There It Is

It's a darn shame that Charley Bowers is practically unknown today and that so few of his films remain. It's because his work is among the cleverest and strangest of the silent era--and there really is nothing like it. I first came in contact with his work with a wonderful DVD collection "Charley Bowers: The Rediscovery of an American Comic Genius". And, sadly, the only other film I could find that was not in this set is this one, "There It Is"--a terrific and wacky comedy if there ever was one! This film begins at a home where LOTS of strange things are occurring. The camera tricks Bowers used to make this strange things occur were outstanding and still hold up quite well today. Seeing an egg being cracked open and a full-size chicken soon materializing from it, dancing pants and all the other sight gags are very complicated and many of them were done using stop-motion--a trademark of Bowers' comedy. Anyway, in addition to these oddities, a very odd looking bald man keeps appearing and disappearing and doing lots of strange things. It's all a visual treat for the audience, but the Frisbie family is scared, so they contact Scotland Yard--which is odd, since they live in America! Regardless, a kilted Bowers soon arrives and tries to get the bottom of these weird happenings. He is totally inept and at his wits end when the punchline appears--and I don't think I should say any more.

The bottom line is that this is a one of a kind visual treat--funny, strange and well worth seeing. And, it's ample proof that they made some great silent comedies and that Bowers was a master.

This is one of those old silent movies that belong in a class with The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916) or Un Chien Andalou (1928)...it is so weird that it stands out and makes you notice it. This little gem involves a Scot detective, a haunted house, and a very goofy looking Phantom. It's very fast-paced and frantic...much like a Keystone Kops movie with a bit higher level of wit.

This funny, wacky Charley Bowers comedy combines plenty of absurdist material with Bowers's trademark visual effects, along with plenty of sight gags and puns, to create an unusual and very entertaining short feature. As in so many of the short films that Bowers made, it has an odd kind of internal logic all its own, for all that it is completely off the wall and unpredictable.

Bowers plays a detective, sent to investigate the 'Fuzz-Faced Phantom', who is a wonderfully goofy concept. Aside from Bowers and the Phantom (played by Buster Brodie), most of the other characters have to play it straight and endure a series of indignities – that is, except for Charley's amusing assistant MacGregor, another imaginative conception that has to be seen to be appreciated.

Bowers squeezes quite a bit out of the material, and it keeps up an enjoyably manic pace for the entire running time, until it winds up the story and the case in an amusing way that seems entirely appropriate.

When a mysterious figure appears to cause a series of disruptions at the Frisbie Home in New York, word goes out to Scotland Yard that the Fuzz-Faced Phantom is at work. Soon, Charley MacNeesha and his assistant MacGregor are sent across the ocean to investigate. But even as they arrive at the home, a new series of weird events begins: full-grown chickens hatch from eggs, pots float across rooms, and pants dance of their own volition.

Charles Bowers was forgotten for decades and his name was notably absent from most histories of the Silent Era... and how is that possible? Once you have seen this film, you will instantly put it up there with all the silent greats: Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Lloyd... maybe his output was smaller (I don't know), but this one film alone is an incredible mash of surrealistic weirdness and stop-motion chicanery. I can't think of anything else in the era that even comes close.

A bizarre blend of live action and animation from forgotten silent comic Charley Bowers which is almost Pythonesque at times. The only problem is, it's not very funny - although his vision of Scotland Yard raised a chuckle.