Mrs. Smith (Ruth Hiatt) wants to buy her husband a new car but he thinks she's having an affair with the salesman.
Smith’s Surprise is a loud movie for a silent one. It is a frantic, often exhausting example of the Mack Sennett school of comedy, where logic is sacrificed at the altar of velocity. If you are looking for the sophisticated wit of a Keaton or the pathos of a Chaplin, you are in the wrong place. This is a film for peopl...
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Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.
Gilbert Pratt
Gilbert Pratt
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"Smith’s Surprise is a loud movie for a silent one. It is a frantic, often exhausting example of the Mack Sennett school of comedy, where logic is sacrificed at the altar of velocity. If you are looking for the sophisticated wit of a Keaton or the pathos of a Chaplin, you are in the wrong place. This is a film for people who find the sight of a man falling through a window inherently hilarious.The film works because it never stops moving. It fails because the central conflict—a husband who assume..."
Arthur Ripley, Mack Sennett, Al Giebler, Reed Heustis, Jefferson Moffitt, Randall Faye, Harry McCoy
United States
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