Silent Film of the Month: When Knights Were Cold (1923)

 

Run Time: 20 minutes. Studio: Quality Film Productions. Director: Frank Fouce. Writer: Tom Miranda. Producer: Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson. Main Cast: Stan Laurel, Mae Laurel, Catherine Bennett, Scotty MacGregor, Billy Armstrong. Cinematographer: Irving G. Ries.

Though Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are both best remembered as a classic comedy team, both of them had somewhat successful film careers before teaming up. Some of Stan Laurel's best films before teaming with Oliver Hardy were a series of silent short films that parodied popular movies of the day. These shorts often were filled with delightful absurd humor that is still laugh out loud funny today. Though only the second half of the film is known to exist today's When Knights Were Cold remains one of the finest examples of these Stan Laurel movie parodies.   

In this parody of the Marion Davies led costume drama, When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922) (a working title for this film was When Knighthood Was in Flour), Stan stars as a Robin Hood like hero (another working title was Rob ’em Good). From what still exists of the film we see him on the run from an army of knights and rescue a princess from an evil villain. 

 This film is legitimately laugh out loud funny. That the comedy does not exist in its entirety does not hurt the enjoyment of it because the story is not as important as the constant assault of gags here. There is a real absurdity to these gags that is simply delightful. Some historians have compared the humor here to that of Monty Python and I fully agree with this assessment. The sight of Stan and the knights having a chase wearing music-hall half-horse costumes is simply hilarious in itself and is absurd comedy at its best. This would be funny enough without the great gags surrounding it. Add these gags and you have a comedy classic. The gags are also wonderfully silly from Stan watering a plant he is standing on so he can get to the high up window to a jazz band at a wedding in medieval times. Stan's performance here is also wonderful. Though his over the top acting and laughing to the camera that he was doing at the time, could be off-putting in some of his other early films, it works perfectly in these movie parodies. With this short kidding Douglas Fairbanks just as much as When Knighthood Was in Flower, Stan's gestures to the camera made for a delightful kidding of Fairbanks. 

This is the only film, which I can find that Frank Fouce directed. Though he does receive a producer's credit on the William Beaudine directed feature film, Men in Her Life (1931). This makes it all the more surprising how well paced this short is. 

Actress Mae Laurel's real name was Mae Dahlberg. From 1917 to 1925 she was Stan Laurel's professional partner and common-law wife. The two worked heavily together on stage and even appeared in a few films. One of her most important contributions to comedy history is that she was the one who suggested that Stan Jefferson change his name to Stan Laurel. Their partnership started to dissolve when Stan quit stage work completely and signed a 12-picture contract with producer Joe Rock in 1924. One of the stipulations of this contract was that Mae Laurel couldn't appear in any of these films as he felt that her temperament was hampering Stan's work. By 1925 they were no longer a team and no longer living together.

This film marked the screen debut of actress, Catherine Bennett, who would appear in a few feature films as well as some of the Monty Banks comedy shorts. Billy Armstrong who plays the Earl of Tabasco will be a familiar face to silent comedy fans especially for his roles in some of Charlie Chaplin's shorts for the Essany studio. 

For anyone interested what exists of this film can be watched below on YouTube. It can also be found on Flicker Alley's indispensable Blu-Ray set, Laurel or Hardy: Early Solo Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.