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![]() Flying Monkeys (2013) ** (out of 4) The latest from SyFy centers on a father (Vincent Ventresca) who is late to his daughter's (Maika Monroe) graduation so as a make- up gift he buys her a monkey. What he doesn't know is that this monkey is actually a shape shifter that can grow wings as well as grow in size and likes to eat humans. FLYING MONKEYS is pretty much what you'd expect from a movie that shows up on SyFy but I think for the most part it's slightly entertaining and ranks as one of the better things to turn up on the channel at nine o'clock. I know that's not saying too much since there's a lot of bad movies on there but this one here actually works on a few levels. For starters, I thought both Ventresca and Monroe were good in their parts and they certainly helped keep the film interesting and moving along. I thought both of them fit their roles just fine and their performances were certainly better than you normally see in a film like this. The supporting players, while not perfect, were also entertaining in their roles. I can't say the father-daughter subplot was all that great but it's certainly better than what most 'B' movies offer up. Another thing that actually works are the CGI monkeys. Yes, the thought of a flying monkey is rather silly but I still thought the special effects were better than most. For starters, unlike so many movies, this one here didn't try to make the monsters bigger than Godzilla (remember the channel's BIGFOOT?) and instead of making them look fake, they actually went the extra mile to make them look realistic or at least as realistic as a flying monkey can be. Win a BIG AIR CLINIC. Book your stay with us and get a free big air clinic with the highest flying monkey in the world. Joshua Emanuel! Shop our large selection of Flying Monkeys gifts, t-shirts, posters and stickers starting at $5. Unique Flying Monkeys designs. Fast shipping. [Shop Flying Monkey at Bloomingdales.com. Free Shipping and Free Returns for Loyallists or Any Order Over $150!]. In popular psycology, a flying monkey is someone who does the narcissist's bidding to inflict additional torment to the narcissist's victim. The Flying Monkeys are a magical namesake race of flying monkeys with feathered wings of birds. The CGI wasn't over-the-top nor was it so bad that you couldn't believe what you were watching. First-time director Robert Grasmere has worked on several big films so he's obviously been around talent. I think he actually did a good job considering what the material was. Of course, this is still a SyFy 'B' movie so I'd be interesting in seeing what he does from here as well as the cast members. Running time 94 minutes Country Germany United States Language English Budget $84 million Box office $57.6 million Son of the Mask is a 2005 directed. The film stars as Tim Avery, an aspiring cartoonist from Fringe City who has just had his first child born with the powers of the Mask. ![]() It is the to the 1994 film, an adaptation of which starred and. It is a co-production between the United States and Germany. It also stars as the god of mischief,, whom Odin has ordered to find the Mask. It co-stars,,, as Odin, and Ryan and Liam Falconer as Tim's baby Alvey. Makes a brief reappearance within the first few minutes of the film as Dr. Arthur Neuman from The Mask to reestablish the relationship with the mask and Loki. And provide the voice and vocal effects of Masked Otis. Contents • • • • • • • • • Plot [ ] A decade after the events of, Dr. Arthur Neuman is giving a tour of the hall of in Edge City Museum. Neuman reaches the part concerning Loki's mask, a man in black becomes increasingly anxious. Neuman mentions that Loki created the mask and unleashed it on Earth, and that those who wear the mask would have the powers of Loki. Neuman mentions that Loki was imprisoned by Odin, the stranger becomes very angry and transforms, revealing himself to be. The tourists panic and flee, but Dr. Neuman stays to argue with the angry god. Loki takes the mask, but realizes it is a fake. Available in: DVD. The strange mask that gave Jim Carrey remarkable powers in the 1994 hit The Mask makes a mess of a seemingly ordinary family in. Available in: DVD. The strange mask that gave Jim Carrey remarkable powers in the 1994 hit The Mask makes a mess of a seemingly ordinary family in. Son of the Mask is a 2005 fantasy slapstick comedy film an aspiring cartoonist who finds himself in a predicament when his dog stumbles upon the mask of Loki. In anger, he removes Dr. Neuman's still talking face from his body and puts it on the mask stand, before getting rid of the guards and storming out of the museum in a whirlwind of rage. Meanwhile, the real mask, which was thrown in the river by Stanley Ipkiss and Tina Carlyle at the end of the previous film, makes its way to a town called Fringe City, not far from Edge City, and is found by a dog named Otis - who belongs to Tim Avery, an aspiring cartoonist at an animation company, is feeling reluctant to become a father. He has a beautiful wife, Tonya, and a best friend, Jorge. On a tropical island, Loki is relaxing until Odin confronts him and orders his son to find the mask. Loki asks Odin to help him, but Odin tells Loki that this is his mess and he has to clean it up. Later that night, Tim puts on the mask for a Halloween party, transforming into a party animal similar to the mask character from the first film. When the company party turns out to be a bore, Tim uses his mask powers to perform a remix of ', making the party a success, and giving Tim's boss the idea for a new cartoon, resulting in his promotion the next day. Tim returns to his house and, while still wearing the mask, conceives a baby. The baby, when he is born, has the same powers as Loki. Meanwhile, Loki is trying to find the child born from the mask, as his father Odin, possessing a store clerk, tells him if he finds the child, he will find the mask. Later, Tonya goes on a business trip, leaving Tim with the baby. Tim, who has been promoted at work, desperately tries to work on his cartoon at home, but is continuously disrupted by baby Alvey. In order to get some peace and quiet, Tim lets Alvey watch TV, which shows. Alvey devilishly obtains the idea to mess with his father's head by using his mask powers. Meanwhile, Otis the dog, who has been feeling neglected by Tim because of Alvey, dons the mask by accident and becomes a crazed animal version of himself, who wishes to get rid of the baby, but all his attempts are overturned by Alvey. Tim starts to notice his son and dog's wild cartoonish behavior when Alvey starts harassing him. Eventually, Loki finds the mask-born baby, and confronts Tim for the mask back, but is thwarted again and again by Alvey who uses his powers to protect his father. Eventually, Odin becomes fed up with Loki's destructive approach and strips his son of his powers. A seemingly-deranged Tim is later fired after failing to impress his boss during a pitch, but is able to reconcile and bond with Alvey. Loki, still determined to please his father, manages to complete a summoning ritual and appeal to Odin to restore his powers. Odin agrees, but only for a limited time, stating this as his last chance. Loki then kidnaps Alvey to exchange for the mask, but decides to keep him despite the exchange, forcing Tim to don the mask again to fight Loki. The subsequent confrontation is relatively evenly matched due to Loki and Tim-in-the-Mask possessing equal powers, prompting Loki to halt the fight, and suggest that they let Alvey decide who he wants to live with. Although Loki tries to lure Alvey to him with toys and promises of fun, Tim wins when he