The House of a Thousand Joys (1927)

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Movie
German title The house of a thousand joys
Original title Call of the Cuckoo
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1927
length 2 acts, 547 meters, 20 minutes
Rod
Director Clyde Bruckman
script Leo McCarey ,
Hal Roach
production Hal Roach Studios for MGM
camera Floyd Jackman
cut Richard Currier
occupation

The house of a thousand joys (original title: Call of the Cuckoo ) is an American silent film comedy that Clyde Bruckman directed for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ( MGM ) in 1927 based on the script by Leo McCarey and Hal Roach . It not only features Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy before they became the well-known comedian couple Stan & Ollie, but also veteran Hal Roach actors such as Charley Chase , James Finlayson and Charlie Hall . The main role is played by the Berlin-born Jewish comedian Max Davidson as host and head of the family.

action

A new homeowner is horrified to discover that his home has happened to be standing next to an asylum.

“Max (Max Davidson) wants to sell his house because of his meschuggenic neighbors. Someone else wants to get rid of their house too, which is why they both swap houses. But the new house, assembled from prefabricated parts in just two days, turns out to be a mess in terms of installation. The lamps are not connected to the correct switches, the gas and water connections are reversed and the floor is listing. During the housewarming party, there is an argument between two relatives who have little respect for other people's property. But that is not the hardest blow for Max that evening. "(Stephan Eichenberg)

background

The film was produced by Hal Roach Studios for MGM. Floyd Jackman was in front of the camera, Richard Currier was in charge of the editing . HMWalker wrote the subtitles. Hal Roach was in charge of production. The film had its American premiere on October 15, 1927. It has also been performed in Germany, Italy (as Una famiglia di matti ) and Argentina (as La llamada del Cucú ).

The film was shot a few days after Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy finished The Second 100 Years (German title: Kavaliere für 24 Stunden), in which they had portrayed two shaven convicts. That explains her somewhat short hairstyles in this film.

The original title is explained by the meaning of the cuckoo in American English, where it is the “bird” of those who “have a bird” (cf. to go cuckoo = to go crazy); the theme song for Laurel and Hardy, later written by Marvin Hatley , is also called “ The Dance of the Cuckoos ”.

reception

"The carefree humor with which the cinema became known as a fairground attraction in its early days still lives in these stunningly comical film pearls." (Florian Vollmers, director of the FilmFest Osnabrück)

The culture channel Arte broadcast Call of the Cuckoo under its German title “The House of a Thousand Freudence” on Monday, June 16, 2014 at 00:00.

Stefan Drößler from the Filmmuseum München published Call of the Cuckoo as track 1 on the second DVD of his double DVD edition with films by Max Davidson [= Edition Filmmuseum # 58] in March 2011.

literature

  • Norbert Aping: The Dick and Doof book: the story of Laurel and Hardy in Germany. Verlag Schüren, 2004, ISBN 3-89472-356-4 , pp. 28-29.
  • Helga Belach, Wolfgang Jacobsen: Slapstick and Co. Deutsche Kinemathek Foundation. Verlag Argon, 1995, ISBN 3-87024-299-X , p. 110.
  • Rainer Dick: Lexicon of film comedians. Lexikon-Imprint-Verlag, 1999, p. 190.
  • Lawrence J. Epstein: American Jewish Films: The Search for Identity. McFarland Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-0-7864-6962-8 , p. 16 and 20th
  • Patricia Erens: The Jew in American Cinema. (= Jewish literature and culture. A Midland book. Volume 493). Indiana University Press, 1984, ISBN 0-253-20493-3 , pp. 33, 42, 81, 92-94, 132.
  • William K. Everson: The Films of Hal Roach. Ed .: Museum of Modern Art; distributed by the New York Graphic Society, Greenwich, Conn. 1971, ISBN 0-87070-559-8 , p. 38.
  • Nicola Galliner: Jewish Film Festival Berlin: Films, Pictures, Stories; the first 10 years. Verlag Bebra, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89809-052-3 , p. 81.
  • Roy Liebman: From Silents to Sound: A Biographical Encyclopedia of Performers who Made the Transition to Talking Pictures. McFarland Verlag, 1998, ISBN 0-7864-0382-9 , pp. 84-85.
  • Irene Stratenwerth, Hermann Simon (Ed.): Pioneers in Celluloid: Jews in the Early Film World. Accompanying volume for the exhibition of the same name in the Centrum Judaicum Berlin from February 2, 2004 to May 2004. Publisher: Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Iudaicum. Henschel Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-89487-471-6 , p. 127.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. IMDb / release info
  2. ^ IMDb / trivia
  3. ↑ can be read as "cuckoo dance", but also as "dance of the crazy", cf. televisiontunes.com
  4. ↑ cf. filmfest-osnabrueck.de ( Memento of the original from January 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.filmfest-osnabrueck.de
  5. ↑ cf. arte.tv and ard.de
  6. ^ Leo McCarey: Max Davidson Comedies. belleville, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-95860-058-4 . edition-filmmuseum.com