack Sennett, Hank Mann

Synopsis: The best thing that can be said about Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops is that it's better than the team's previous outing Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Set in 1912, the film casts Bud Abbott and Lou Costello as a couple of New Yorkers who are swindled out of their Read More

Down Memory Lane

Actors: Steve Allen, Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Donald Novis, Gloria Swanson, Mabel Normand

Synopsis: Down Memory Lane is a pastiche film comprised of old comedy footage from the Mack Sennett studios. The vintage clips are tied together by a thin continuity wherein TV host Steve Allen hopes to boost his ratings by screening excerpts from Sennett's silent and talkie two-reel comedies. Among the Read More

Hollywood Cavalcade

Actors: Alice Faye, Don Ameche, J. Edward Bromberg, Alan Curtis, Stuart Erwin

Synopsis: Hollywood Cavalcade was a fictionalized history of silent films and the growth of the movie industry. Don Ameche portrays a character based on equal portions of Mack Sennett and D. W. Griffith, while Alice Faye's silent star is an amalgam of Mabel Normand and Gloria Swanson. Ameche breaks into Read More

The Timid Young Man

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Buster Keaton

Synopsis: Producer/director Mack Sennett and actor Buster Keaton, two masters of silent-film comedy, teamed up for the first time with this sound two-reeler released by Educational. Keaton stars as Milton, a disappointed romantic who has sworn off women. He gives a lift to a female hitchhiker (Lona Andre) Read More

Sing, Bing, Sing

Crew: Producer

Blue of the Night

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This is a musical comedy which starred Bing Crosby and included the song "Auf Wiedesehn". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Hypnotized

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: George Moran, Ernest Torrence, Charlie Murray, Wallace Ford

The Fatal Glass of Beer

Crew: Producer

Actors: W.C. Fields, Rosemary Theby, Rychard Cramer, George Chandler

Synopsis: The short comedy The Fatal Glass of Beer stars the legendary W.C. Fields as Mr. Snavely, a prospector who is awaiting the return of his prodigal son, Chester, who has been in prison for the last few years. The last time Snavely saw his son was when the boy consumed "The Fatal Glass of Beer," and Read More

The Barber Shop

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In his last two-reeler for Mack Sennett, W. C. Fields plays small-town barber Cornelius O'Hare. The film's wisp of a storyline concerns an escaped criminal (Cyril Ring), who demands that O'Hare give him a haircut and who is eventually captured by a small boy -- even though our "hero" tries to grab Read More

The Dentist

Crew: Producer

Actors: W.C. Fields, Babe Kane, Arnold Gray, Elise Cavanna, Dorothy Granger

Synopsis: W.C. Fields stars as the subject of this classic comedy short, which he also wrote the screenplay for. The dentist is a misanthropic, absent-minded sort who keeps an office in the same house that he shares with his rebellious young daughter. One morning she announces that she has fallen in love Read More

The Pharmacist

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This comedy shows a day in the life of a hapless pharmacist (W.C. Fields). Browbeaten at home by a domineering wife and a bratty daughter, things don't get much better at his pharmacy. Among other things, a customer orders a box of cough drops and demands that they be delivered to his house (18 Read More

The Loud Mouth

Crew: Producer

Ghost Parade

Crew: Director

The Cannonball

Crew: Director

One More Chance

Crew: Director

I Surrender Dear

Crew: Director, Producer

Synopsis: Bing Crosby stars as himself in this Mack Sennett-directed two reeler. The film opens with Crosby singing the title song in front of a packed crowd at the Café Royale. At the same time, Ethel Dobbs (Alice Adair) listens to Crosby on the radio as she travels by train with her mother and he fiancé Read More

Midnight Daddies

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Harry Gribbon, Andy Clyde, Alma Bennett, Rosemary Theby

The Good-Bye Kiss

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: John Burke, Sally Eilers, Matty Kemp, Wheeler Oakman, Carmelita Geraghty

Synopsis: At 9 reels, The Good-Bye Kiss was comedy producer Mack Sennett's most ambitious feature to date. Eschewing the usual Sennett slapstick, the film is a romantic seriocomedy with a WW I background. Sally Eilers plays a young girl who follows her soldier boyfriend (Johnny Burke) to the front. He is Read More

Love at First Sight

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: The plot of this Essanay comedy hinges on a practical joke. The prankish friends of the hero decide to "set him up" with the least likely candidate for matrimony. Amazingly, the mismatched couple immediately fall in love. Realizing that they were intended to be the butt of a joke, hero and heroine Read More

Caution: Funny Men at Work!

Crew: Director

Synopsis: These vintage silent comedies from Mack Sennett include A Strong Revenge (1913) A Sea Dog's Tale (1926), Sailor, Beware (1927) and The Channel Swimmer (1928). ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide Read More

Crazy to Act

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This Mack Sennett two-reel comedy features Oliver Hardy, who was on loan from the Hal Roach studios. Arthur Young (Matty Kemp) is in love with Ethel St. John (Mildred June), but he has no money and she wants to be in movies. Gordon Bagley (Hardy) also wants to marry her, and she accepts his Read More

The Jolly Jilter

Crew: Screenwriter

The Bull Fighter

Crew: Producer

A Love Sundae

Crew: Screenwriter

A Harem Knight

Crew: Producer

Gooseland

Crew: Producer

Flirty Four-Flushers

Crew: Screenwriter

His First Flame

Crew: Producer

Actors: Harry Langdon, Natalie Kingston, Ruth Hiatt, Vernon Dent

Synopsis: Baby-faced comedian Harry Langdon plays a timorous fireman in His First Flame. Much of the action involves Langdon's efforts to impress the unimpressable Ruth Hiatt. She is so resistant to his "charms" that she can't even act grateful when he rescues her from a burning house. Filmed during Read More