removes the mask and asks Alvey to come back to him using the human connection he has forged with his son. Saddened and enraged, Loki tries to kill Tim, but his time has run out and Odin appears in person. Odin disowns Loki, calling him a failure, and begins banishing Loki, but Tim confronts the powerful Norse god and tells him that 'the most important thing in life is a relationship with your family', and Odin accepts Loki as a son, accepting the mask from Tim as well. Tim's cartoon, based on his own experiences of a boy and a dog competing for the father's attention (with Jorge playing the father via motion capture performance), is a hit, and Tonya reveals that she is pregnant again before the film closes. Cast [ ] • as Timothy 'Tim' Avery/ • as, god of Mischief • as Tonya Avery • as Jorge • as Daniel Moss • as, All-Father of the gods • as Dr. Arthur Neuman • as Betty • as Chris • as Clare • as Chad • as Sylvia • as Mansion Doorman • Peter Flett as Mr. Kemperbee • Amanda Smyth as Mrs. Babcock • Ryan and Liam Falconer as Alvey Avery • Bear as Otis • Masked Otis voiced by and • Alvey voiced by, and • Alvey's deep voice provided by Production [ ]. This section needs additional citations for. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2017) () Not long after the release of The Mask, it was announced in that would be returning in a sequel called The Mask II. The magazine held a contest where the first prize would be awarded a walk-on role in the film. Director, who helmed the original film, expressed his interest in a Mask sequel in his 1996 commentary. He was hoping Carrey would come back as the title character, along with, who played reporter Peggy Brandt in the original. Russell decided to cut scenes when Peggy dies and leave the character open for the sequel, which became this film. In a 1995, Carrey revealed that he was offered $10 million to star in The Mask II, but turned it down, because his experiences on convinced him that reprising a character he'd previously played offered him no challenges as an actor. Due to Carrey declining to reprise his role, the project never came to fruition, and the concept for the sequel was completely changed. The failed contest was referenced in the final issue of Nintendo Power, as an apology was issued to the winner of the contest. In 2001, it was reported that Lance Khazei was asked by New Line Cinema to do the script for a sequel to The Mask. Reprises his role of Dr. Arthur Neuman from the original film. He is involved in the movie to re-establish the relationship between the mask and its creator, Loki. He is the only actor to appear in both films as well as in. The dog's name, Otis, connects with the dog from the original film and comic book, Milo, as a reference to the movie. The naming of 'Tim Avery' pays homage to famous cartoonist. Tim Avery wants to be a cartoonist throughout the film. The film was shot in. Reception [ ] On, the film holds an approval rating of 6% based on 104 reviews and an average rating of 2.8/10. The site's consensus reads: 'Overly frantic, painfully unfunny, and sorely missing the presence of Jim Carrey.' The site ranked the film 75th in the 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s. On, the film has a score of 20 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating 'generally unfavorable reviews'. In his review stated, 'In the five years I've been co-hosting this show, this is the closest I've ever come to walking out halfway through the film, and now that I look back on the experience, I wish I had.' Gave the film 1.5 stars and stated, 'What we basically have here is a license for the filmmakers to do whatever they want to do with the special effects, while the plot, like, keeps running into the wall.' He later named it the fifth worst film of 2005. On their television show,, they gave the film 'Two Thumbs Down'. Lou Lumerick of the said, 'Parents who let their kids see this stinker should be brought up on abuse charges; so should the movie ratings board that let this suggestive mess slip by with a PG rating.' [ ] It was the most nominated film at the with eight, winning for Worst Remake or Sequel, and won several 2005, including Worst Actor (Jamie Kennedy), Worst Sequel, and Worst Couple. The film earned back $57.6 million of its $84 million budget, making it a. When asked in an interview about whether the film's negative critical reaction had damaged Kennedy's morale in wanting do another project like this, Kennedy replied to the interviewer, 'Yes. You got me right after a batch of bad interviews so I'm going to be honest with you about this. It does because I'm just being killed, absolutely killed. But honestly, doing this movie is an interesting experience because I just came off and where I had a good amount of control. And then in this movie I didn't have any control. I just can't do that. I have to have my voice in there. If I can't, I'm just going to be like I'm doing someone else's thing. I have to have some of my voice because I have my own experiences that I lived through. All I can do is just try to make things independently. That's the only way you can do it. The only way you can do that is if you're a huge, huge, huge star. I'm not there yet. I'm just like a working actor.' The largely negative reviews of Son of the Mask, some of which attacked Kennedy personally, inspired Kennedy to co-create the documentary film, an examination of both hecklers and professional critics. Video game [ ] A video game based on the film was released on Wireless Phone on February 10, 2005. The game was published and developed. Possible sequel [ ] On the possibility of a third film, Mike Richardson has said, 'We've been talking about reviving The Mask, both in film and in comics. We've had a couple of false starts.' See also [ ] • • References [ ]. Retrieved 17 September 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2013. July 31, 2001. Archived from on August 6, 2001. Retrieved December 25, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2014. •, Metacritic • Ebert, Roger (February 18, 2005)... Retrieved January 15, 2010. Archived from on 2017-04-28. Retrieved 2012-07-16. •, Rotten Tomatoes, March 3 2006 •. Retrieved 2012-07-16. • Sunu, Steve (7 August 2014)... Retrieved 26 December 2017. External links [ ] Wikiquote has quotations related to: • on • at •. Just as aspiring cartoonist Tim Avery gets over his fear of parenthood with the birth of his new son Alvey, he quickly finds himself in over his head as his new baby is born with the magical Mask's spectacular powers. Further complicating matters is the family's jealous dog, who turns the household upside down and sparks a comical kid-versus-canine battle for control of the Mask. But unbeknownst to them all, the mischievous Norse god Loki has come looking for his Mask, and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it back. 'The Mask' is the absolute funniest film i've ever seen in my life. CGI enhanced the first film and made it even better then it already was. In this case, it makes this cash in plummet into the dirt. Everything about this film is painful and there are no redeeming features at all. The script is bad, the acting is bad, the characters are awful but worst of all. It's missing Jim Carrey and the physical comedy that made the original a golden comedy classic. Depressingly it is one of the worst films i've ever seen in my life. Free 7 day premium access No Ads + Exclusive Content + HD Videos + Cancel Anytime Watch this exclusive video only on pornhub premium. Luckily you can have FREE 7 day access! You will never see ads again! ![]() Watch this 1080p video only on pornhub premium. Luckily you can have FREE 7 day access! Apr 24, 2014 Watch these animals attack humans as well as each other. SO make sure to watch this video & LIKE COMMENT & Share with your family and friends. By upgrading today, you get one week free access No Ads + Exclusive Content + HD Videos + Cancel Anytime By signing up today, you get one week free access No Ads + Exclusive Content + HD Videos + Cancel Anytime Offering exclusive content not available on Pornhub.com. The Pornhub team is always updating and adding more porn videos every day. It's all here and 100% free porn. We have a huge free DVD selection that you can download or stream. 