Essential Cult Cinema Mirroring the Impact of Meddlers and Moonshin...

Dir: Larry Semon

Larry is a mighty hunter, unafraid of rabbits, canaries and field mice, and also quite unafraid of the hundred-off wives of the Sultan, but he reverts to Semonesque agility when a half dozen lions are let loose in the conservatory.

Dir: Larry Semon

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Fall Guy perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Larry falls afoul of wanted criminal Gentleman Joe, who runs a saloon full of tough guys and gunslingers.

Dir: Larry Semon

What with pretty women lounging around the lobby, Larry's existence as a secret guardian of a hotel is all roses until a valise filled with jewels is left in his hands for safekeeping. Larry locks it up in the hotel safe, but not before crooks have caught a glimpse of the gems. Thenceforth every art and artifice is employed by them to separate Larry and the hotel from the jewels.

Dir: Larry Semon

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Passing the Buck perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A government official staying in a hotel puts some important secret papers in the hotel safe. A ring of spies out to get the papers manages to steal them from the safe, and a lady government agent enlists the help of the hotel's bumbling bellhop in getting back the papers and breaking up the spy ring.

Dir: Larry Semon

Larry Semons is sent to collect unpaid rent in a rough neighborhood where "Babe" Hardy as the local boss won't give up easily.

Dir: Larry Semon

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Bell Hop perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A small town hick falls in love with a beautiful farmers daughter but her father opposes their marriage.

Dir: Larry Semon

A bumbling detective lands alongside the crooks even the police are afraid of. He makes his escape through the window to a woman's apartment, where the misadventures continue.

Dir: Larry Semon

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Rent Collector perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Larry's absurdly plush life of ease as a convict comes to an end when his sentence is up. Tossed out, he tries several ways, including a stickup to get back in the comfortable jail. Exchanging clothes with a lookalike escaped prisoner, he goes back, only to find he's to be hung. Now desperate to leave again, he joins other cons in a jailbreak.

Dir: Larry Semon

Larry, the stage hand, invariably is missing when there is work to be done. But when he's missing things run smoothly. Inadvertently, the rug is unrolled, on the stage and he appears, the stage manager loses control of himself and upsets Larry and everything else, including a can of gun powder which he is gallant enough to carry for the leading lady to her dressing room. The stage hand disobeys the rules of the house and lights a cigarette, dropping the match in the string of gunpowder. The explosion eliminates the seat of the stage manager's ample trousers. Striving to change to another pair he rushes into the dressing room of the chorus, from which he is rapidly thrown out - out onto the stage in his checkered lingerie. To escape his retaliation Larry nails the manager down the basement, but opens a stage trap by accident. The primadonna in the midst of her act is precipitated from the stage down into a cask of black paint. Larry seeks safety in the loft from which altitude he manages to ruin all the acts on the bill. When the star calls for artificial fog, he gives him a barrel full of it and wrecks the show. They all strive to get after him, but Larry comes out victor as the picture fades.

Dir: Larry Semon

The waiters of a fancy restaurant go on strike for better wages, threatening harm to any replacements that may be hired. Larry is among scabs hired to replace the striking waiters they must wait on tables and fight off the strikers.