Fiddlesticks

Crew: Producer

Actors: Harry Langdon

Synopsis: Harry Langdon's first directing attempt, Three's a Crowd, had just been released when his former boss, producer Mack Sennett, released this short subject which features Langdon in the lead. The exhibitors' trade papers virtually leapt on this release and sang its praises -- "far better than some Read More

The Ghost of Folly

Crew: Screenwriter

The Beloved Bozo

Crew: Screenwriter

Bashful Jim

Crew: Screenwriter

Lucky Stars

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Although Harry Langdon was nearing his peak as a two-reel comedian (in just a few months he would graduate to features), not all his films during this period were winners. Of this picture, trade paper Moving Picture World complained, "The gags carry little punch and the action is constantly slowed Read More

His Marriage Wow

Crew: Producer

Actors: Harry Langdon

Hotsy-Totsy

Crew: Producer

Cold Turkey

Crew: Screenwriter

His New Mamma

Crew: Producer

Galloping Bungalows

Crew: Producer

Flickering Youth

Crew: Producer

The Cat's Meow

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Although Harry Langdon was an established vaudeville star when he signed on to make films for Mack Sennett, it took him several pictures (not to mention teaming up with director Harry Edwards and writer/ future director Frank Capra) before he really began to gain his film footing. Nevertheless Read More

The First 100 Years

Crew: Producer

The Luck o' the Foolish

Crew: Producer

The Hollywood Kid

The Extra Girl

Crew: Presented by, Screen Story

Actors: George Nichols, Anna Hernandez, Mabel Normand, Ralph Graves, Vernon Dent

Synopsis: Mabel Normand's last feature-length film is also one of her most entertaining. Sue Graham (Normand) lives in the tiny hamlet of River Bend. When her parents (George Nichols and Anna Hernandez) refuse to let her marry her sweetheart, Dave Giddings (Ralph Graves), she enters a movie contest and Read More

Shriek of Araby

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Ben Turpin, Kathryn McGuire, George Cooper

Synopsis: Comedy producer Mack Sennett certainly couldn't let Rudolph Valentino's hit The Sheik come and go without spoofing it with none other than Ben Turpin as the star. Turpin starts off as a bill poster for a movie theater, while a tall, dark, and handsome type is dressed as an Arab and riding a horse Read More

Suzanna

Crew: Screenwriter, Supervisor/Manager

Actors: Mabel Normand, George Nichols, Walter McGrail, Evelyn Sherman, Leon Bary

Synopsis: Comedienne Mabel Normand was in the middle of production for this comedy-drama when William Desmond Taylor was murdered. She was the last person to see him alive, and the shock of his death, combined with stressful police interrogations, caused her to have a breakdown. Filming was halted for Read More

Crossroads of New York

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Ethel Grey Terry, Robert Cain, Kathryn McGuire, Herbert Standing

Synopsis: This feature-length comedy-melodrama was not one of the best from Mack Sennett, or his talented director, F. Richard Jones. Country boy Michael Flint (George O'Hara) arrives in the city to seek his fortune. He's a bit better off than your average naïve youth because he has a letter of introduction Read More

Molly O'

Crew: Producer, Supervisor/Manager

Actors: Mabel Normand, George Nichols, Anna Hernandez, Albert Hackett, Eddie Gribbon

Synopsis: This comedy-drama marked Mabel Normand's return to producer Mack Sennett after making a number of mediocre films for Samuel Goldwyn. Normand plays one of her typical Cinderella turns, a lower-class Irish girl, Molly, whose father, Tim O'Dair (George Nichols) is a ditch digger. Molly is supposed to Read More

Mack Sennett Comedies: Vol. 1

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This anthology is comprised of several short chucklers from the King of Slapstick comedy Mack Sennett. These shorts feature Ben Turpin and those crazy Keystone Cops. The titles include: The Eyes Have It, The Cannon Ball, The Desperate Scoundrel and Pride of Pikeville. A second volume follows. Read More

Call a Cop

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

A Small Town Idol

Crew: Screenwriter, Supervisor/Manager

Actors: Ben Turpin, Phyllis Haver, Charlie Murray, Marie Prevost, James Finlayson

Synopsis: This hilarious slapstick comedy from Mack Sennett finds Sam Smith (Ben Turpin), the resident of a small town, accused of stealing. The jealous villain J. Wellington Jones (James Finlayson) orchestrated Sam's frame-up to keep him from wooing Mary (Phyllis Haver), the prettiest single girl in town. Read More

Bright Eyes

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Don't Weaken

Crew: Producer

These Girls Won't Talk

Crew: Director

Synopsis: "Campus Carmen," "As Luck Would Have It" and "Her Bridal Nightmare" are the silent short stories featured in this series from producer Mack Sennett. Performances include silent screen stars Carole Lombard, Colleen Moore and Betty Compson. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide Read More

Married Life

Crew: Producer

Down on the Farm

Crew: Producer

Hearts and Flowers

Crew: Screenwriter

The Little Widow

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

East Lynne with Variations

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Cupid's Day Off

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

His Smothered Love

Crew: Producer

The Kitchen Lady

Crew: Screenwriter

Hide and Seek Detectives

Crew: Screenwriter

Her Nature Dance

Crew: Producer

A Bedroom Blunder

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Having recently severed his ties with Triangle Films, comedy producer Mack Sennett served up his first two-reeler for Paramount release, A Bedroom Blunder. The plot is typical of the sort of farcical fare that Sennett had been churning out since 1912. Charles Murray stars as "An Average Husband," Read More

Judge

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This fast-moving Keystone comedy was directed by the talented F. Richard Jones. A flirtatious manicurist (Louise Fazenda) runs foul of the law when she turns down the attentions of a motorcycle cop (Charles Murray). He puts her under arrest but the old judge (Harry Booker) is charmed by the girl Read More