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At Gate of Heaven, we know that most people must make burial arrangements during very difficult times—times of grief, sadness and loss. Our staff will treat you. We are strong advocates of your cemetery needs. The Catholic philosophy of life has always contained a realistic attitude toward death. A Catholic knows that one of the most important tasks in life is to prepare for death. This is a spiritual preparation—an essential process which prepares each of us for that moment when we enter into eternity. Good planning makes for easier and more informed decisions about what you might need and relieves a huge burden from your family when death occurs. Is also an important business matter that can give you peace of mind and the best opportunity for properly financing your choices. Within roughly 72 hours of the end of their lives, many dying people begin to speak in metaphors At around 4am that morning, my father gave an audible sigh. It was loud enough to wake my mother, who sleepily assumed that he was having a bad dream. But he wasn’t. That sigh was his final breath as he died. No one, least of all my father, had known he was ill. As for my mother, she’d assumed he was still asleep when she rose a few hours later and had breakfast alone. Afterwards she’d returned to the bedroom and tried, with increasing desperation, to wake him. There was, however, one person who knew about Dad’s death well before Mum did: my sister Katharine, who lived 100 miles away and was herself suffering from terminal breast cancer. ‘On the night of my father’s death,’ she told mourners at his memorial service some weeks later, ‘I had an extraordinary spiritual experience. ‘It was about 4.30am and I couldn’t sleep, when all of a sudden I began having this amazing experience. For the next two hours, I felt nothing but joy and healing. I felt hands on my head, and experienced vision after vision of a happy future.’ When she awoke that morning, she’d described them to her teenage son Graeme as she drove him to school. Among the visions of the future, she told him, was one of his own child — a yet- to-be conceived five-month-old granddaughter — whom she’d played with on her bedroom floor. It wasn’t till Katharine got back home that my mother phoned to tell her Dad had just died. Suddenly, she knew the reason for the powerful surge of energy and joy she’d felt in her bedroom, the sense of someone there. ‘I now know that it was my father,’ she said. Now, my family isn’t in the habit of channelling ghosts. Indeed, my first reaction to my sister’s vision was close to hysterical laughter. But, almost immediately afterwards, the vision began to make profound sense, like puzzle pieces slipping perfectly into place. Without discussing it, we were convinced as a family that Dad had done something of great emotional elegance. He’d seized a mysterious opportunity to go to his very sick daughter, to caress her and calm her, before heading on his way. A month later, in early April, a scan revealed that Katharine’s cancer had spread to her bones and liver. In the final ten days of her life, in a hospice, she looked gorgeous, as if lit from within. Sometimes, she’d have happy, whispered conversations with a person I couldn’t see. At other times, she’d stare at the ceiling as a full panoply of expressions played across her face: puzzled, amused, sceptical, surprised, becalmed — like a spectator watching a heavenly light show. ‘It’s so interesting,’ she began one morning, but she couldn’t find the words to describe what she’d seen. Psychologists found that only 10 per cent who had visions also had high fevers, which can trigger hallucinations She knew very well that she was dying. Forty-eight hours before she died, she announced: ‘I am leaving.’ Then a few hours before her last breath, she again mentioned leaving. How did she know? The hospice had told us that her death could be two months or six months or two years away. Katharine slipped away in the night, in silence and candlelight, while I lay with my cheek on her chest and my hand on her heart, feeling her breathing slow and subside. ‘Welcome to our tribe,’ someone said to me wryly that summer, speaking of the crazy shift in perspective that comes with grieving. I felt as though I was gulping air, but it helped to speak to people who’d also been bereaved. If I told them what I’d witnessed with my father and sister, many reciprocated. And almost invariably they prefaced their remarks by saying: ‘I’ve never told anyone this, but... ’ Then these smart, sceptical people would talk about deathbed visions, sensed presences, near-death experiences and sudden intimations that a loved one was in danger or dying. The director of a large music company, who drove me home from a dinner party, told me that, as a boy, he’d come down to breakfast one morning and seen his father, as always, at the kitchen table. In the final ten days of her life, in a hospice, she looked gorgeous, as if lit from within Then his mother broke the news that his father had died in the night. The boy briefly wondered if she’d gone mad. ‘He’s sitting right there,’ he said. It was the most baffling and unsettling moment of his life. A casual acquaintance told me the story of her sister who’d woken one night to the sensation of glass shattering all over her bed, as if the bedroom window had been blown inward. With adrenaline rushing, the sister leaped out of bed and felt around gingerly for the shards of glass. There was nothing there; the window was intact. The next day, she learned her daughter had been in a car accident, in which the windshield had shattered. Were these people, and many others I spoke to, suffering from overactive imaginations? Wishful thinking? I decided to investigate. In the late Nineties, I discovered, Michael Barbato, a palliative care doctor, had designed a questionnaire specifically for the families of patients who witnessed uncanny events. To his surprise, 49 per cent reported they’d had a strange experience. ‘Even if we cannot understand the basis for these phenomena,’ Barbato argued, ‘the weight of evidence suggests we cannot continue to ignore them.’ Certainly, you cannot ignore them when they happen to you. Why had my sister had a powerful spiritual experience in the hour of my father’s unexpected death? How did she sense a presence in her bedroom, and feel hands cupping her head? Why did she become increasingly joyful as death approached? What I discovered was far richer and more mysterious than I’d ever imagined. DEATH AS A JOURNEY Within roughly 72 hours of the end of their lives, many dying people begin to speak in metaphors about a journey. Often, they haven’t said a word in days — then suddenly they want to know where their train tickets are, or ask for hiking shoes or tide charts. Some demand their coats; others inquire about the bus schedule. To families, these febrile mutterings can seem of no importance. Far more significant to them, perhaps, would be the whispered ‘I love you’ or ‘Take care of the children’ before the head falls back on to the pillow. Patients with severe and chronic mental illness or dementia would suddenly start speaking clearly and rationally before death But hospice staff know that when their patients begin to talk about excursions or travel, they’re in fact announcing their own departure. David Kessler, former chair of the Hospital Association of Southern California Palliative Care Transitions Committee, has observed this phenomenon many times. It even has a name: Nearing Death Awareness. ‘Interestingly enough,’ he says, ‘it’s always referred to as an earthly journey. People talk about packing their bags or looking for their tickets — they don’t mention chariots descending from heaven or travelling to eternity.’ Kessler recalled a 96-year-old man who suddenly woke up in his hospice bed and told his daughter: ‘Gail, it’s time to go. Let’s make a run for it. I have to be free — is the car ready?’ When she assured him that it was right outside the hospice, he said: ‘Good. I’m ready.’ She asked him where they were going, and he said he wasn’t sure. ‘I only know that I’ve got this trip in front of me, and the time has come.’ He died shortly afterwards. Psychologists Karlis Osis and Erlendur Haraldsson reported that of the 10 per cent of patients who were conscious in the hour before death, the majority said they’d had these visions There is no known medical reason for the dying to have such an acute sense of timing about their demise. When patients talk about going on a trip, they rarely look as if they’re about to expire — or, indeed, show any marked deterioration in blood pressure or oxygen levels. ‘I’m going away tonight,’ the soul singer James Brown told his manager on Christmas Day 2006, after being admitted to hospital for pneumonia that wasn’t thought to be life-threatening. Immediately, his breathing began to slow. In the most comprehensive study of deathbed experiences ever done, psychologists Karlis Osis and Erlendur Haraldsson confirmed that these intimations of departure do sometimes come to people who aren’t considered to be in danger. Among the cases they examined was that of a man in his 50s, about to be discharged from hospital on the seventh day after a hip operation. The patient called a doctor over and told him he was going to die. A few seconds before, the patient said, he’d sensed he was not in this world but elsewhere. ‘I am going,’ he told the doctor, and he died a few minutes later. Meanwhile, hospice staff report that patients can sometimes predict the precise hour of their departure. Yet, to date, no one has come close to finding a scientific explanation. VISIONS ON THE DEATHBED Despite the concerned obstetrician by her bedside, Doris was unmistakably dying. Her baby had been born safely, but there’d been rare and unforeseen complications. It was what happened next that stunned the obstetrician, Lady Florence Barrett, and later caused a sensation. ‘Suddenly,’ Lady Barrett recalled, ‘she looked eagerly towards one part of the room, a radiant smile illuminating her whole countenance. “Oh, lovely, lovely,” she said. I asked: “What is lovely?” ‘“What I see,” she replied in low, intense tones. “Lovely brightness — wonderful beings.”. Psychologists Karlis Osis and Erlendur Haraldsson said that of the 10 per cent of patients who were conscious in the hour before death, the majority said they'd had these visions ‘Then — seeming to focus her attention more intently on one place for a moment — she exclaimed: “Why, it’s my father! Oh, he’s so glad I’m coming, he is so glad.”’ Briefly, Doris reflected that she should, perhaps, stay for the baby’s sake. But then she said: ‘I can’t — I can’t stay; if you could see what I do, you would know I can’t stay.’ At this point, Doris saw something that confused her: ‘[Father] has Vida with him,’ she told Lady Barrett, referring to her sister, whose death three weeks earlier had been kept from her because of her advanced pregnancy. ‘Vida is with him,’ she said wonderingly. Afterwards, Lady Barrett told Doris’s story to her husband Sir William, a physicist at the Royal College of Science in Dublin. He decided to launch a formal investigation. Among the evidence he gathered were recollections of Doris’s vision from his wife, an attendant nurse, the resident medical officer, the matron and Doris’s mother — all of whom had been in the room. His published account in 1926 became the first modern, corroborated report of a deathbed vision. Since then, however, there have been literally thousands more. In one study, by University of Virginia psychologist Emily Williams Kelly, 41 per cent of the dying patients surveyed had reported a deathbed vision. Another study, which questioned staff in five hospices, revealed 54 per cent of them had tended to patients who’d experienced a ‘visit’ from a dead relative — and this was always very close to the time of death. Could these visits from sisters and uncles and angels be like the wishful thinking of a man in the desert who conjures up a shimmering pool of water? And in their huge study of deathbed experiences, psychologists Karlis Osis and Erlendur Haraldsson reported that of the 10 per cent of patients who were conscious in the hour before death, the majority said they’d had these visions. Eighty-three percent were of either dead people or religious archetypes — such as angels. ‘Such experiences can happen to patients who are convinced they will recover and who are not at all ready to go,’ the researchers discovered. ‘A cardiac patient, a 56-year-old male whose consciousness was clear, saw the apparition of a woman who’d come to take him away. ‘He did not seem to be repulsed by her, just slightly frightened. He said: “There she is again, she is reaching for me.” He did not particularly want to go, but he did not make a fuss. He became calmer; this experience made him serene. He died a day later.’ Are all such patients hallucinating? Probably not: the psychologists found that only 10 per cent who had visions also had high fevers, which can trigger hallucinations. Were these patients’ brains impaired by disease or the drugs they were taking? Again, this seemed unlikely. The more confused or medicated patients were, the less likely they were to perceive a consoling or beckoning presence. Informally, nurses often use these visions as a gauge for impending demise. What is also remarkable is that — in contrast with those who are agitated as death approaches — the patients who have visions experience a profound sense of calm. As one nurse in a UK hospice study said: ‘It’s like a process and once they’ve experienced it, they move on to a different level. It’s like a journey.’. Informally, nurses often use these visions or mirages as a gauge for impending demise Could these visits from sisters and uncles and angels be like the wishful thinking of a man in the desert who conjures up a shimmering pool of water? A couple of factors made that an unlikely explanation. First, patients in distressed or anxious states were less likely to see apparitions than those in calmer moods. Second, some patients who had the visions hadn’t been expecting to die. One summer afternoon, I went with a friend to interview a dying patient. Audrey Scott — 83 and in the final stages of cancer — was lying on a borrowed hospital bed in the middle of her living room. We clasped hands, and regarded each other frankly. Dying has a tendency to dissolve all pretension. ‘What do you want people to know about dying, Audrey?’ I asked. ‘There should be no fear,’ she said without hesitation. ‘Life is laid out from birth to death; it’s all just part of the process.’ I asked if she was experiencing anything unusual. She studied me, a note of caution in her expression. ‘I see things twirling in the room,’ she said. ‘It’s quite pleasant, actually.’ After a pause, she added: ‘My son Frankie has been visiting me. He sits there.’ She gestured toward an armchair to my left. Our mutual friend, Judy, who’d been standing discreetly near the window, reached up to the window ledge behind Audrey’s head and picked up a photo of a smiling young man with thick, square glasses. This was Frankie, who had died of cancer in 2002 at the age of 35. I angled the frame toward Audrey, but she evinced no interest. She didn’t need to have a nostalgic look at a photograph — not when the real Frankie was sitting right here in an armchair. As we continued to chat, I had a curious sensation that my body was vibrating. It had the thrumming feel of an impersonal energy, rather than a rush of nerves — and I didn’t know what to make of it. Later, a friend who’d been volunteering in hospices described a weird sense of surrounding energy, which had almost caused him to pass out. So did my sister’s best friend, who had been massaging Katharine’s temples when she suddenly realised she was about to faint. Maybe it has to do with the life force receding — like being too close to a whirlpool or a riptide. Audrey died, at her home, ten days later. THE LUCID LAST WORDS Only recently have scientists begun to take note of a phenomenon first observed by doctors in 19th-century insane asylums in France, Germany and the U.S. Back then, they called it terminal lucidity. Patients with severe and chronic mental illness or dementia would suddenly start speaking clearly and rationally before death. Even those with amnesia often recognised family members for the first time in years, and were able to say goodbye. More recently, nurses and physicians have been noticing this phenomenon as more people end their lives in hospices. In 2007, Dr Scott Haig wrote an account of his patient, David, who had lung cancer that had spread to the brain. First, David’s speech had become slurred and then he’d lost the ability to speak or even move. We clasped hands, and regarded each other frankly. Dying has a tendency to dissolve all pretension A brain scan done by his oncologist showed that there was scarcely any brain left. For days, said Haig, his patient had ‘no expression, no response to anything we did to him’. Then, when the doctor made his evening rounds one Friday, he noticed that David had lapsed into the laboured breathing that often presages death. But an hour before he died, he woke up, and talked calmly and coherently to his wife and three children, smiling and patting their hands. As Haig noted: ‘It wasn’t David’s brain that woke him up to say goodbye that Friday. ‘His brain had already been destroyed.’ Psychiatrist Russell Noyes had a similar case: a 91-year-old woman who’d lost her capacity for speech and movement as a result of two strokes. Yet she suddenly broke through those walls shortly before her death. Smiling excitedly, the woman turned her head, sat up without effort, raised her arms, and called out happily to her dead husband. Then she lay back down and died. Whether or not she’d had a vision of her husband, the far more difficult and astonishing fact was that she’d regained her speech and mobility. • Adapted by Corinna Honan from Opening Heaven’s Door by Patricia Pearson, to be published by Simon and Schuster on May 22 at £12.99. © Patricia Pearson 2014. To order a copy for £11.99 (incl p&p), call 0844 472 4157. A list of all characters who are currently part of the regular cast of Coronation Street and the. Find out more about all the Coronation Street characters and cast with their profile pages. ![]() 2004 ( GB ) English Documental G 50 minutes of full movie HD video (uncut). MOVIE SYNOPSIS - What's the story of this film? - Full movie 2004. You can watch The Kids from Coronation Street online on video-on-demand services (Netflix, HBO Now), pay-TV or movie theatres with original audio in English. This movie has been premiered in Australian HD theatres in 2004 (). The DVD (HD) and Blu-Ray (Full HD) edition of full movie was sold some time after its official release in theatres of Sydney. CAST The Kids from Coronation Street (2004) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • MOVIE REVIEW online Good, meet its target to entertain. The story is interesting. Ads DISTRIBUTORS OF THIS FILM in original language Commercially distributed this film, companies like Independent Television (ITV). PRODUCTION AND STUDIOS ASSOCIATES This film was produced and / or financed by Granada Television. WATCH MOVIE The Kids from Coronation Street As usual, this film was shot in HD video (High Definition) Widescreen and Blu-Ray with Dolby Digital audio. Made-for-television movies are distributed in 4:3 (small screen). Without commercial breaks, the full movie The Kids from Coronation Street has a duration of 50 minutes; the official trailer can be streamed on the Internet. You can watch this full movie free with English subtitles on movie television channels, renting the DVD or with VoD services (Video On Demand player, Hulu) and PPV (Pay Per View, Netflix). The Kids from Coronation Street (2004). This is an online movie guide. We don't encode or broadcast any HD signals, we don't provide the ability to download free HD movies or download movies to watch online free, only we provide information about the most popular movies released in 2018, the best films in their original languages or with subtitles in English that TV channels include in your schedule and other useful resources for Satellite TV users (Hulu, Verizon, Netflix, AT&T, DirecTV, Comcast, Video on Demand, GlobeCast WorldTV). You can't download / watch movies online in this site. Trademarks mentioned in this site and all copyrighted material (images, movie posters, DVD covers, trailers) are property of their respective registrants. However, please contact us if you believe that informative content on this service affects in any way your legal rights. This service does NOT allow watching/download movies online, only offers information about movies around the world for full HD TV users. Please, for any questions.. USA ratings information: www.filmratings.com or www.mpaa.org. We bring cutting-edge commerce technology and pan-India reach to scale your multi-channel retail and supply chain operations rapidly and in a cost efficient manner. Best Dining in Donetsk, Donetsk Oblast: See 1,232 TripAdvisor traveler reviews of 543 Donetsk restaurants and search by cuisine, price, location, and more. Send Flowers Online with Flower Delivery by 1-800-Flowers.com, the World's Favorite Florist! There's no better place to order flowers online than 1-800-Flowers.com. 