Max Linder

An exploration of the dazzling rise and mysterious downfall of French actor and filmmaker Max Linder (1883-1925), the world’s first international film star and mentor to British actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin.

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The whole world knows him. Burlesque comedy genius, popular actor, author, director, producer, composer, choreographer, Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) used his talent to serve an ideal of justice and freedom. But his best scenario was his own destiny, a story written into the political and artistic history of the 20th century.

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Kino Classics and Lobster Films celebrate the legacy of Max Linder, a pioneer of comedy whom Charlie Chaplin referred to as "the great master." With his trademark silk top hat and cane, the French-born Linder blended slapstick with sophistication, and invested his films with a layer of cleverness that elevated them above mere knockabout comedies, paving the way for such multi-dimensional screen comedians as Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd. The collection includes four of Linder's American-made productions, meticulously restored from archival materials: THE THREE MUST-GET-THERES (1922, a parody of The Three Musketeers), SEVEN YEARS BAD LUCK (1921, a masterpiece of physical comedy), and the romantic farces BE MY WIFE (1921) and MAX WANTS A DIVORCE (1917). THE THREE MUST-GET-THERES U.S. 1922 Color Tinted 57 Min. Written and Directed by Max Linder

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A look back at Charlie Chaplin's early life and career, from his rough childhood and music hall success in England to his early Hollywood days and the development of his enormously popular character, the Little Tramp, also called Charlot.

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A documentary with many excerpts from the films of French movie pioneer Max Linder, narrated by his daughter.

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Produced for television by Claude-Jean Philippe, the « Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma », recounts the history of French cinema from its birth to the beginning of the 1960s. With commentary read by Jean Rochefort.

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Pioneering comedy legend Max Linder wrote, produced, directed and starred in Seven Years Bad Luck. Hilarious misadventures begin when Max' butler, chasing a maid, breaks an expensive full-length mirror. The butler persuades the cook, who somewhat resembles Max, to stand behind the frame and be Max's reflection. This gag, developed by Max, has become a classic of film and even television borrowed by everyone from the Marx Brothers to Abbott and Costello to Red Skeleton.

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Bob Monkhouse introduces the golden age of slapstick comedy.

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On the day before Easter in 1911, Don Hewes is crushed when his dancing partner (and object of affection) Nadine Hale refuses to start a new contract with him. To prove Nadine's not important to him, Don acquires innocent new protege Hannah Brown, vowing to make her a star in time for next year's Easter parade.

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A long-retired director of early silent films recalls his exciting career as a filmmaker.

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Reminiscences of the early days of cinema and films show in music halls, including extracts. (BFI)

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Kalle Jeppson is the joyful owner of a rural inn, "Spången" (The Footbridge). His only problems are all the bylaws that makes it difficult to have a quiet drink and the shrew of his wife who is always nagging on him. Kalle is afraid to tell her that Karin the maid is really his daughter from the days before their marriage.

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A painter working at the Louvre is struck by the Mona Lisa. When he meets a girl whom he believes bears a resemblance to the painting, and who wants him to become famous, he comes up with the idea of stealing the painting. Based on the real-life theft of 1911.

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Max accepts a wager that he cannot remain in a haunted castle for one hour (11 PM to midnight) without crying for help. As soon as he arrives he encounters strange and nightmarish visions, but he is nevertheless on the verge of winning the bet when a phone-call brings startling news.

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Max suffers from drunkenness, but gets serious after he falls for the daughter of a circus director - who forbids her romance with an outsider.

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Some promotional footage shot for "Max, der Zirkuskönig".

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In this movie, Max Linder parodies the famous novel "The Three Musketeers".

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Max is determined to woo Mary, despite her Aunt Agatha's disapproval. Then, Max and Mary become embroiled in the world of Madam Coralie, a prominent dressmaker-bootlegger.

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After breaking a mirror in his home, superstitious Max tries to avoid situations which could bring bad luck, but in doing so causes himself the worst luck imaginable.

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Max is a millionaire who is forced to lead a double-life as a waiter, the result of having lost a wager.

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The story is about Max who in holiday in Switzerland meets two young American girls. They're friends, the first one is blond, the other one is brunette. He falls in love with the two of them and decide to declare his flame first to the brunette then to the blond. When they realize the game Max is playing, they decide to play also. It is a delicate comedy between the three characters realized all in outsides (certainly around the Leman's lake)with a very good direction and very pretty images. The two unknown actress are also very charming. One of the best of Max Linder.

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A wealthy alcoholic is disowned by his father for his drunken behavior. Now penniless, he takes a job as a taxi driver, despite not knowing how to drive.