Mabel & Fatty

Crew: Director

Mack Sennett Comedies: Vol. 2

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This anthology is comprised of several short chucklers from the King of Slapstick comedy Mack Sennett. These shorts feature the hilarious Fatty Arbuckle and Mabel Normand. The titles include: Fatty and Mabel Adrift, Mabel, Fatty, and the Law, Fatty's Tin-Type Tangle, and Our Congressman. The Read More

Hearts and Planets

Crew: Director, Producer

Fatty's Reckless Fling

Crew: Producer

A Game Old Knight

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Having inaugurated his association with Triangle Films with the 4-reel My Valet, comedy producer Mack Sennett quickly reverted to the 2-reel format which suited him best. Sennett's first Triangle 2-reeler was A Game Old Knight, with Charlie Murray as the title character and Louise Fazenda, Slim Read More

Fatty's Chance Acquaintance

Crew: Producer

Fatty and the Broadway Stars

Synopsis: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle doubled as star and director of this 2-reel Keystone romp. Fatty plays a star-struck janitor at a big motion picture studio (Keystone, or course). His relentless pursuit of celebrities wreaks hilarious havoc on several movie sets, ending with an orgy of chaos. Virtually Read More

Fatty's Faithful Fido

Crew: Producer

Fatty's Plucky Pup

Crew: Producer

Fatty's New Role

Crew: Producer

Her Painted Hero

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Vaudeville monologist Hale Hamilton starred in the Keystone two-reel comedy Her Painted Hero. Hamilton plays a ham actor in a third-rate stock company, while Polly Moran steals the picture as the sweetheart of the troupe's gangly prop man (Slim Summerville). Marching to the altar with Summerville Read More

Stolen Magic

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Keystone's Stolen Magic was the two-reel follow-up to Raymond Hitchcock's four-reel starrer My Valet. The beloved "Hitchy" plays a British military officer, who has returned from India with a stolen scroll in hand. The scroll is entitled "a Key to Magic," and the hero hopes to impress his newlywed Read More

Cave Man

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In his 35th and last Keystone comedy, Charlie Chaplin parodied the recent hit, D.W. Griffith's stone-age drama, Man's Genesis. Charlie is caveman Weakchin, dressed in derby, cane and bearskin. He plucks some fur from his bearskin and fills his pipe with it, lighting the pipe by picking up a stone Read More

The Lizzies of Mack Sennett

Crew: Director

Keystone Comedies, Vol. 1

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Keystone Comedies is a collection of silent film shorts produced by the legendary Mack Sennett. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Love, Speed and Thrills

Crew: Director, Producer

Synopsis: Love, Speed and Thrills is about a loving husband and a wife-stealing wolf, both after the same woman. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Mabel, Fatty and the Law

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Mabel Normand and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle are a married couple in this Keystone quickie. After a fight caused by his flirtation with the maid, Fatty and Mabel go for a walk through the park (actually Echo Park in Los Angeles, a frequent location for the Keystone troupe. The park still exists Read More

Hushing the Scandal

Crew: Director

Miss Fatty's Seaside Lovers

Crew: Producer

A Submarine Pirate

Crew: Screenwriter, Supervisor/Manager

Synopsis: Hoping to cash in on the popularity of his former employee Charlie Chaplin, producer Mack Sennett hired Charlie's half-brother Sydney Chaplin, an excellent farceur in his own right, to star in series of Keystone comedies. Syd's best-remembered effort from this era was the 4-reel "special" A Read More

My Valet

Crew: Director, Producer

Synopsis: Running four reels, My Valet was comedy producer Mack Sennett's contribution to the first Triangle Films program, which debuted at New York's Knickerbocker Theater on September 23, 1915. Popular Ziegfeld Follies star Raymond Hitchcock headed the cast, with such Keystone regulars as Mabel Normand, Fred Mace Read More

An Incompetent Hero

Crew: Producer

His Trysting Place

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In his 32nd film for Keystone, Charlie Chaplin is a married man, an unusual state for his film character. His wife, played by Mabel Normand, complains that they have no money for new shoes for her or food for their baby. They have a fight and Charlie leaves, promising to bring a present home for Read More

The Property Man

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Josef Swickard, Fritz Schade, Norma Nichols, Phyllis Allen

Synopsis: In Charlie Chaplin's 21st Keystone film, Chaplin is the prop man and general factotum at a vaudeville house. The artists arrive backstage as Chaplin swigs beer from a pitcher, refusing to share with his elderly, hunchbacked assistant, whom he mistreats throughout. The headliners are the Goo-Goo Read More

Kid Auto Races at Venice

Crew: Producer

His Favorite Pastime

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In Charles Chaplin's seventh film for the Keystone Company, the Little Fellow's favorite pastime is drinking and chasing women. The film opens in a saloon where Charlie is partaking of a free lunch and teasing a down-on-his-luck Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle who is trying to bum a drink. We see an early Read More

The Star Boarder

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Minta Durfee, Alice Davenport, Edgar Kennedy, Gordon Griffith

Synopsis: In Charlie Chaplin's ninth Keystone comedy, Charlie is the star boarder in Minta Durfee's rooming house. We first see his Tramp's shoes as he lies in bed, a shot probably inserted to draw applause, a sign that the character was gaining popularity. He gets preferential treatment at the dinner Read More

His Talented Wife

Crew: Director, Producer

His Musical Career

Crew: Producer

Actors: Fritz Schade

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's musical career is as a piano mover for a music store in this, his 31st comedy for Keystone. The film was a direct inspiration for Laurel and Hardy's 1932 short, The Music Box. His Little Fellow is not a tramp but a hard-working laborer. Charlie is first seen applying for his job Read More

Laughing Gas

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 20th film for Keystone marks a turning point in his career. From this point on, with one exception, he was to write and direct all his future films. In Laughing Gas Chaplin plays a dentist's assistant who is first seen entering the office officiously. The patients are fooled into Read More

