Days of Thrills and Laughter

Mar 21, 1961

1h 33m

★ 5.5

Overview

An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Robert Youngson Productions

Days of Thrills and Laughter Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Self (archive footage)

Douglas Fairbanks

Self (archive footage)

Charlie Chaplin

Self (archive footage)

Stan Laurel

Self (archive footage)

Oliver Hardy

Self (archive footage)

Pearl White

Self (archive footage)

Mabel Normand

Self (archive footage)

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle

Self (archive footage)

Ruth Roland

Self (archive footage)

Harry Langdon

Self (archive footage)

Ben Turpin

Self (archive footage)

Harry Houdini

Self (archive footage)

Harry 'Snub' Pollard

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

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0.0

Censored!

Dec 31, 1999

A documentary about the cultural effect of film censorship, focusing on the tumultuous times of the teens and early 1920s in America.

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0.0

Skovshovedkonerne Sælger Fisk Ved Gammel Strand

Feb 14, 1913

Street Trading. Fishermen's wives from Skovshoved sell their fish from the stalls at Gammel Strand. Anker Kirkeby is in the picture.

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0.0

Frue Kirkes Taarn Set Fra Petri Kirkes Taarn

Dec 2, 1913

From inside a tower, a man admires an artistic rendition of another tower.

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0.0

Den Sidste Stump Af Østervold Graves Bort For At Give Plads Til Boulevardbanen

Aug 8, 1913

The remains of the Baltic Violence have been eroded away by the large steam excavator. There is a man standing at the railway cutting as trains pass. He throws something into the railway cutting. This person is seen in several of the recordings from 1913. It may be journalist Anker Kirkeby.

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Den Russiske Længdesvømmer Romantschenko Ved Langelinie

Mar 18, 1913

Swimming. The Russian swimmer Romantschenko visits Copenhagen. He jumps into the water and swims around in the harbor, and he is later seen together with journalist Anker Kirkeby.

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6.0

The Strength and Agility of Insects

Aug 4, 1911

A short, early documentary work showing insects exhibiting extreme strength and agility.

0.0

Chris Elliott's FDR -- A One-Man Show

Dec 26, 1987

Chris Elliot plays FDR in his live "One Man Show" about the life and times of the president, however, he looks and sounds nothing like the man and he re-enacts events from Roosevelt's life that never happened.

5.8

I Am Road Comic

Apr 14, 2014

Interviews with T.J. Miller, Pete Holmes, Marc Maron, Doug Benson, Jim Norton, Judah Friedlander, Alonzo Bodden, Maria Bamford, Jen Kirkman, Auggie Smith, W. Kamau Bell, Nikki Glaser, Wayne Federman, Seth Milstein, Oni Perez, Alysia Wood, Kris Tinkle, Traci Skene, Brian McKim, Tim O’Rourke, Tom Rhodes, Kyle Kinane and yours truly.

3.8

Tossing a Nigger in a Blanket

Apr 6, 1898

A method soldier boys have for amusing themselves in their leisure moments. New comrades are frequently initiated by the old-fashioned sport of tossing in a blanket. The newly arrived recruit, who is the victim of their sport, enjoys himself, perhaps, less than the other participants.

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A Visit to Los Angeles

Jan 1, 1916

To popularize the idea of automobile travel, Ford Motor Company produced Ford Educational Weekly, a film magazine distributed free to theaters. One 1916 series featured "Visits to American Cities." In this episode, Los Angeles is featured at the very beginning of the boom created by oil, movies and aircraft. On the occasion of its centennial in 1953, Ford donated its film to the National Archives and Records Service; this copy derives from a fine grain master printed from the Archive's preservation negative. Music by Frederick Hodges.

5.2

The IX Olympiad in Amsterdam

Jan 1, 1928

A documentary on the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Made by Istituto Luce, there is an understandable focus on Italian athletes, but it is the first Olympic documentary that describes the techniques of certain events.

0.0

Monica in the South Seas

Nov 3, 2023

Finnish filmmaker and artist Sami van Ingen is a great-grandson of documentary pioneer Robert Flaherty, and seemingly the sole member of the family with a hands-on interest in continuing the directing legacy. Among the materials he found in the estate of Robert and Frances Flaherty’s daughter Monica were the film reels and video tapes detailing several years of work on realising her lifelong dream project: a sound version of her parents’ 1926 docu-fiction axiom, Moana: A Romance of the Golden Age.

7.7

Totally Bill Hicks

Nov 23, 1998

Consisting of two parts: ‘Revelations’, Bill Hicks’ last live performance in the United Kingdom made at the Dominion Theatre; and a documentary about Hicks’ life ‘Just a Ride’ featuring interviews with friends, admirers, and family.

1.0

Budapest : cortège du sceptre royal

Jun 9, 1896

These two views were taken during the celebrations given in 1896 on the occasion of the millennium of the foundation of the kingdom of Hungary. Horsemen and men on foot parade, all dressed in historic uniforms.

6.0

Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge

Oct 15, 1888

A film by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince, shot in late October 1888, showing pedestrians and carriages crossing Leeds Bridge.

5.2

Carmencita

Mar 14, 1894

The first woman to appear in front of an Edison motion picture camera and possibly the first woman to appear in a motion picture within the United States. In the film, Carmencita is recorded going through a routine she had been performing at Koster & Bial's in New York since February 1890.

0.0

I will make up a song and sing it in a theatre with the night air above my head

Mar 14, 2019

Egypt's only modernist architect Hassan Fathy (1900-1989) was committed to ecology and sustainability in his architecture. This film takes us with slow steps, in still images, to two villages he created. Fathy's historically grounded, forward-looking designs prompt us to reflect on the past as well as contemplate new solutions for the future.

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0.0

Departure of Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition from Lyttelton, NZ, 1st Jan, 1908

Jan 1, 1908

Footage of the expedition leaving Antarctica from New Zealand shot by government cameraman James McDonald. His excellency Admiral Sir Wilmot Hawksworth Fawkes, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy's Australian Station, visits and inspects the "Nimrod."

7.7

Dave Chappelle: For What It's Worth

Sep 4, 2004

Comedian Dave Chappelle does what he does best in this outrageous and hilarious standup performance, which allows him to push the envelope far beyond what he does on his TV show. Taped in San Francisco at the famed Fillmore, Chappelle lets loose on such topics as black celebrities, what it's like to have raunchy fans of his TV show approach him while he's trying to enjoy Disneyland with his kids, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant... and crackheads, of course. It's comedy Chappelle-style and, for what it's worth, no one is safe from his barbs. But you already knew that!