Bangville Police

To appreciate why this comedy is so very funny, you need to stop and think about the story: a youngster, home alone. Gangsters come and break in. Desperately the child calls on the phone for help. Parents race to save the child. No, it's not HOME ALONE, it's several of D.W. Griffith's better known shorts. In THE LONELY VILLA, it is the phone that provides the call for help, and daddy races home in an auto. In THE GIRL AND HER TRUST, she is a telegrapher, and help comes on railroads.

Yes, indeedy. THE BANGVILLE POLICE is a lampoon of a contemporary genre, just like the SCARY MOVIE franchise. And while the police force took on a life of its own, it had its origins in the works of Griffith, for whom Sennett had worked for years, and whom he called 'the Master'. Even if Griffith rarely put cows in his pictures.... at least, not as major supporting actors.

The earliest existing Keystone Kops movie is April 1913's "The Bangville Police." The Kops made their first tentative introduction a year before in "Hoffmeyer's Legacy," but because it's a lost film, movie historians don't consider the movie as their introduction to cinema. Even in "The Bangville Police," the hapless group of pratfallers weren't identified as the Keystone Kops (or known as Cops in the early going). They appear as a deputized group of clumsy chumps responding to farm girl Mabel Normand's plea over the phone to police chief Fred Mace to save her from a couple of burglars roaming about.

The Keystone Kops, an idea originating from Keystone Studio's main comedian Hank Mann's suggestion, appeared in 12 movies, mostly in support roles to the studio's later bigger stars, such as Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle.

In "The Bangville Police," Fred Mace takes center stage as the leader of the Kops. Once reaching stardom as the Keystone police chief, Mace became itchy and left the studio for other acting and film producing endeavors. However, none panned out and he returned to Keystone in 1917, only to get vastly diminished roles. He bemoaned his fate, and in a New York City hotel room, Mace died of a massive stroke on February 21, 1917, at age 39.

In their screen lifetime, Keystone Kops consisted of a revolving troupe of actors supported by some mainstays, including Edgar Kennedy. He had quite a career as a well-known character actor later in his life, appearing with the Marx Brothers and Laurel & Hardy among others.

Not to worry, pretty Mabel, the Bangville Police are on the job! Actually, they resemble the peasant militia in appearances and armaments. However, they always get their man!

In this film we see part of the early stage of evolution of the Keystone Cops, which proceeded from rural bungling to big city ineptitude.

Although Mabel stands out in acting, the rest of the cast is just fine. The story, however, is bare bones, but that doesn't detract from the film. It is a lot of fun to watch.

As an afterthought here, I should say that Mabel Normand is beautifully photographed. I can understand why she was so popular with artists and photographers of her day.

Very simple, very short Keystone Kops film, about a farmgirl who causes panic when she thinks she spots a couple of burglars. Not as raucous as the wilder Kops films, and thus not as funny. An interesting relic of more primitive times, but in truth this is throwaway fodder.

Mabel Normand recruits the mad Kops to get rid of strangers in her barn; this is a very short piece (around 7 minutes) which isn't as frenetic as some of the others in the series. Normand has a fair bit of emoting to do and the Kops get their chase, but overall it feels like there is something missing.