Bangville Police (1913)

The Worst Film Ever

One of my all time favorites.

I wanted to but couldn't!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

While it's great to see comedy in the silent film era, this movie fails to deliver the goods promise to me on the DVD cover that feature the Keystone Cops. The Keystone Cops were fictional incompetent policemen, featured in silent film comedies in the early 20th century. The movies were produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917. Directed by Henry Lehrman, everybody thinks that 1913's Bangville Police was the first appearance of the Keystone Cops. The title is says, farce comedy. Indeed it had buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations, but this wasn't Keystone Cops. In truth, while most of the original actors that play the Keystone Cops are here, in no way are they, the Keystone Cops that most people remember. The actors are not in uniform, and look like hillbillies. Plus, there is little to no slapstick in the film. I miss the leaping in the air in surprise, running energetically in any direction, and taking extreme pratfalls in most Keystone Cops had. Instead, we get a precede film that markets itself as a Keystone Cops film. It's like selling a pre-Tramp Charles Chaplin's film and labeling it as a Tramp film to gain a little bit more money or attention to the film. In no way is this the film fault, but the money grabbing people who promote this film. They really milk the idea that is a Keystone Cops film. It's fault advertisement. Plus, when you really think about it, this movie isn't the first movie to feature the actors that would later be the Keystone Cops. A year earlier, in 1912, they were feature in a film call Hoffmeyer's Legacy that seems more like the Keystone Cops then this movie, as of what I heard. Too bad, Hoffmeyer's Legacy is lost due to time. Still, the movie makes me wonder if the Keystone Studios just stole the police idea from the Essanay's "Snakeville" series. Still, Bangville polices did have some funny moments. I do like the idea of miscommunication as a vehicle of humor. Talking about vehicle, I think the car was a lot funnier than the people in here. This movie was a failure to fulfill a commitment. The eight minute movie starts at a farm near Bangville, where a young daughter (Mabel Normand) see strangers in the barn. She quickly rushes to the house and calls the police. The police made out of Fred Mace, Raymond Hatton, Edgar Kennedy, Ford Sterling, and Al St. John engage in a jumbled rush across the countryside to get there in time to find that something is wrong with the picture here. I think the best thing to come out of this movie is the fact that their popularity boom after this flick. Too bad, in 1914, Sennet shifted the Keystone Cops from starring roles to background ensemble, in support of comedians like Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle. I thought they could carry a film. Still, the Keystone Cops serve as supporting players for Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, and Chaplin in the first full-length Sennett comedy feature, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), as well as in Mabel's New Hero (1913) with Normand and Arbuckle, Making a Living (1914) with Chaplin in his first screen appearance (pre-Tramp), In the Clutches of the Gang (1914) with Normand, Arbuckle, and Al St. John, and Wished on Mabel (1915) with Arbuckle and Normand, among others. Another great thing to come out of this movie is Mabel Normand. Mabel Normand just missed being another big eyed waif, she was just too damn funny for drama. This 1913 Keystone production which would inspire the Keystone Kops, shows off just how good Mabel's timing was. Mabel Normand was the first famous movie comedienne. She was great at pratfalls and mugging. Unfortunately her talents are not put to good use here. She mostly spent the time hiding in a closet, and acting cowed. By the way, if cops shoot the closet with bullets, wouldn't she be dead? Shooting at the closet should have kill the woman. How did she survive that? Anyways, Mabel Normand is also a looker! Sorry about those 1910's dresses, they cover her figure too much. Still, I couldn't like to be her boyfriend. Throughout the 1920s her name was linked with widely publicized scandals including the 1922 murder of William Desmond Taylor and the 1924 shooting of Courtland S. Dines. Ouch. I do have to note the general sloppiness of the film. The really awful fake mustaches, Mabel's hair band changes color in the course of the movie, and the Sheriffs vest buttons and unbuttons makes me wonder what happen in editing. Still, it was in the early days of cinema, so I can't criticize them too much. Like all silent film of the time, most of the original music is lost. You just have to pick a song that works with the film that not inappropriate, so you can forget about it and concentrate on the film. Overall: I wouldn't pay money for this film. It's in the public domain so you can watch it on free on Youtube or somewhere. While it's technically a Keystone Cops film since it's made by Keystone Studios and it has cops, it's really not the Keystone Cops, most fans are thinking of. So check it out if you want, milk this for all it's worth.

Bangville Police supposedly marked the debut of the Keystone Kops, named after the studio they worked for. In this one, however, they don't dress in the silly cop costumes or drive the fast-paced car that's their trademark. Anyway, Mabel Normand is a farm girl here who's begged her dad for a calf. She later sees some strange men in the barn and quickly calls the police. One answers and the chase is on. Next, Mabel slams her door just as someone is coming in. Turns out it's her mother who jumps to the conclusion robbers are in there! So while Mabel blocks her door with furniture, the mother and father try to fight their way in! This was perhaps the most amusing part of the short along with some explosions of the cop car. This was a short 7 minutes that went by so fast it's over before it's begun. The only real characterization that's developed is Mabel's who exudes charm with just her face and big eyes and seems so optimistically cheery here except, of course, when she's frightened. It's easy to see why she became a star. It's largely because of her that I'd recommended seeing this at least once and why I'm giving this a 4.

This seems to be one of the most common Keystones out there, and is usually regarded as the first appearance of the "Keystone Kops" (their actual first appearance was in 1912's Hoffmeyer's Legacy). This is a pretty good half-reel comedy with a good plot line for a 7 minute film. Mabel, the daughter of a farmer (played by Nick Cogley), asks her father if she can have a baby calf. Later, she sees two mysterious men entering the farm and thinks they are burglars. She hides in a shed and phones the police, who are led by a portly, doddering old bumpkin. When Mabel's mother tries to enter the shed, Mabel blocks the door causing the mother to think a burglar is hiding inside! The police rush to the farm to catch the supposed burglars. Mabel's parents learn it was her hiding in the barn, and the strange men were actually delivering a baby calf.These aren't the legendary Keystone Kops most people are familiar with. They're really just a militia here; a group of country folk who carry guns and shovels and defend their small town when needed. Ford Sterling is funny as a skinny little hick who rounds up all the "cops", and Fred Mace as the police chief is the highlight of the whole film.Overall, this is a good film that you should have no problem locating a copy of.

As a comedy, this isn't too bad, and the cast also provides some other good reasons to watch. There isn't much of a story, with what plot there is serving merely as a device for Mabel Normand to demonstrate her charm and for the Keystone Kops to demonstrate their own brand of humor. Mabel is as winsome as ever, and won't disappoint any of her fans. This early, rural rendition of the Kops is rather different from the more familiar form they would take later, but their style is recognizable, and the comedy is all right, some of it routine but with some good moments.