Now Playing on Harpodeon

[BettyLouSpence]

Every couple of weeks, Harpodeon - a distributor specializing in the public domain curios of the silent era - features a short film available for free viewing on their website. I thought I'd start a thread to give people a heads up when it changes.

For the next four days, you can watch An Unusual Honeymoon, a 1912 Vitagraph starring Flora Finch and Charlie Edwards.

On their honeymoon, Tammas and Mary have a bit too much to drink. The next thing they know, they are crash landing a balloon on a South Sea island. They are swarmed by cannibals, but the menacing headhunters back away in awe when Tammas begins playing his enchanted bagpipes.

Also known as The Unexpected Honeymoon and The Unusual Honeymoon.

My favorite part is at the beginning as Flora and Charlie (who really make such an adorable couple ) enjoy themselves at the fair. Unfortunately the islanders are portrayed as stereotypically as one would expect from the time period, but that comes with the territory when watching films this old...

[Kitty]

That's a cool idea! I don't think I I've heard of this site.

[donnie]

Harpodeon is a cool site. I haven't checked out the current offering, but intend to.

I remember the last time I was there (quite awhile back), he was offering a special deal on a feature film that I've always thought it would be fun to watch together and discuss, and that is A Florida Enchantment starring Edith Storey. I remember seeing several other interesting and rare things there; in fact, I've purchased and downloaded some shorts from there before—I believe some Thanhousers.

[donnie]

Just watched An Unusual Honeymoon. That was a wild one. There were certain, er, inexplicable plot elements, but you don't look for too much logic in these kinds of wacky shorts. Yes, Flora Finch was born to be a comedienne.

I wonder if the actors portraying the "natives" were indigenous Australians, seeing that the film is Australian.

I like that the specifics of the score are given at the end. Harpodeon films always have nice piano scores. I also like the font "HARPODEON" is spelled out in in the top banner.

[BettyLouSpence]

For the next two weeks, Harpodeon is showing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920). No, this isn't the better known Barrymore version from that same year, but a production from a company I don't think I've heard of before, Pioneer Film Corporation. Could be interesting to compare!

In this modernized retelling of the novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Henry Jekyll's theory that man is composed of both good and evil natures drives him to develop a drug that he hopes will allow those natures to be separated. Tired of being continually ignored while the doctor devotes all his attention to his work, Bernice Lanyon, Jekyll's fiancée, breaks their engagement and intends to marry Danvers Carew instead. Jekyll is unable to prevent the evil part of his nature from plotting revenge against Bernice and Carew.

[Kitty]

For the next two weeks, Harpodeon is showing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920). No, this isn't the better known Barrymore version from that same year, but a production from a company I don't think I've heard of before, Pioneer Film Corporation. Could be interesting to compare!

In this modernized retelling of the novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Henry Jekyll's theory that man is composed of both good and evil natures drives him to develop a drug that he hopes will allow those natures to be separated. Tired of being continually ignored while the doctor devotes all his attention to his work, Bernice Lanyon, Jekyll's fiancée, breaks their engagement and intends to marry Danvers Carew instead. Jekyll is unable to prevent the evil part of his nature from plotting revenge against Bernice and Carew.

That's cool!! I'll try my best to check it out.

[BettyLouSpence]

There's a Vitagraph currently showing called The Haunted Hotel; or, The Strange Adventures of a Traveler (1907).

[Kitty]

There's a Vitagraph currently showing called The Haunted Hotel; or, The Strange Adventures of a Traveler (1907).

That one's cool. It's the one with the stop motion, right?

[donnie]

That's a good one! I often think when watching these things how astonished and thrilled the original audiences must have been! I also think about how if I'd seen one of these things as a child, I would have been scared silly. (I think the man's nose would actually have been the most frightening sight to me. )

At first, I was certain I'd seen this before, but I was thinking of another very similar film from this same time period. The only clear differences I can remember are that there are a group of travelers rather than just one individual; and the "monster" at the end appears through a window. Now I'm curious what the identity of that other film is. It may have involved the people being on a picnic (?), but if so, I don't know how the people got into a hotel.

[dustin@harpodeon.com]

You're thinking of La Maison Ensorcelée, released a year later by Pathé. Aside from it featuring three travelers instead of one, it's almost beat-for-beat identical.