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With quality supported by our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, you can also find plants,, gourmet foods, and stuffed animals that are perfect for every occasion. A Forbes Magazine Best of the Web pick, and named as Internet Retailer's Best of the Web Top 50 Retail Sites list for seven consecutive years, 1-800-Flowers.com is proud to offer solutions for every gifting need, whether you're looking for flower delivery across town or across the country. Trending Flowers News & Articles from Our Flower Blog, Petal Talk. Sailor Ted meets at the Lonely Hearts Club of his friend Gunny's wife, Jenny, a girl, Nora Paige, and falls in love. Nora wants to become a dancer on Broadway. Ted rescues the Pekinese of Lucy James, a Broadway star during a public relations campaign on his submarine. Lucy falls in love with Ted, and Ted is ordered by his Captain to meet her in a night club, in spite of the fact that he has a date with Nora. Nora, who lives with Jenny and her and Gunny's daughter, doesn't want to hear anything from Ted, after she spotted a picture of Ted and Lucy in the morning paper. Lucy convinces her manager Dinehart to stop the press campaign and tells him that she would leave the production, if another photo or article of her and Ted is published. Nora has become her understudy, and she begins to think her behaviour to Ted over. Suddenly she is fired after Dinehart told her to dance a number Lucy James called undanceable. But when Ted is told the whole story, he knows what to do. BORN TO DANCE (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1936), directed by Roy Del Ruth, is, according to its title, one starring Eleanor Powell as the one born to dance. Being the third in the series of Navy musicals produced within the year, following SHIPMATES FOREVER (Warners, 1935) with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler; and FOLLOW THE FLEET (RKO, 1936) with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the title 'Born to Dance' translates itself as a musical, whether a song and dance or backstage story, being a combination of both, it gives no indication as one with a U.S. Navy background. Regardless, BORN TO DANCE ranks the best of the trio, thanks to a fine score by Cole Porter, witty dialogue, particularly from the secondary characters (Sid Silvers and Una Merkel), as well as the very young James Stewart surprisingly effective singing through his soft-spoken Fred Astaire-ish style of vocalizing. ![]() Showcasing Broadway's Famous Hits. Presented by Oscar®, Grammy® and Tony Award®-winning composer Stephen Schwartz, Born to Dance features songs and choreography. Action Coming of age tale told through the eyes of 'Tu', an ambitious young man from Auckland who dreams of being a professional hip-hop dancer. More Born To Dance videos. The second of its annual Eleanor Powell musicals, BORN TO DANCE brings back her co- stars from her initial MGM musical, Broadway MELODY OF 1936, including Sid Silvers, Una Merkel, Frances Langford and Buddy Ebsen, with Virginia Bruce substituting for June Knight as the temperamental actress. As an added plus Frances Langford, who, in Broadway MELODY of 1936, only participated in the song numbers, this time gets to belt out her songs and take part of the plot. Following the opening titles with a background of musical notes (yes, this is a musical) and still silhouette dancing images of Eleanor Powell, the story opens with singing sailors submerging from a submarine and going on shore leave in New York City. Ted Parker (James Stewart) meets Nora Paige (Eleanor Powell) at a Lonely Hearts Club, managed by Jenny Saks (Una Merkel), who is married to a Ted's fellow Navy partner, 'Gunny' (Sid Silvers), whom she hasn't seen in four years, and through him, is the mother of a three-year-old daughter (Juanita Quigley). While Jenny finds Gunny to be a big disappointment to her, and unwilling to tell him that he is a father, Ted finds himself becoming very much interested in Nora, whose ambition is to become a dancer (hense the title). Their romance is soon broken up when Lucy James (Virginia Bruce), a famous musical-comedy star, along with her press agent, James McKay (Alan Dinehart), visits Ted's ship for publicity pictures, and after her Pekinese dog falls over board with Ted jumping in to save it, McKay then makes a romance story out of it. Ted finds his time being occupied being with Lucy, and away from Nora. However, Ted arranges for Nora to get into Lucy's upcoming show as her understudy without either girl being aware as to whom was responsible for this arrangement. As Ted is going through his complications such as believing Nora to be a mother to Jenny's little girl, there is 'Mush' Tracy (Buddy Ebsen) who finds time in becoming the romantic interest of another Lonely Hearts Club employee, 'Peppy' Turner (Frances Langford). Check out the exclusive TVGuide.com movie review and see our movie rating for Hollywood Buddha. Jump to: • (1) Summaries • 'Kissing Metal' is the story of Philippe, a down and out European film producer, who lives in a tent in the shadow of his unfinished house in Brentwood. Philippe is struggling to sell a film he made five years ago to foreign distributors. Nearly broke, and on the verge of eviction, he seeks spiritual help from Master Atchoum, a Buddhist Guru. ![]() Master Atchoum pushes him into practicing Buddhism and convinces him to buy an expensive metal sculpture of Buddha. Empowered by the support of his new-found 'religion,' Philippe starts turning things around. Through a series of serendipitous events.and some very unorthodox maneuvering, he becomes a success. But, he soon discovers that all is not what it appears to be. The real truth about the time line of Chaplin's tramp costume is as this. The first scene he 'filmed' in the TRAMP costume was the hotel lobby scene from the film 'Mabel's Strange Predicament'. After this film completed shooting, Chaplin filmed Kid Auto Races In Venice. This film was easy to edit in comparison to Mabel's Strange Predicament and because of this, Kid Auto Races was released first. Dear Supporters, Thank you for helping us to reach our fundraising goal! Plus, the first $1.5 million of your contributions will be matched 3-to-1 by a very generous. Released: 9 February 1914, Keystone Directors: Mabel Normand, Henry Lehrman, Mack Sennett Writers: Reed Heustis, Henry Lehrman Duration: 17 mins Filmed: mid-January 1914 With: Mabel Normand, Chester Conklin, Alice Davenport, Harry McCoy Story: A tipsy tramp latches onto an elegant lady and. How can the answer be improved? Directed by Mabel Normand. With Mabel Normand, Charles Chaplin, Chester Conklin, Alice Davenport. In a hotel lobby an inebriated Charlie runs into an elegant lady. This is why people think the first time Chaplin wore the tramp costume was Kid Auto Races. It may be the first time Chaplin was seen by the public this way, but the first time he donned the costume in front of a camera was definitely, without a doubt, 'Mabel's STrange Predicament'. Making this film very important indeed! Walt Disney stated that his prime inspiration for creating Mickey Mouse was Chaplin's Tramp character. However, the Mickey seen in 'Plane Crazy (1928)' and 'Steamboat Willie (1928)' bears little resemblance to the gallant hopeless-romantic whom Chaplin made famous in 'The Kid (1921)' and other classic features. Instead, the early 'evil' Mickey Mouse probably took a few leaves from the book of Chaplin's early 'evil' tramp, who is here portrayed as a drunken scumbag who tries to take advantage of a pajama-clad Mabel Normand. 'Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914)' was, in fact, the birth of Chaplin's Little Tramp character, though 'Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)' was released two days earlier. As the title suggests, the star of the film is actually Normand, who was a leading comedienne in her day, and this was the first film in a series of collaborations for the pair. In a hotel lobby, an intoxicated tramp sloppily flirts with Mabel, somehow deciding that yanking on her dog's tail is a surefire way of attracting the girl's attention. Mabel huffily storms off to her room, but later runs into Chaplin in the hallway, after having locked herself out of her room wearing only pajamas. What follows is an amusing farce that resembles something the Marx Brothers would have cooked up, as Mabel evades the Tramp by taking cover under the bed of another man, whose wife arrives home and comes to the natural conclusion. This isn't high-class comedy, but Chaplin is clearly the shining light of the film: he staggers drunkenly from room to room, with an exasperated sneer beneath his moustache, and every time he falls down it is actually uproariously funny. ![]() Don't