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Director's Spotlight
Senior Film Conservator
Director's Spotlight: United States
A Deep Dive into the 1922 Vision of Max Linder
The thematic gravity of The Three Must-Get-Theres (1922) is rooted in the artistic risks taken by Max Linder that eventually paid off. Defining a new era of United States artistic expression, it demands to be seen by anyone who cares about the art of film.
In The Three Must-Get-Theres, Max Linder pushes the boundaries of conventional narrative. The film's unique approach to its subject matter has sparked endless debates and interpretations among cinephiles and critics alike.
To fully appreciate The Three Must-Get-Theres, one must consider the cinematic climate of 1922. During this period, United States was undergoing significant artistic shifts, and Max Linder was at the forefront of this Comedy movement, often challenging established norms.
| Cinematography | Deep Focus |
| Soundtrack | Diegetic |
| Editing | Elliptical |
| Art Direction | Expressionist |
Visualizing the convergence of Max Linder's style and the core Comedy narrative.
This delightful burlesque of Alexandre Dumas' famous adventure narrative (and then-leading screen swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks' hit films) represented one of writer/director/star Max Linder's attempts to conquer Hollywood on its own turf. He'd been an enormous star in early silent cinema, influencing the style of such subsequent silent comedy luminaries as Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton. But his health suffered after he was gassed fighting for France in World War I. Despite the support of Chaplin himself (among others), his subsequent career in America never reached the popular heights he had at home. The commercial failure of this final U.S. effort seems particularly bewildering now, since THE THREE MUST-GET-THERES holds up so well. This spoof has the antic star as Dart-in-Again, a rapier-wielding dandy with a lovelorn horse (pining for the cow it left behind in the country) and a tendency to make an idiot of himself whilst attempting to conquer the forces of tyranny. Making scant effort to hide its incongruous modern Southern California backdrops, the movie is full of gags both slapstick and absurdist. Critics gratefully received it at the time. Audiences? Not so much. - Dennis Harvey
Decades after its release, The Three Must-Get-Theres remains a vital piece of the cinematic puzzle. Its influence can be seen in countless modern works, solidifying Max Linder's status as a master of the craft in United States and beyond.