The Curtain Pole

Some of the film histories suggest that D. W. Griffith's The Curtain Pole, made for Biograph in 1908 and released early the following year, is the first slapstick comedy film made in America. Considering the enormous number of missing titles from the early days -- as well as the uncertain production dates of some of the survivors -- one hesitates to call anything a "first," but it's safe to say that this is a very early example of the genre. It is certainly one of the few outright comedies Griffith would produce, and it's interesting to see the youthful Mack Sennett in the lead role, several years before left Biograph, founded the Keystone Studio, and began making similar films himself.

According to the memoir of Griffith's first wife Linda Arvidson (who has a brief role in this film), Sennett's character was an excitable Frenchman named Monsieur Dupont, although his nationality plays no part in the proceedings. In the opening scene Monsieur Dupont is present at a party where he manages to break the hostess' curtain pole, and it is his offer to purchase a new one that starts the ball rolling, so to speak. In the course of acquiring the replacement pole Dupont manages to poke and trip practically every citizen in the community, and his increasingly frantic efforts to bring it back to his hostess' home while evading his pursuers provokes a rousing chase that builds greatly in scale as it progresses. The tempo of the editing, which of course would become a Griffith specialty, is quite rapid for the period, and certainly must have been exciting for contemporary audiences. Even today, we are startled when the pole upsets a baby carriage. Also notable is the use of footage run backward, and the close-up that closes the film, depicting a crazed-looking Sennett chewing the pole in frustration.

Whether or not it was the first American slapstick comedy, I believe we can safely say that The Curtain Pole remains one of the funniest movies ever made in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

very badly faded stars Sennett too stupid

In the very early days of movie comedies, the humor was far from subtle. Most of the time, the plots were VERY simple and the jokes mostly relied on pratfalls and slapstick---with much of the film spent watching people hitting and kicking each other. So, when you watch these early rough comedies, I recommend you cut them some slack--as in its time, "The Curtain Pole" was a pretty good comedy.

It begins with a guy breaking a curtain pole at some sort of party. He leaves to buy a new one but now with this very long pole, he keeps hitting people by accident and causing mischief. Now the idea isn't bad, but no one--NO ONE is this clumsy and clueless--not even a politician! The humor is far from subtle and a bit over the top...but also kind of cute if you love the old comedies. Not terrible--not great when seen today.

By the way, a couple final observations. First, the print is very faded--you'll just have to bear with it. Second, this one is unusual in that it stars Mack Sennett as an actor and was directed by D.W. Griffith. Soon after this, Griffith would give control of his comedy films to Sennett and Griffith would concentrate fully on dramas.

An upper class drawing room. A gentleman breaks the curtain pole and goes in search of a replacement, but he stops into a pub first. He buys a very long pole, and causes havoc everywhere he passes, accumulating an ever-growing entourage chasing him.

Although D.W. Griffith is credited as director, Mack Sennett is also thought to be the uncredited director. Indeed, from this point on, Sennett would direct his own movies. It seems likely he had a hand in this performance, as well.

And yet, it would be fair to say that Griffith is the bigger name today. So if having him attached directs people to Sennett's work, all the better. Without Sennett, there is no Charlie Chaplin, no Mabel Normand, and no comedy.

The Curtain Pole (1909)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Screwball comedy from D.W. Griffith has a fool (Mack Sennett) trying to help hang a curtain pole but of course he ends up breaking it. The man then sets out to redeem himself by getting a new pole but of course this doesn't turn out to be an easy job.

THE CURTAIN POLE certainly isn't one of the director's best shorts at Biograph but there are enough interesting things in it to make it worth viewing. The most interesting thing is of course Sennett who was getting to be an actor here, years before turning to producing and directing. For the most part he does a nice job in the role but the highlights are the cinematography that perfectly captures the various madness that happens. Griffith's direction is another major plus because there really weren't too many examples of the "chase" film and there's an extremely long one here, which obviously Sennett would use years later in his Keystone films. The case sequence doesn't contain a great number of laughs but it's certainly put together extremely well.

This was perhaps one of the earliest forms of slapstick comedy on film. Certainly, it's one of the early forms of the climatic chase sequences that ends movies of that particular genre. At this time, Mack Sennett was acting and writing for the Biograph company where he met the main director of that studio's output, D. W. Griffith. So Mack started his film career under him. Many of Griffith's shorts at this time were of various genres but since Mack was a comedy performer, it's possible D. W. let him helm some of the most gag-driven scenes that abounded here which might have included a temporary sequence in which the film ran backwards! In the leading role of a man who breaks the title pole and then tries to replace it before the chase that happened because of the accidents from said pole, Sennett keeps things moving. I managed to laugh but probably more from recognition of what was happening than from actually from being surprised at any of it since it wasn't too hard to predict what was going to happen. So on that note, I recommend The Curtain Pole for anyone interested in these early film forms.