Mabel's Strange Predicament

Crew: Director, Producer

Mabel's Married Life

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In his 19th film for Keystone, Charlie Chaplin plays a somewhat more sympathetic role as the husband of comedienne Mabel Normand. As so many of his Keystone comedies do, it begins in a park where Mack Swain, dressed in a sporty outfit and carrying a tennis racquet, leaves his wife seated on a Read More

Making a Living

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This typical Keystone slapstick comedy was Charlie Chaplin's first appearance on film. An Englishman (Chaplin) cons a newspaper reporter (Henry Lehrman) out of some money. The Englishman flirts with a young woman who later turns out to be the reporter's girlfriend, and the reporter and the Read More

The Rounders

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In his 26th Keystone comedy Charlie Chaplin pairs off with fellow Keystone star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Chaplin and Arbuckle are both drunks and are both married to domineering wives. Chaplin, dressed in top hat and evening clothes, arrives drunk to his hotel and is confronted by wife Phyllis Allen Read More

The Little Teacher

Crew: Director, Producer

Recreation

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: For this half-reel quickie, Charlie Chaplin's 23rd Keystone comedy, Chaplin took cast and crew back to Westlake Park, scene of so many of the Keystones, and shot it in a day. While a sleeping sailor and his bored girlfriend occupy a park bench, the little Tramp is contemplating suicide on a nearby Read More

Mabel's Busy Day

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 18th film for Keystone was likely co-written and co-directed by co-star Mabel Normand. It was shot entirely on location at an automobile racetrack during a racing event. Mabel plays a hot dog vendor who sneaks in to the track by bribing the cop who guards the gate. As soon as she Read More

Mabel at the Wheel

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Chester Conklin, Mack Sennett, Harry McCoy

Synopsis: Mabel Normand wrote, directed and starred in Charlie Chaplin's 10th film for Keystone. After disagreements with the directors of his previous films, Sennett assigned him to Normand, but Chaplin was chomping at the bit to direct his own films so for this film at least, the Chaplin/Normand Read More

Fatty's Magic Pants

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle directed himself in this Keystone short. In it, he wants to take a girl (Arbuckle's real-life wife, Minta Durfee) to a fancy dress ball, but he doesn't have the right outfit. His rival does have the suit, however, so in spite of the fact that the guy is a much smaller size Read More

Cruel, Cruel Love

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Minta Durfee

Synopsis: In his eighth film for Keystone Charlie Chaplin, in frock coat and bushy mustache, is cast in the role of a melodramatic lover who attempts suicide over his lost love. The film is a farce, a parody of the overacted melodramas of the day. Mr. Dovey (Chaplin) is first seen on his knees proposing in Read More

Caught in a Cabaret

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 12th film for the Keystone company was also his directorial debut, receiving co-directing credit with co-star, Mabel Normand. Chaplin plays a waiter in a seedy cabaret who is always in trouble with his boss, Edgar Kennedy, and at odds with another waiter, Chester Conklin. While Read More

Caught in the Rain

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 13th film for Keystone marked his first solo effort as writer and director. It follows the well-trodden path of the classic Keystone park/hotel farces with a few twists added in. The film opens in Westlake Park where a couple (Mack Swain and Alice Davenport) are seated on a Read More

The Fatal Mallet

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 15th comedy for Keystone is another violent park farce. It is the only teaming of this quartet of Keystone stars. Chaplin, Mack Sennett and Mack Swain are all suitors for the attentions of Mabel Normand. Charlie comes upon Sennett (playing his "dumb rube" character) and Normand Read More

The Face on the Bar Room Floor

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: The Face on the Bar-Room Floor, Charlie Chaplin's 22nd Keystone comedy, was based on a well-known poem by Hugh Antoine D'Arcy, "The Face Upon the Floor." The film begins in a saloon where Charlie, a destitute Tramp, is bumming drinks. He offers to tell the story of his downfall to the other Read More

Fatty's Jonah Day

Crew: Producer

Fatty and Minnie He-Haw

Crew: Producer

A Busy Day

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Notable as Charlie Chaplin's first female impersonation film, the half-reel A Busy Day is another of the Keystone shorts in which a film crew was dispatched to improvise a comedy at the site of a public event, in this case a parade celebrating the opening of a new harbor in San Pedro, California. Chaplin Read More

Gentlemen of Nerve

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 30th Keystone comedy is again set at the auto races, as were his earlier films, Kid's Auto Race, Mabel at the Wheel and Mabel's Busy Day. However this time, as Chaplin scholar Harry Geduld suggests, it was likely shot at the Keystone studios with shots of the race intercut. Read More

A Film Johnnie

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In Charlie Chaplin's fifth Keystone comedy we get a look inside the famous laugh factory. Charlie is a movie fan and we first see him creating havoc at a theatre where he gets too involved with the action on the screen and the beautiful actress in the film. Ejected from the theatre, he proceeds to Read More

Her Friend the Bandit

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Charlie Murray

Synopsis: Chaplin's 16th film for Keystone is the only Chaplin film thought to be lost. What we know of its plot comes from the movie magazines of the day. Apparently Charlie is the bandit who accosts a Count on his way to a society party and assumes his clothes, invitation and identity. He encounters rich Read More

Getting Acquainted

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's penultimate Keystone comedy takes us back to the scene of so many of his Keystones, Westlake Park. It is unusual in that it is a story of two married couples with wandering husbands: Charlie and battle-ax Phyllis Allen, and Mack Swain and Mabel Normand. Mack and Mabel, taking the Read More

Fatty's Wine Party

Crew: Producer

Between Showers

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Ford Sterling, Emma Clifton, Chester Conklin, Sadie Lampe

Synopsis: In his fourth film for Keystone, Charlie Chaplin was assigned for the last time to Henry Lehrman, his first director at Keystone. It was Chaplin's first film with the ostensible star of the film, Ford Sterling, who had announced that he would be leaving Keystone for a more lucrative deal well Read More

