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.
