4 CLOWNS

(1970)
Featuring footage of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase, Buster Keaton
Written and Directed by Robert Youngson
Black and White
Reviewed by JB

     Robert Youngson's final feature compilation film of silent movie moments is mostly made from leftover footage, scenes that were cut from his other films after previews and the one Buster Keaton film to which he was allowed access.  Despite this description, the film is still a joy to watch.  Having so little left to work with after using most of it in his other films, Youngson mainly concentrated on presenting three films - Laurel and Hardy's short Their Purple Moment, Charley Chase's short Limousine Love (which he had tried several times to work into his other films) and Buster Keaton's relatively unknown feature SEVEN CHANCES.  Their Purple Moment is an average Laurel and Hardy silent, meaning it's loaded with good gags.  Charley Chase's Limousine Love , in which, on the way to his own wedding, he finds a nude woman in the back of his car, is one of his best films, and the 30 minute abridgement of Keaton's SEVEN CHANCES features one of the man's greatest chase sequences.  To stretch things out to feature length, Youngson used bits and pieces of what little Laurel and Hardy footage he had not previously included in his films, as well as some interesting solo footage of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy before they teamed at Hal Roach Studios.  

    Youngson wanted to keep doing compilation films, and even worked on a film tentatively titled THERE'S NOTHING LIKE THE MOVIES which would have featured action and adventure scenes from classic silent features.  Unfortunately, he eventually shelved this new project and died in 1974, at the age of 56.  His contribution to preserving and promoting silent movies should not be understated or ignored.  I can personally testify that seeing his films on television as a kid is one of the things that made me the kind of an adult that would create a website called THE AGE OF COMEDY.  Thank you, Mr. Youngson, for introducing me to so many memorable clowns back in those days. 4 - JB

Laurel and Hardy    Other Silent Clowns    The Age of Comedy