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Max is forced to choose between losing his newly wedded wife and a fortune. He hits upon a brilliant scheme: He will give his wife grounds for a divorce, secure the money and then make his ex-wife Mrs. Linder again. He goes through any amount of trouble in helping her to get the necessary evidence, only to find that it is all a mistake on the part of a stupid lawyer - the money and the wife are both to be his.

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The adventures of Max Linder, some based on real events, some fictional, as he travels by ocean liner from France to America.

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Max being a gentleman and helping a lady in distress. Max willingly helps the lady recover her forgotten purse before the boat they're traveling on is leaving.

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Renowned French comedian and filmmaker Max Linder visits Charlie Chaplin in 1917.

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Comedy short starring Max Linder

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A love sick Max fly to find his love and recover.

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A Max Linder comedy short.

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The extremely ludicrous adventures of an intoxicated man aboard a yacht.

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Auguste is cured! The doctor at the asylum said so. Delighted, his mother gives him a few coins so he can go out for a little entertainment. Auguste settles in a cinema to admire the great Max Linder. Enthused by the film, he goes off with the movie poster to make himself a suit like the star's. With a false visiting card, he goes to an agent, who sends him to the Comica film company. But the charming man is going to make a terrible mistake on his way… This comedy brings together two French silent film stars: Max Linder and Romeo Bosetti.

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In this three-reeler, the young lady with whom he is in love is sent to a convent to get her away from Max. Max goes after her. While we are not forced to watch the mustachioed Linder in drag, there are some nice gags here as Max manages to get his chauffeur blamed for everything, including an abduction of the girl.

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Again Max is forced into marriage. If he doesn't marry soon he won't get any more money from his uncle. As all three candidates refuse his proposal he talks his servant into playing the bride. He manages to fool his uncle and both get actually married. As soon as he holds in his hands the treaty that grants him a huge amount of money the hurry home. When his uncle pays them a visit they are found out.

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Pioneering comedy legend Max Linder wrote, produced, directed and starred in Seven Years Bad Luck. Hilarious misadventures begin when Max' butler, chasing a maid, breaks an expensive full-length mirror. The butler persuades the cook, who somewhat resembles Max, to stand behind the frame and be Max's reflection. This gag, developed by Max, has become a classic of film and even television borrowed by everyone from the Marx Brothers to Abbott and Costello to Red Skeleton.

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A man lives a normal family life during the day, but late evening he becomes a different person, taken to night-clubs and their attractions of songs and bohemia.

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Max accepts a wager that he cannot remain in a haunted castle for one hour (11 PM to midnight) without crying for help. As soon as he arrives he encounters strange and nightmarish visions, but he is nevertheless on the verge of winning the bet when a phone-call brings startling news.

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Max suffers from drunkenness, but gets serious after he falls for the daughter of a circus director - who forbids her romance with an outsider.

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Maurice returns out of habit in the apartment from which he has just moved and turns the lives of the new tenants upside down.

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In this movie, Max Linder parodies the famous novel "The Three Musketeers".

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Max is determined to woo Mary, despite her Aunt Agatha's disapproval. Then, Max and Mary become embroiled in the world of Madam Coralie, a prominent dressmaker-bootlegger.

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After breaking a mirror in his home, superstitious Max tries to avoid situations which could bring bad luck, but in doing so causes himself the worst luck imaginable.

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Max is a millionaire who is forced to lead a double-life as a waiter, the result of having lost a wager.

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Max is forced to choose between losing his newly wedded wife and a fortune. He hits upon a brilliant scheme: He will give his wife grounds for a divorce, secure the money and then make his ex-wife Mrs. Linder again. He goes through any amount of trouble in helping her to get the necessary evidence, only to find that it is all a mistake on the part of a stupid lawyer - the money and the wife are both to be his.

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The adventures of Max Linder, some based on real events, some fictional, as he travels by ocean liner from France to America.

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A love sick Max fly to find his love and recover.

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Max visits a lady doctor for a chest cold and is alternately anxious and nervous and excited, in a romantic and sexual way, depicted by his clever pantomime.

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In consequence of a first kiss, poor Max finds himself claimed as a property of a persistent damsel. Even his approaching marriage does not deter the lady, who leads him a merry dance.

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Max is invited to join his uncle for a holiday, but he hasn't invited his wife, so he sneaks her in in his suitcase, always hiding her from his uncle...