Twenty Minutes of Love

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin once said, "All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl." In this, his 11th film for Keystone and arguably his first original screenplay, his milieu is just that -- Westlake Park, where most of the Keystone park films were shot. The Tramp makes fun of a Read More

Those Love Pangs

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Chester Conklin, Gene Marsh, Cecile Arnold, Vivian Edwards

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 28th Keystone comedy pits him against Chester Conklin as rival for the attentions of their landlady Gene Marsh and for Chester's girlfriend Cecile Arnold. After the midday meal, each of the rivals tries to chat up the landlady, only to be prevented by the other. They decide to go Read More

The Masquerader

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 24th short for the Keystone company is a film about making films at Keystone. It is unusual in that we see Chaplin the actor, Charlie the Tramp, and Chaplin's second female impersonation in a film. The film opens outside the Keystone Studio where Chaplin, in street clothes, is Read More

The Knockout

Crew: Producer

Actors: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Minta Durfee, Edgar Kennedy, Charles Chaplin, Joe Bordeaux

Synopsis: Although better known as Charlie Chaplin's 17th appearance in a Keystone comedy, The Knockout is really a Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle film. The big event in Fatty's town is a prizefight in which champ Cyclone Flynn will meet all comers. Fatty is tricked into accepting the fight by two hobos who are Read More

His New Profession

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Charley Chase, Gene Marsh, Cecile Arnold, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 25th Keystone comedy is a park farce on the same order as many of his earlier shorts. It opens with a famous shot of Charlie sitting on a park bench, reading Police Gazette, the National Enquirer of its time. A couple nearby are unhappy; the boy, Charles Parrot (later known as Charley Chase Read More

Dough and Dynamite

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Fritz Schade

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 29th comedy for Keystone was one of his most popular, grossing $130,000 in its initial year of release. It was shot before, but released after Those Love Pangs, and was originally conceived as an early sequence of the latter, showing Charlie and Chester Conklin at work in a Read More

Tillie's Punctured Romance

Crew: Director

Actors: Marie Dressler, Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Mack Sennett, Mack Swain

Synopsis: This Keystone comedy, Charlie Chaplin's 33rd, is the first feature-length comedy ever made and contributed to making Chaplin and his co-star Marie Dressler major stars. Chaplin plays a con artist (not the Tramp) who talks Tillie, an innocent country lass, into taking her father's savings and Read More

The New Janitor

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charles Chaplin, John Francis Dillon, Gene Marsh, Al St. John, Glen Cavender

Synopsis: In Charlie Chaplin's 27th comedy for Keystone, and arguably his best, he plays not a homeless Tramp, but an inept janitor in a bank. The film is a forerunner of his later Essanay film The Bank. It is the first Chaplin film in which is seen a glimmer of the pathos mixed with comedy that would Read More

Tango Tangles

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Ford Sterling, Edgar Kennedy, Chester Conklin

Synopsis: Tango Tangles is an impromptu Keystone comedy which exploited the current "tango craze." A tango contest and exhibition prompted Mack Sennett to send a crew out to a local dance hall where some of the film was shot. Charlie Chaplin appears in a tuxedo, sans the famous Tramp makeup and costume, as Read More

Her New Beau

Crew: Director, Producer

Synopsis: Too busy with administrational matters to direct all the Keystone releases of 1913, Mack Sennett assigned the direction of Her New Beau to Henry "Pathe" Lehrman. Fred Mace heads the cast as a judge whose pocket watch is on the blink. Unbeknownst to Mace, his daughter Mabel Normand takes the watch Read More

The Hansom Driver

Crew: Director

The Gypsy Queen

Crew: Director

A Little Hero

Crew: Director

Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Barney Oldfield, Mabel Normand, Mack Sennett

Synopsis: Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life is an early example of a sports celebrity trying to use his fame in motion pictures. In the early silent era, when movies were untested and to some extent disreputable, actors often appeared uncredited. As screen performers began to emerge as box-office draws, Oldfield Read More

His Crooked Career

Crew: Director, Producer

Just Brown's Luck

Crew: Director

The Cure That Failed

Crew: Director

A Doctored Affair

Crew: Director

The Bowling Match

Crew: Director

Cohen Saves the Flag

Crew: Director

The Foreman of the Jury

Crew: Director

Gusher

Crew: Director

Father's Choice

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This Keystone half-reel comedy is "distinguished" by some of the most outrageous racial stereotypes ever preserved on celluloid. It all begins when papa Ford Sterling refuses to consent to the marriage of his daughter Mabel Normand. To avoid Sterling's wrath, Normand and her boyfriend disguise Read More

For Lizzie's Sake

Crew: Director

A Game of Poker

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Running about half a reel, A Game of Poker was released back-to-back with another Keystone comedy, Father's Choice. A friendly game of cards is reduced to comic chaos when Ford Sterling slips a few aces in his vest pocket. At first, his poker-playing buddies -- among them Mack Sennett and Fred Mace Read More

A Quiet Little Wedding

Crew: Director

A Muddy Romance

Crew: Director

On His Wedding Day

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Ford Sterling heads the cast of the Keystone half-reeler On His Wedding Day. Released with Her New Beau. A jilted suitor cooks up a scheme to spoil his rival's wedding to the heroine. To this end, the ex-suitor plants a red pepper in the bride's bouquet. The pepper results in an abundance of Read More

The Bangville Police

Crew: Producer

Fatty Joins the Force

Crew: Producer

Actors: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

Synopsis: After saving a little girl from drowning, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle receives an offer to join the police force, or rather, the Keystone Cops. This Mack Sennett-produced quickie, however, focuses primarily on Arbuckle's antics, and justifiably so -- even though he'd been at the Keystone Studios for Read More

