Madcap Mabel

I saw this movie at the International New Jersey Film Festival last summer and was pleasantly surprised. What I thought would be a cheaply made film using old stock footage turned out to be a very sharp period piece. The tight script, written by Rudy Cecera, follows a Citizen Kane-esq storyline with a reporter (ironically also played by Cecera) seeking redemption for the scandalous stories he's written about silent screen actress Mabel Normand by interviewing various people in her life. Her story is then told via flashback courtesy of with good direction and editing by Dena Schumacher. Considering the 1920's era in which this film portrays, I found the props, including candlestick phones, vintage cars and flapper costumes real and even exquisite. Finally the acting, which again considering the era, was on par with the genre and very believable. All the characters did a wonderful job of expressing language of the day as well as the genre and the emotions for which they were feeling. I hope this film eventually gets distribution so that it will become available for DVD rental or sale.