ask me how he did it, but nobody (except maybe Buster Keaton) could ever take a tumble like Chaplin could. While it's true that not all of Chaplin's short films are as stunningly brilliant as so many of the films for which he later became famous, it is also true that there is a distinct difference in quality between the early films in which he acted as well as directed, and those in which he was directed as an actor by someone else. Mabel's Strange Predicament is one of the ones in which he only acted; he was directed by Mabel Normand, with whom he did not have the most friendly relationship when the film was made. The first unusual thing about this film is that it is in French at least, the film is intertitled in French. Charlie plays the part of a drunken man at a hotel who comes across Mabel in an upstairs hallway, after having locked herself out of her room in her pajamas while chasing after a ball with which she was playing with her dog. When Charlie arrives and the two of them are embarrassed and amused, it seems that this is the strange predicament to which the title refers, but then Charlie chases her down the hall, and she ultimately winds up hiding from his drunken, amorous advances under the bed in a neighbor's room across the hall. There is a lot of confusing action in Mabel's Strange Predicament, such as the well dressed man who bears a striking resemblance to Marlon Brando (Marlon Brando 1972, not Marlon Brando 2001) who comes into the room and seems exceedingly upset about Mabel and her dog under the bed (wasn't the dog locked in the room across the hall?), as well as the film's conclusion, which consisted of a huge amount of confusion and anger and fighting in the hallway. Clearly, there is room for plenty of Chaplin's characteristic slapstick comedy with this type of film. The film starts off with him downstairs falling over various chairs and getting into brief brawls with the waiters, and there are also things like the scene where he is chasing Mabel down the hallway and accidentally winds up kissing a man after she evades him. Charlie Chaplin's and Mabel Normand's volatile relationship seems to have played a role in Charlie's character in this film, because he is little more than a drunk who gets out of hand and causes a lot of trouble. He is a mere nuisance on the restaurant level of the hotel, and at the end, his character has the grand exit of staggering off down the hallway, seemingly too drunk to even realize what is going on. In this way, this is a disappointment for Chaplin fans, but it is a curiosity piece to see what results when he works under a different, and far less talented, director. Initially released in February 1914, historians have undergone quite a struggle through the years to say for sure if MABEL'S STRANGE PREDICAMENT was the first time Chaplin appeared in his famous Tramp-outfit. As this was Chaplin's third released film, it was long taken for granted that his second released film KID AUTO RACES AT VENICE presents the birth of the iconoclastic character (Chaplin had appeared in a different costume for his very first film). However, the comedian himself caused some puzzlement when claiming in his memoirs that he had come up with the character prior to filming the scene in the hotel lobby as seen in this film. Finally, it was figured out that while AUTO RACES was probably shot first, Chaplin had come up with the costume for the Tramp with this film in mind, as AUTO RACES had been filmed on location more or less during an intermission before shooting for PREDICAMENT took off (this was how film worked in those days, folks!). Whatever may have been the very first appearance of the Tramp in front of the cameras or not, MABEL'S STRANGE PREDICAMENT does in any case remain of interest partly for its documentation of one of Chaplin's very early appearances in another, to him totally alien medium called film. Although having reached fame on the stage several years earlier, the comedian was still unknown to the movie-going public at this point, and technically he is just a supporting player here to the star Mabel Normand. The character later to be known as the Tramp is as unrefined as can be here, wandering around in the hotel corridors in drunken condition, while trying to get the attention of Mabel by adopting rough, ungentlemanly methods. His outfit is almost fully developed even at this point (though observant viewers will notice that his mustasche is slightly wider than later on), but there is hardly much of a personality to talk about. Audiences only familiar with the sentimental, far more likable 'Tramp' of Chaplin's later films might be a bit turned off, perhaps understandably so. It is also apparent that the comedian didn't feel quite comfortable with the medium yet, as he seems to have a habit of doing gags for their own sake here, something which he, by his own account, would soon abandon. Yet, even here it is easy to see why Chaplin so quickly caught the attention of the public. At first sight, the one-dimensional Tramp as presented here might not appear to be that much of a character, but rather a suit of clothes fittingly picked out to display Chaplin's acrobatics. However, it strikes me more and more as I study these films that the character even here had that certain 'it' which most other comedians at Keystone lacked or didn't take fully advantage of. The Tramp of this period has a carefree playfulness that I find to be quite refreshing at times, and his acrobatics are indeed quite funny even though it is easy to take them for granted. In his memoirs, once again, Chaplin recalled that he had been disappointed by the response from audiences upon this film's release. Although the film crew surrounding him by all accounts had laughed their heads off at Chaplin's performance while shooting, which must have been quite a relief inasmuch as few at the Keystone-lot initially had much faith in him, his appearance was greeted only with a few chuckles in theatre. (The film Chaplin was referring to may not have been MABEL'S STRANGE PREDICAMENT, however, but his next film BETWEEN SHOWERS, as he mentioned a performance of the then-popular Ford Sterling, who did not appear here.) Needless to say, however, Chaplin's reputation was soon to grow, so much so that he was directing his own films altogether within a few months. MABEL'S STRANGE PREDCIMENT stands as one of the handful of films he made in which we are granted a first-hand view on the period when he was still a newcomer who was told what and what not to do. It's nothing original, nothing really memorable if not viewed in an historical context, but Chaplin himself, inexperienced with film though he may be, remains quite charismatic in the midst of it all. Charlie Chaplin is one of only a handful of men in the hundred years of the movie industry to be worthy of the title of genius. Each of his full length (by modern standards) films are excellent, as are many of his shorter earlier works - Mabel's Strange Predicament, however, is not one of these works. It is void of any meaningful social message (for which Chaplin is well known) it is equally, and sadly, also void of any real humor. By all means watch most of Chaplin's movies; watch them over and over, for they are worthy of many repeated viewings - but do yourself a favor and don't waste your time with this. By the way, it should be noted that Charlie neither directed nor produced this very early movie. It is doubtful that even he thought the story or scenes were funny, but one has to break into the business somehow. 