The Rube and the Baron

Crew: Director

Synopsis: The Rube and the Baron makes ample use of the talents of Keystone stock-company players Mack Sennett, Fred Mace, Ford Sterling, and Mabel Normand. A French nobleman and a cloddish farmer both pay court to a pretty young miss. The nobleman manages to win the girl's hand in marriage, but the farmer Read More

The Mistaken Masher

Crew: Director, Producer

Love Sickness at Sea

Crew: Director, Producer

Love and Pain

Crew: Director

Synopsis: As was often the case in the Keystone comedies, "love" and "pain" are virtually interchangeable in this half-reel farce. Believing that his sweetheart has rejected him, a rubeish Romeo decides to shoot himself. Unfortunately, he misses, whereupon he elects to commit suicide with poison. Read More

Love and Courage

Crew: Director

Mabel's Dramatic Career

Crew: Director, Producer

A Strong Revenge

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Keystone stalwarts Mack Sennett, Mabel Normand, and Ford Sterling headed the cast of the one-reel farce A Strong Revenge. The paper-thin plot is motivated by the feud between a cobbler and a grocer. Seeking vengeance for past slights, the cobbler places a couple of slabs of limburger cheese in the Read More

Mabel's New Hero

Crew: Director

Mabel's Heroes

Crew: Director, Producer

The Battle of Who Run

Crew: Director, Producer

At Twelve O'clock

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This one-reel Keystone comedy was a takeoff of the old D.W. Griffith melodrama The Fatal Hour. When his attentions are spurned by heroine Mabel Normand, the villainous Fred Mace binds the poor girl in front of a grandfather's clock, which has been timed to fire a bullet from a rifle at the stroke Read More

Baby Day

Crew: Director

A Desperate Lover

Crew: Director

The Fatal Chocolate

Crew: Director

Fickle Spaniard

Crew: Director

The Grocery Clerk's Romance

Crew: Director

The Flirting Husband

Crew: Director

The Deacon's Troubles

Crew: Director

At Coney Island

Crew: Director, Producer

Ambitious Butler

Crew: Director, Producer

At It Again

Crew: Director, Producer

A Dash Through the Clouds

Crew: Director

A Bear Escape

Crew: Director, Producer

The New York Hat

Synopsis: The last film Mary Pickford did for director D.W. Griffith was made from the first scenario Anita Loos ever submitted to a movie studio. The young writer's story showed her to be clever beyond her years and experience. In a small Vermont town, a dying mother hands over her small savings to a Read More

Man's Genesis

Mr. Fix-It

Crew: Director, Producer

A Midnight Elopement

Crew: Director

The New Neighbor

Crew: Director

Mabel's Stratagem

Crew: Director

Rivals

Crew: Director

Mabel's Adventures

Crew: Director

Mabel's Lovers

Crew: Director

His Daughter

The White Rose of the Wilds

The Manicure Lady

Crew: Director

The New Dress

Paradise Lost

Caught with the Goods

Crew: Director

Dutch Gold Mine

Crew: Director

The Diving Girl

Crew: Director

A Decree of Destiny

The Italian Barber

Synopsis: Mary Pickford was popular enough in early 1911 to be identified by name in the trade magazine Variety's review of D.W. Griffith's The Italian Barber. Filmed partly on location in Fort Lee, New Jersey, this pleasant little comedy finds the title character falling in love with a cute little Read More

Three Sisters

His Trust

His Trust Fulfilled

The Lonedale Operator

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: This simple and very effective melodramatic short film was a landmark in its day; in fact, today it is still a fine example of intercutting from one scene to another to build up to an exciting climax. In 1911, director D.W. Griffith was changing the face of filmmaking by his skilled use of this Read More

Effecting a Cure

Crew: Director

The Englishman and the Girl

Synopsis: D.W. Griffith's last 1909 production, The Englishman and the Girl starred Griffith regulars Charles Craig and Mary Pickford. A foppish Englishman arrives in a small town where the locals are about to stage an amateur "Wild West" play. Spotting the actors in their Indian costumes, the Englishman Read More

Examination Day at School

Synopsis: The New Jersey communities of Paterson and Westfield were used as exterior "backdrops" in this Biograph comedy. W. Christie Miller plays a kindly schoolmaster who finds himself the butt of innumerable practical jokes. Apparently unable to control his charges, the old man is dismissed by the school Read More

Faithful

Gold is Not All

The Call to Arms

The Broken Doll

Actors: Gladys Egan

Synopsis: When an Indian is found cruelly murdered, the tribe begins to plan for a revenge attack against the nearby white settlement in this typical one-reel Biograph melodrama directed by D. W. Griffith in the wilds of Coytesville, New Jersey. A little Indian girl Gladys Egan who had earlier been given a Read More

A Flash of Light

An Affair of Hearts

An Arcadian Maid

Synopsis: Mary Pickford is a young woman who convinces a farmer's wife to hire her as a maid. When a travelling salesman comes by the farm and sells the wife some cloth, he flirts with the maid and gives her an engagement ring. The salesman runs up some gambling debts, so he visits the maid again and tells Read More

The Newlyweds

The Converts

Synopsis: Having moved to the California facilities of Biograph studios in late January of 1910, D.W.Griffith wasted no time getting to work. Filmed February 8 and 9, the one-reel "temperance melodrama" The Converts was shot on location at San Gabriel Mission. Henry B. Walthall tops the cast in this story Read More

Never Again

As the Bells Rang Out!

