Her Friend The Bandit

[Richard Warner]

I bought a 1964 National Film Theatre London programme guide on eBay. They had a Chaplin season to herald his forthcoming autobiography. Only four of his later films were shown (Chaplin Revue, Great Dictator, Modern Times, Gold Rush 1942 version - presumably the only ones Chaplin would let them have), but they did screen all the Mutuals and Essanays except "Triple Trouble", plus many Keystones. One of the Keystones listed was "Her Friend The Bandit". Obviously not the case, so I was wondering if one of the Keystones around that time was mis-identified as "Her Friend The Bandit"? "Cruel Cruel Love" maybe, which is one of the eleven Keystones not shown during the season?

[Richard M Roberts]

Heck, there are a bunch of idiots on Youtube who think that Billy West's HIS DAY OUT is HER FRIEND THE BANDIT right now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgm6gioaWss

You're asking us to second guess someone's mistake from sixty years ago, and what does it matter? Whatever they showed, it wasn't HER FRIEND THE BANDIT.

Glenn Mitchell believes, and I think it's probably correct, that most likely Chaplin isn't actually in HER FRIEND THE BANDIT, and he bases this on the fact that in Britain, the advertising played up Chaplin's name in the Keystones from MAKING A LIVING on, since he was way more well-known as a Karno comedian, and that there is no mention of Chaplin as being in HER FRIEND THE BANDIT.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Richard Warner]

Richard (font of all knowledge),
Thanks for the reply.
I suppose I thought there was just a chance that one of the other Keystones was circulating at that time, maybe on 16mm, under the wrong name. But, you're right. It doesn't matter. Except that, at least, the question and answer are right here should anyone else stumble upon that booklet.
Richard (font of no knowledge)

[Tommie Hicks]

When I started reading about Chaplin in the late 60's, there were about four lost Chaplin Keystones. All but HFTB have turned up. WH had access to all the Chaplin Keystone negatives in 1918. I believe if Chaplin was in HFTB, WH would have exploited HFTB as it would mean that WH ignoring a short with Chaplin Chaplin in it would mean WH voluntarily sacrificed a few grand, not a likely scenario. To my knowledge no still or poster has ever turned up for this title.

There was a blurb in an Alaskan newspaper about the film being shown in the '30s. Its a bit sketchy to me as I would think a print of Chaplin in HFTB would have circulated more. That blurb is the only mention I have found on the film being exhibited.

I have never seen a contemporary review of this film (that doesn't mean there were never any). If Chaplin was in this film, would not a few reviews exist?

[Richard M Roberts]

I think this is a good example of what Glenn is talking about, an ad from Western Import, the British Distributor of Keystone Comedies:

https://ia801509.us.archive.org/BookRea ... leaf000747

Notice the big play paid to Chaplin appearing in MABEL'S MARRIED LIFE, and just below it, the blurb for HER FRIEND THE BANDIT. No mention of Chaplin at all.

Then again, in this short review in THE MOTION PICTURE WORLD (bottom of the first column):

https://ia802802.us.archive.org/BookRea ... =leaf00071

Charlie is mentioned, though misspelled.

Yet in this one(middle column), he isn't:

https://ia800607.us.archive.org/BookRea ... eaf0001108

I think if Chaplin does appear in the film, it's likely he is not in his regular makeup.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Richard Warner]

That's very convincing. For what it's worth (i.e. nothing!), the NFT blurb reads ".... of his sixty-one early short films we have been able to trace fifty-seven", but, if I'm still able to count in my decrepitude, they only showed forty-nine of the sixty-one.

[Richard M Roberts]

That's very convincing. For what it's worth (i.e. nothing!), the NFT blurb reads ".... of his sixty-one early short films we have been able to trace fifty-seven", but, if I'm still able to count in my decrepitude, they only showed forty-nine of the sixty-one.

Well, I think there's a big difference between the ideas of "tracing" films and "having prints in your hands to show".


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Richard Warner]

Thanks Richard - and, on that basis, the ones they didn't have in their hot little hands for that 1964 season were: Kid Auto Races, Between Showers, Tango Tangles, His Favourite Pastime, Cruel Cruel Love, The Star Boarder, Twenty Minutes of Love, A Busy Day, The Fatal Mallet, The Knockout, Recreation and Triple Trouble.

[Tommie Hicks]

There was a French book on Chaplin that contained a frame grab of Mabel Normand at a telephone operator's console with Chaplin in mufti contorting himself. I believe Harry Booker was reacting in the shot (I'm doing this from memory). Has any identified the film this is from?

[William Ferry]

There was a French book on Chaplin that contained a frame grab of Mabel Normand at a telephone operator's console with Chaplin in mufti contorting himself. I believe Harry Booker was reacting in the shot (I'm doing this from memory). Has any identified the film this is from?

_________
For what this is worth, I remember an article in CLASSIC IMAGES around 1981 that discussed this. The author did some digging, and made a guess it might have come from HELLO, MABEL. Brent Walker's MACK SENNETT'S FUN FACTORY has a pretty extensive cast listing, and Chaplin's not there. It could have been another film altogether, or perhaps just a publicity photo on the set.