Just watched this Al Christie silent comedy short on the "American Slapstick" DVD. It concerns a woman chlorine whose teddy she's modeling is stolen by a representative of a rival company to the one she is working for. When she tells a cop that the man has got her nightie, he tries to arrest her instead since she is still in her near-revealing showgirl outfit. Many of the funny stuff have the rival representative playing fireman and yelling "fire" to get the teddy and finding himself later modeling it to derisive laughter and the cop getting caught in wet cement while chasing the stage dancer. Otherwise, not much happens though you get some nice shots of other models posing. Reckless Rosie is worth a look though if you're interested in these vintage silent films from long ago.
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JohnSeal27 September 2008This one-reel silent comedy is less comedy and more an excuse to display some admittedly very attractive women in various stages of undress. When flapper Peggy (voluptuous Frances Lee) shows up in Mr. Bloomer's office one day (he's a designer and manufacturer of ladies' unmentionables), she gets the job of modeling his new garment at tonight's Underwear Show. The item in question is, according to Bloomer (Billy Engle), a teddy by day and a nightie by night, and the design has sent competitor Combie (Charles Meakin) into paroxysms of envy. Combie dispatches Mr. Teddy (Eddie Barry) to steal the garment from Peggy, who must first put in her time as a scantily-clad chorister before attending the trade show. Once at the show, a parade of lovelies clad in their frillies strut their stuff on the catwalk, until Mr. Teddy finds himself forced to don women's undies. It's all very slight and not very funny, but the ladies are most fetching.
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planktonrules27 November 2008This silent comedy is less humorous than most, though it seems that the film makers were not especially concerned with this--and more concerned with titillation. While tame by today's standards, this film is proof that in the Pre-Code era (up to about 1934), films were often quite sexy and risqué. This one showed more partially dressed women than any silent short I can think of and the film makers even had women wear darker fake nipples underneath their undergarments to make them appear very transparent!
The story is about two rival lingerie manufacturers. One has invented a new negligee and entrusts it to pretty Francis Lee to take to the underwear show. However, on the way, the evil rivals pull out all the stops two get it. While there are a couple decent gags here and there, none are especially memorable--though it is interesting to see how chunky models were back in the old days compared to now.
Watchable for its Pre-Code sensibilities, but that's about all.