One Night, and Then

Synopsis: Running just shy of a full 1000-foot reel, Biograph's One Night -- and Then was what was known at the time as a "bohemian" melodrama. "Daddy" Butler heads the cast as a rakish old millionaire who has never done a kind thing for anyone else in his life. Upon finding that he has a potentially fatal Read More

A Mohawk's Way

Synopsis: Always fascinated with Native American mythology and folklore, director D.W. Griffith turned out no fewer than six "Indian" pictures in 1910. A bigoted white medicine man refuses to come to the assistance of an ailing Indian child. But the man's wife is a bit more humanitarian; unbeknownst to her Read More

In Old California

Muggsy Becomes a Hero

A Knot in the Plot

A Child's Faith

Call

Actors: Florence Barker

Synopsis: Described by the Biograph publicity department as a "circus romance," D.W. Griffith's The Call was partially filmed on location at Fort Lee, New Jersey. Florence Barker is cast as a sideshow hootchy-kootchy dancer who catches the eye of a virtuous young farmer. He is so impressed by her beauty Read More

Way of the World

A Midnight Cupid

The Marked Time-Table

The Cloister's Touch

Actors: Arthur V. Johnson

Synopsis: This Biograph "monastic drama" was set during Feudal Times. Kidnapping the wife of one of his vassals, a despotic Duke forces the girl to join his euphemistically-named "ladies in waiting." Forced to leave her tiny baby at home, the girl weeps uncontrollably, until finally the Duke relents and Read More

Little Angels of Luck

Synopsis: D.W. Griffith dashed off the one-reel Little Angels of Luck entirely within the confines of the Bronx Biograph studios. Since the film apparently no longer exists, it is difficult to synopsize the storyline. The studio described it as "a contemporary child melodrama," which wasn't much help. Read More

The Modern Prodigal

Love Among the Roses

As It is in Life

Actors: Marion Leonard

Synopsis: A widower (George O. Nicholls) must raise his young daughter by himself. He gets a job at a pigeon farm. He falls in love with another woman (Marion Leonard), but decides not to marry her because he cannot support a family of three. Years later, his daughter (Mary Pickford) who was away at school Read More

The Dancing Girl of Butte

Actors: Florence Barker

Synopsis: Described by its parent studio Biograph as a "western comedy," The Dancing Girl of Butte was filmed in the wide open spaces of Edgewater, New Jersey. Florence Barker plays the title character, a dancer in a cheap Montana honky-tonk. An ethereal young artist Owen Moore falls in love with the girl Read More

The Woman from Mellon's

Taming a Husband

Actors: Arthur V. Johnson

Synopsis: The Bronx studios of Biograph pictures were transformed to the drawing rooms of 18th-century Europe in this rare comedy from D.W.Griffith. Feeling neglected by her husband, a young wife enlists her best girlfriend in a scheme to rekindle hubby's passion. Dressing up in male drag, the girlfriend Read More

The Song of the Wildwood Flute

Synopsis: The undeveloped terrain of Fishkill, New York and Westfield, New Jersey stood in for the "Wild West" in the Biograph one-reeler Song of the Wildwood Flute. Her trademarked curls hidden under a black wig, Mary Pickford stars as a wide-eyed Indian maiden. Two braves vie for the heroine's affections Read More

A Summer Tragedy

Synopsis: Despite its title, this Biograph half-reeler is a comedy. The plot is the old one about two poverty-stricken souls pretending to be wealthy to attract rich spouses. The hero, a humble clerk, poses as a millionaire; the heroine, a waitress, assumes the guise of an heiress. Unfortunately, they are Read More

Usurer

A Victim of Jealousy

What the Daisy Said

The Two Brothers

When We Were in Our Teens

A Gold Necklace

Synopsis: By 1910, D.W. Griffith was far too busy to personally direct all of Biograph's films, thus he legislated authority to such assistants as Frank Powell, Dell Henderson and Mack Sennett. One of the studio's Griffith-less efforts of 1910 was the one-reel comedy A Gold Necklace. It all starts when two Read More

A Salutary Lesson

The Iconoclast

Synopsis: No relation to the 1910 D.W.Griffith production of the same name, the 1913 release The Iconoclast was a three-reeler from the Thomas H. Ince film factory. The title character is a Mexican aristocrat who fancies himself an atheist. In addition to his constant tiltings with the Church, the Read More

The Purgation

A Rich Revenge

The Twisted Trail

Serious Sixteen

Over Silent Paths

The Necklace

The Mended Lute

Mr. Jones' Burglar

The Mountaineer's Honor

The Mills of the Gods

Mr. Jones Has a Card Party

The Little Darling

Synopsis: Running 211 feet (approximately 4 minutes), Little Darling was filmed right after the more ambitious D. W. Griffith production 1776: or, The Hessian Renegades. Appearing in both films as the heroine was 16-year-old Mary Pickford. A country couple receives a letter announcing that their city Read More

The Little Teacher

Synopsis: This D.W. Griffith-directed "contemporary comedy" was filmed at the Bronx headquarters of Biograph studios, with location scenes shot in Greenwich Connecticut and Leonia New Jersey. Sixteen-year-old Mary Pickford plays the titular novice teacher, who finds herself saddled with a classroom full of Read More

The Light That Came

The Joneses Have Amateur Theatricals

Lady Helen's Escapade

The Lure of the Gown

Actors: Charles Inslee

Synopsis: D.W. Griffith's The Lure of the Gown was advertised by Biograph Films as "An Italian Contemporary Romance" -- with Fort Lee, New Jersey, standing in for Italy. Much of the story takes place in a fancy ballroom, where an impressionable Italian lad is wooed away from his sweetheart by a coquettish Read More

The Maniac Cook

Lucky Jim

The Lonely Villa

Crew: Screenwriter

Love Finds a Way

A Sound Sleeper

A Strange Meeting

They Would Elope

The Seventh Day

Slave

The Son's Return

The Awakening

Synopsis: Running 691 feet (approximately eight and a half minutes), D.W. Griffith's The Awakening was advertised as a "Contemporary romance" by its parent studio Biograph. To collect an inheritance, a young soldier (Arthur Johnson) must get married immediately. The hero's lawyer selects a convent-bred girl Read More

In Old Kentucky

Synopsis: Actually filmed in Cuddebackville, New York, D. W. Griffith's In Old Kentucky was one of the director's many "dry runs" for his 1915 Civil War epic The Birth of a Nation. The story concerns the war-engendered rivalry between two Kentucky-born brothers: One is loyal to the Union, the other to the Read More

A Midnight Adventure

Those Awful Hats

To Save Her Soul

Tragic Love

Schneider's Anti-Noise Crusade

Nursing a Viper

Synopsis: Described by its parent studio Biograph as a "French Revolution melodrama," Nursing a Viper runs a thrill-packed 920 feet (or roughly twelve minutes). Arthur V. Johnson stars as a French aristocrat who is sympathetic to the revolutionary cause. Johnson provides shelter to another aristocrat, who Read More

One Busy Hour

The Politician's Love Story

The Note in the Shoe

A New Trick

Oh, Uncle!