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Max loves a charming girl to distraction, but her father declares that his daughter shall never marry anyone but a musician. Max tries his hand at all kinds of instruments, only to fail lamentably. Eventually, he bluffs the professor by using a mechanical instrument, only to have his clever trick discovered on the evening of his betrothal.

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Max has been invited to meet with his in-laws and must dress formally, but each hat he attempts to wear for the occasion gets destroyed.

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Max Linder finds himself obsessed with bull fighting. This seems to echo the nature of the actual man, who is reported to have mastered most of the skills that his character attempts within a rapid amount of time; when you see Max challenging a bull or several towards the end of the film, you can be quite confident that it is the real Linder triumphing out on the arena.

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Max starts out at a costume store to get a costume for a party. He sees a suit of armor and purchases it. He wears it to the party and gets kind of drunk and passes out. In the meantime, a museum has a suit of armor ready for a new display. It is to be dedicated and some such. It comes up missing, so Max, passed out and still in his armor is put on display.

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Max and his friend, who came to visit him in Paris both fall in love with his new maid. The girl is very friendly, and while one plays the piano, she dances with the other - and they are so happy that even the decor dances at the rhythm.

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When Max, a newly married man, suspects that his wife may be cheating on him, he gives his faithful dog Dick orders to keep on eye on her when he's not at home.

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"Max quarrels so with his wife that the lady leaves him. Our hero then attempts to do his own cooking, etc. He buys a fowl, but it proves to be still alive, and after he has chased it with a revolver, partly plucked it, shaved and finally half-roasted it, the bird is still alive and wings its way off. Max next turns his attention to blacking his boots, upsets the liquid blacking, spoons it up, and a minute later is using the same spoon to stir the broth. He writes for his wife to return home, but soon after sending the letter hears he is heir to a large fortune, and lives in the seventh heaven of delight - until his wife returns." (The Bioscope, Feb. 15, 1912)

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Max is a stage struck youth, and because of a deep-seated desire to go on the stage, refuses to consent to a marriage his father has planned for him. The girl, whom Max has never met, is also stage struck, and entertains no wish of marrying him, though her mother is anxious to see her make the alliance. The parents finally manage to bring the young people together, and they, in turn, exert all their skill in an attempt to disgust each other. An accidental meeting between the two when they are off guard causes them to change their minds.

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To reassure his fans, Max Linder has been filming with his family at his place of convalescence...

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Max and his young bride attempt to enjoy an Alpine honeymoon, despite the presence of her mother.

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A short movie.

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The film begins with Max being invited to dinner with his fiancée and future in-laws. To be polite, he stops on the way at a bakery to bring along a small gift for the in-laws. Unfortunately, he steps on some flypaper and has a devil of a time getting it off himself. When he arrives at the dinner, he's quite sticky and this causes LOTS of problems--which would have all been alleviated had he told them of his flypaper predicament. The title of the print gives the wrong date and title. Although there may well have been an earlier version with a similar plot (a number of films, which Max Linder made between 1905 and 1908, are still unidentified) it is quite clear that this particular one was made in 1910.

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Max is about to make his first call upon a young lady, the daughter of distinguished parents, and he wants to make a good impression. As he dresses to go out he stoops over to fix his shoe and, horrors! He tears his trousers. Where? Well, in a most embarrassing place. He fixes them hurriedly, trusting to have his coat tails cover it, but alas, the coat is too short for this purpose. Nevertheless, he takes a chance and, arriving at the house has the butler make a close inspection. He seems to be all right and enters, but when he bows to his hostess he hears the sickening sound of tearing cloth and knows that his patch has given way. Max hastily seats himself and during the rest of the evening performs the most astounding feats to hide his terrible secret.

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Max Linder is out of sorts and bad-tempered. He is rude to his wife, who tells him she will leave him. He sees an advertisement for pills which promote universal love and good fellowship and goes out to buy a box. However, he leaves it on the table and his wife helps herself, with the consequence that she feels impelled to kiss all the men she meets, leaving Max with three duels on hand.

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Max and his wife of three years are happy in most regards but one: they still don't have a child. When Max reads of a new method of "spontaneous generation" in the paper, it seems his fondest wish may have come true. However, the young couple may get more than they bargained for.

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A young prince secretly married to a gypsy girl is forced to disclose the fact when his father desires him to marry a wealthy girl. Cast out by his parents he is forced to earn his own living, and commencing in the streets as an acrobat he eventually becomes the star turn in a prominent vaudeville house. His father one night sees his son's performance and pleased with his success agrees to a reconciliation with him, his wife and little child. Max Linder plays the chief part in the film and his cleverness on the trapeze shows him in a new light

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