Help!

Au secours! (1924)

*** (out of 4)

Forgotten comic Max Linder takes a bet that he can't stay an hour inside a haunted house without crying out for help. This is a pretty interesting short as it really takes a star and director who have nothing in common and they end up turning out a pretty good film. Gance is best known for his three to five hour epics so seeing him do a short was pretty interesting. The director is able to bring some of his trademark skills to the film including a brilliant looking shot of Max going to the house. The camera-work is very impressive as is the editing and some trick shots done with the framing. Linder does a good job with the comedy, which has him running into several ghouls, snakes and even a dancing skeleton. There's really nothing too original storywise here but Gance really makes the film seem fresh with his style.

Typical haunted house comedy with neglected French comic Max Linder (who recalls both Terry-Thomas and Raul Julia!), in which the hero – a dapper member of a social club – is dared to spend an hour in such a place by its current owner. Incidentally, the film itself seems to have been made as a bet between Gance and Linder (of whose films this is my first sample); given its inclusion in the Scary Movie Challenge, it’s ironic that Linder and his wife committed ritual suicide on Halloween Day, 1925!

Anyhow, the ghouls that terrify the hero aren’t just the usual gimmicks such as skeletons or headless/monstrous figures – but also an assortment of reptiles (snakes, crocodiles) and wild animals (tigers, lions)! Despite the obvious danger to his life, Max holds firm...but is finally deterred from keeping up the bet to the very last when his wife calls at the house and tells him she’s being menaced (which is, of course, a nasty trick pulled by the owner to ensure his triumph in the matter!).

While it’s not exactly remarkable in the horror/comedy stakes – and repetitive to boot, not least because it has Max mostly stuck in one room (incidentally, I watched the 23-minute version and not the reportedly longer ‘restored’ one at 40)! – Gance once again lays on the technique (though the image unfortunately suffered from distracting jitters all the way through): especially creative is the scene in which Max is hanging on to a chandelier which, declining under his weight, literally pulls the picture down with it!

This is a cute little French silent comedy about a man who bets another that he can't stay in this castle for one hour due to its being haunted. And, once the guy enters the house, it looks much more like a crazed fun house or maybe like the after-effects of LSD!! While there ARE ghosts and skeletons, there is a weird menagerie of animals, odd special effects and gags as well. It's awfully hard to describe but the visuals alone make the film worth seeing. HOWEVER, understand that the self-indulgent director also had many "funny gags" that totally fell flat and hurt the movie. His "camera tricks" weren't so much tricky but annoying and stupid. IGNORE THESE AND KEEP WATCHING--it does get better. The film is fast paced, funny and worth seeing. In particular, I really liked watching the acting and mugging of Max Linder--he was so expressive and funny! Too bad he is virtually forgotten today. For an interesting but very sad read, check out the IMDb biography on him.

Au Secours!" is a frenchified film that is a collaboration of two of the most important silent film personalities of that European country: Herr Abel Gance und Herr Max Linder.

For Herr Gance to direct this two reel comedy was a kind of break after the contrarieties and problems during the filming of "La Roue" (1923) and before he began another complicated and colossal film project, "Napoléon" (1927), so, "Au Secours!" was an amusing trifle filmed between masterpieces, two film milestones in the silent film history. For Herr Linder, this film was his next to last film before he decided to leave this cruel world.

The original idea of the film was Max Linder's who was a close friend of Herr Gance. It's not a very original idea for a comedy: Herr Max accepts a bet to spend an hour in a haunted house in order to win 1.000 francs, but there's a funny and surprising finale. In spite of "Au Secours!" being merely a divertimento, it has excellent examples of the superb Herr Gance's cinematic achievements and techniques; for example, when Herr Max is clinging to a chandelier the image is distorted in different ways to give the illusion of vertigo. And there is also a fascinating travelling shot when Herr Max is entering the house, a shot that shows us the terrors awaiting the unknowing hero.

The comedy works perfectly well at the service of an efficient Herr Linder who will have to deal with a crowded haunted house full of strange devices and monsters, not to mention the great variety of animals that are in there ( hypos, hyenas, snakes, crocodiles, tigers… ), giving the impression that it is more of a zoo than a haunted house.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must ask for more daily help.

Au Secours! / Help! (1924) : Brief Review -

The Haunted House and a Dare to Spend an Hour Alone! An old-hat experiment by Abel Gance, but still a fine Max Linder show. My first introduction to 'the haunted house' was when I was 5. A year or two later, I came to know about 'a dare to spend an hour alone in the mansion'. These two things are an inevitable part of my childhood, and I have read enough fairytale books on them. What's more, I have seen some TV serials that have a horror episode on the same subject. Au Secours is my instant nostalgia for the famous "pop," but what's great about it is the experiment with the characters. All those slow motions, waving screens, split screens, flip screens, and moving picture tricks were old by 1924. Gance still managed to wow with the characters. It's a short film running about 24 minutes, which gives 20 minutes completely to the horror show. In those 20 minutes, you see all the horror cliches being formed. A wax statue, a snake, a tiger, a bird, a chandelier, candles, shadows behind window glasses, and that horrifying tall man-you get everything. To add some comedy, we have a poison bottle, a bell to ring, a telephone, and the Max Linder show! By the way, how many horror-comedies were made at the time? I'd like to know because, in my encyclopaedia, I have "The Old Dark House" (1932) as the oldest horror comedy. I thought I'd stick to it until I found an older one, and Help seems to be a new update to my list. The film is about Max, who accepts the dare of a friend to spend an hour at his ancient mansion while everybody else is afraid to go there. He sees and experiences things that are unbearable, but then there is a kick in the climax. This was sort of a serious film for Linder, contrary to his image, but he still finds a stage to perform what he does best. Gance, however, stuck to old theories, which is not at all expected from the director who has given us some brilliant, pathbreaking films. Overall, something to remember.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.