Synopsis: Running 292 feet (or approximately 4 minutes), D. W. Griffith's Oh Uncle features Billy Quirk, who later enjoyed a brief career as a starring comedian. A newly married husband receives a telegram from his rich uncle, informing the husband that he'll be cut off without a dime if he ever has the Read More

A Rude Hostess

A Rural Elopement

The Salvation Army Lass

The Prussian Spy

Resurrection

The Road to the Heart

The Cricket on the Hearth

The Criminal Hypnotist

The Cord of Life

A Corner in Wheat

The Curtain Pole

A Drunkard's Reformation

The Expiation

The Death Disc

The Deception

A Convict's Sacrifice

Synopsis: Biograph's The Convict's Sacrifice was lensed by D. W. Griffith on location at Fort Lee, New Jersey. Released from prison, a convict (Henry B. Walthall, in his first Griffith film) is shunned by society. Unexpectedly, he is befriended by a common laborer, whereupon the convict swears eternal Read More

A Baby's Shoe

The Better Way

Sacrifice

At the Altar

Suicide Club

The Cardinal's Conspiracy

Choosing a Husband

Synopsis: Completed in late 1909, Biograph's Choosing a Husband was a rare comedy effort from D.W.Griffith. The heroine is ardently courted by four suitors, each man declaring his eternal fidelity. She decides to test their sincerity by arranging for her pretty sister to meet all four men. Sure enough, each Read More

The Broken Locket

Synopsis: Advertised by Biograph studios as a "Contemporary Temperance Melodrama," D. W. Griffith's The Broken Locket was filmed in part at Edgewater, New Jersey, near the Hudson Palisades. Not wishing to break his fiancee's heart, a young drunkard vows to go "cold turkey." As good as his word, he leaves Read More

A Burglar's Mistake

A Fair Exchange

In a Hempen Bag

In Little Italy

His Wife's Visitor

The Honor of Thieves

In the Watches of the Night

Jones and His New Neighbors

Jones and the Lady Book Agent

In the Window Recess

Jilt

His Wife's Mother

The French Duel

The Gibson Goddess

The Fascinating Mrs. Francis

A Fool's Revenge

Getting Even

Synopsis: "A contemporary comedy" was the Biograph Bulletin's description of D.W. Griffith's Getting Even. The scene is a small mining town, where all the local boys are stuck on pretty Mary Pickford. A young stranger arrives in town and is likewise smitten by the girl. In retaliation, the miners subject Read More

Her First Biscuits

Synopsis: This D. W. Griffith-directed comedy was allegedly filmed in a single day. Florence Lawrence, "The Biograph Girl," plays the new young wife of a middle-aged theatrical manager. Hoping to impress her husband, wifey prevails upon the maid to instruct her in the art of biscuit-making. The results are Read More

His Lost Love

The Girls and Daddy

The Golden Louis

An Awful Moment

Balked at the Altar

The King's Messenger

The Man in the Box

Money Mad

Old Isaacs, the Pawnbroker

Synopsis: This touching story is about a little girls who attempts to pawn her doll for food money for her sick and starving mother. The pawnbroker follows her home and pays for her mother's care after being so moved. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Monday Morning in a Coney Island Police Court

Crew: Screenwriter

The Invisible Fluid

The Feud and the Turkey

Father Gets in the Game

The Clubman and the Tramp

Concealing a Burglar

The Call of the Wild

Actors: Charles Inslee

Synopsis: A white girl (Florence Lawrence) rejects a proposal from an Indian brave (Charles Inslee) in this early one-reel Western melodrama directed by D. W. Griffith in Coytesville, New Jersey, in September of 1908. Despite the rejection, the Indian still comes to the girl's defense when she is abducted Read More

The Christmas Burglars

The Helping Hand

Thompson's Night Out

Synopsis: The French-based Gaumont company churned out quite a few brief comedies in their New York headquarters. One of these was Thompson's Night Out with the Police, a domestic farce probably inspired by Biograph's "Jones Family" series. Somewhat the worse for drink, Mr. Thompson is weaving his way home Read More

The Test of Friendship

The Song of the Shirt

The Valet's Wife

Synopsis: Most film historians agree that D. W. Griffith was sole director at Biograph Studios during the fall and winter of 1908. No evidence exists that Biograph's The Valet's Wife was directed by Griffith, though chances are he at least supervised the film. Unable to live on the allowance provided by his Read More

The Zulu's Heart

Where the Breakers Roar

The Vaquero's Vow

Synopsis: Not a wartime drama in itself, this routine story of intrigue and betrayal is set fifteen years after the fact. During the German occupation, the leader of a French resistance group was betrayed by an informer, someone within the group itself. Now after all this time, the nine men and one woman Read More

A Smoked Husband

Over the Hills to the Poorhouse

Mrs. Jones Entertains

Mr. Jones at the Ball

The Reckoning

Romance of a Jewess

Synopsis: In this four hanky early silent melodrama, Ruth tries to survive amidst tragedy and toil on New York's Lower East Side. It all begins as Ruth's mother dies. Just before she expires, she hands her daughter a beautiful locket to help her remember that hope exists. Afterward, Ruth returns to working Read More

The Sculptor's Nightmare

The Red Girl