There It Is

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.

I saw this on TCM.I like good silent comedies, but this is definitely not one of them.It just seemed stupid rather than funny.Naming a ship coming from Scotland the "SS Hoot Mon" is painfully idiotic rather than humorous.Some people can tell even the corniest jokes and make them seem funny;other people just sound boring and tedious. This was definitely the latter. Made you wish for the Three Stooges. Amazing how much trouble someone want to and ended up with nothing.I thought that this would be a very useful tool to show to a film class in college to demonstrate that making a GOOD slapstick film is no where near as easy as it may seem.

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.

Zany and hilarious, There It Is! is a wild Charley Bowers short featuring his signature stop-motion animation. It concerns a wealthy household plagued by a "Fuzz-Faced Phantom", an entity that knocks people down, floats through walls, and shoots rams out of the sky. They call on Scotland yard for help, only this is literally a fenced square yard in Scotland where men in kilts parade around in circles waiting to be called up. You must see it to believe it.

This film was screened at Capitolfest in 2017.

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.