"Actor: Marie Dressler"

• Mary Martin & Ethel Merman - the Ford 50th Anniversary Show | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £18.97   |  Saving you £-0.98 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Mary Martin And Ethel Merman - The Ford 50th Anniversary Sho

• Charlie Chaplin Marathon - The Rink, The Immigrant, Tillie's Punctured Romance, The Vagabond | DVD | (01/11/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  “The Rink”: Chaplin plays a waiter who spends his time at the skating rink where his skill and grace lead to possible romance and unfortunate mishaps. “The Immigrant”: En-route by boat immigrant Chaplin tries to make the best of the rough seas. He befriends a woman and appoints himself her protector. “Tillie’s Punctured Romance”: This is the first feature-length comedy ever made and features Chaplin as a con artist who talks Marie Dressler an innocent lass into taking her dad’s savings and running off to the city with him. “The Vagabond”: This is the story of The Little Tramp a pathetic fiddler that makes a scanty living and rescues damsels in distress. One of the first films directed by Charlie Chaplin.

• Comedy Greats | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A "two-plus-one" package from Siren, Comedy Greats features classics from the two greatest silent-screen comics, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, plus a rather dreary effort from Danny Kaye. Never the most scintillating of comedians, Kaye's personable talents are thinly spread in 1949's The Inspector General. Distantly(!) based on a short story by Russian satirist Nikolay Gogol, this tale of mistaken identity enables Kaye to indulge in obvious wisecracks and not-so-smart dialogue. Sylvia Fine's songs are mildly amusing, and Henry Koster draws capable support from Walter Slezak and Elsa Lanchester, but it's a long haul. When he made Tilli's Punctured Romance in 1914, Charles Chaplin had yet to perfect the "little man" routine which made him the most popular 1920s screen star. His loveable rogue is well displayed opposite Marie Dressler's formidable country maid, whose unexpected windfall becomes the real object of his desire. Mabel Normand contributes an attractively period chic, and if, in the hands of Mack Sennett, the humour tends to fall back on music-hall slapstick, the historical significance of the film is undoubted. Yet it's Buster Keaton's 1928 classic Steamboat Bill Jr which comes out on top here. Keaton is perfectly cast as the put upon student, whose bravery saves both his father and his steamboat-owning rival, and wins the hand of the latter's daughter. Solid support comes from Ernest Torrence and the winsome Marion Byron, with Charles Riesner getting maximum drama from the cyclone sequence, but it's Keaton's soulful expression and breathtaking stuntwork which are the most potent reminders of a talent only later to receive its due. On the DVD: Comedy Greats is acceptably remastered, with 1.33:1 aspect ratio and 12 chapter headings per film, and decently packaged, this is worth acquiring--even though Keaton's film is the only one you're likely return to often. --Richard Whitehouse

• Charlie Chaplin Collection 2 | DVD | (26/10/2009) from £9.98   |  Saving you £0.01 (0.10%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Charlie Chaplin Collection 2 contains: Tillies Punctured Romance: Charlie Chaplin stars as a smooth city slicker conman in this silent classic and he seduces farm girl Marie Dressler into stealing her fathers money then he leaves her upon discovering that she is to be a wealthy heiress he returns to marry her but her rich uncle and the Keystone Cops make an appearance. This was Chaplins 35th film and his last for Keystone. Knock Out: A couple of tramps down on their luck and hungry decide to fake an exhibition boxing match for a promoter. Meanwhile Pug a good-hearted but boisterous fellow takes on a gang of mashers who make unwanted advances to his girlfriend. Impressed by his abilities the mashers decide to pass Pug off as Cyclone Flynn the champion and enter him in the boxing match. But the real Cyclone shows up and he and Pug battle it out in the ring. Soon the fight progresses to include pistols rooftop chases and the Keystone Kops in hot pursuit.