'Mabel's Strange Predicament' is a silent short that is already over a century old as this one was released in 1914. You will find several big names in this one like Al St.John, Chester Conklin and of course Charlie Chaplin. And the female actor who holds her own very well against these established gentlemen is a young woman in her early 20s, who has been in many many films already and can be called one of the biggest female stars. Her name is Mabel Normand and if you read her name in the title in a Chaplin film and see that she also directed everybody here, you can see how influential she was. Mabel is definitely my favorite female from her era and I guess you can also cut the 'female'. It says here on IMDb that this b&w film runs for 17 minutes, but all the versions I found went on for 11.5 roughly, so they may have raised the fps value. It doesn't matter though as this is a good watch in any case. Charlie's lobby shenanigans end before they repetitive and Mabel is as charming as it gets. The romance story mix-up is a bit over-the-top, but still tolerable. The ending is kinda sweet. Sure more frequent intertitles would have helped as with 99% of other old silent films, but it is not so bad that you don't know what's going on luckily. Fairly entertaining watch and good job by everybody involved including Austrian writer Henry Lehrman. I can see why this one is still so popular today, even if I may be a bit biased with my huge crush on Mabel Normand. Still I believe you should check it out as I was pretty well-entertained here. A great film to watch and it is the first movie in which Chaplin plays the Tramp. What did the cast think of it? They were absolutely stunned at Charlie's actions on set. Charlie's initial lobby scene used 75 feet of film, an unbelievable occurrence at Keystone, and title-lady Mabel barely appears in the shot! If you're wondering what Mabel's saying in the lobby, she's probably cursing Charlie, who goes on to steal the entire scene from 'Our Cutest Trick' (as Sennett called her). From this time onward Chaplin began to build his super- star status, and within three months he was the world's most loved comedy character. We can see that the early Tramp was very mean and cruel - he'd kick women in the derriere or stomach, punch them in the face, and steal sweets from babies. Keystone's remit after all was to offend polite society. The Tramp with pathos only began his genesis many months later, due to diligent reworking by the 'Englisher' (probably with help from a slapstick-weary Mabel). In the film Mabel gets her chance to reign in the upstairs part of the hotel, which becomes the Queen Bee's kingdom. Here she runs rampant and gets into all kinds of scrapes over a dog, a ball and a bed. Eventually, Charlie invades the Kingdom, virtually molests pajama- clad Mabel and kicks, slugs and otherwise abuses everyone on that landing. Then there is the almost inevitable Keystone happy ending. There are several interesting features in the film. The 'Fake Frenchman', Pathe Lehrman, appears in this film as an extra! After explosive arguments with Chaplin, his directorship of the film was revoked by Sennett, who took on the job himself. Lehrman later tried to have Chaplin's lobby scene cut, but failed. A cute touch occurs in some of the longer shots where Mabel's sweet face is just seen peering out from under a bed where she's hiding. Mabel's dog is part of the action. Why is prim and proper Alice Davenport so infuriated at the sight of Mabel entering her room with a canine companion? Perhaps she knows the fancily-dressed maiden is going to frolic with the mutt in her pajamas. This film seems to be the only one in which Mabel and Charlie really battle to outdo each other - Lehrman isn't even in the running. According to Minta Arbuckle (1970s interview), our little Mabel came to hate the unwashed and conceited Charlie. Had the Fake Frenchman been whispering in her ear? He loved her, you know. However at some point later, the Queen Bee and the coming Emperor of Comedy (Sennett was the King) appear to have called a truce and worked more harmoniously together. Note the flowery bed cover that Mabel tries to hide her embarrassment with. It appears 10 days later on a washing line in Chaplin's 'A Thief Catcher'. The debut of the Little Tramp casts Charlie Chaplin as a man who runs into an elegant woman in a hotel. The movie makes ample use of Chaplin's flair for physical comedy. Like many flicks from cinema's early days, 'Mabel's Strange Predicament' shows that a movie doesn't need words to be good (indeed, the action here is far more complex than anything in a Michael Bay movie). The best scenes here are the dog leash, and the running in and out of rooms. The producer is Mack Sennett, who directed Chaplin in a few movies early on. Dan Aykroyd played him in Richard Attenborough's movie about Chaplin. Pretty enjoyable movie. Mabel's Strange Predicament marked several firsts in Charlie Chaplin's career. It was the first major short to feature his Little Tramp character (after a debut in the brief Kid Races at Venice), and it was the first of several films he made co-starring with Mabel Normand, who was the Cameron Diaz/Julia Roberts of her day in terms of comedy films. Reportedly, this was also the first of several Chaplin films that would also feature Fatty Arbuckle, though I'm not sure where he appears in the film (he might be the actor playing Mabel's boyfriend in this film, but I can't be sure). Chaplin was still developing his character at this early stage (this was only his third or fourth film). The idea of the Tramp being a kind-hearted, heroic character had not yet been established. In this film, he's a drunk, a jerk, and a womanizer (if this were not a Chaplin film, one might even add would-be rapist to this list of 'qualities'). In fact, Chaplin's character here is little different than the bad guy he played in his debut, Making a Living. All this makes for somewhat uncomfortable viewing for those used to the Tramp being a good guy. He certainly has some funny scenes, though most involve him doing little more than falling down and menacing Mabel. There's no pathos to be found here. He's also very much a secondary character in this film, since at the time, Mabel Normand was the big star. She spends most of the film running around in pajamas and hiding under a bed. In 1914, the sight of Mabel in her full length underwear was probably as shocking as American Pie is today, and indeed the film was banned in Sweden for being too suggestive. But these days, it's laughable in and of itself. Normand was a fair-to-middling talent who is more famous for what she represented than for her actual on-screen efforts. She was the first woman to become a major movie star in America, and one of the very first to actually direct a film. But if it weren't for her lucky association with Charlie Chaplin in the early months of his film career, odds are very little of her work would have been preserved nearly a century later. Unfortunately, Mabel's Strange Predicament can hardly be included among her's or Chaplin's best efforts. Mabel's Strange Predicament is the second film in which Charlie Chaplin dresses in costume as The Little Tramp (the first being Kid Auto Races in Venice). In here, he's just a drunk who's infatuated with the title character played by Ms. She's a lady who has a dog that she takes with her to the hotel room where, after dressing in her pajamas, gets locked out of with dog still inside. After Charlie chases her upstairs, she goes to another room where an elderly man lives and hides under his bed. Also mixed up in this are her suitor and the elderly man's wife. Most of the highlights are from Mabel's under-bed hiding and the slapstick that ensues when she's found out as well as some of Chaplin's falls from either being hit or just simply staggering. Should be amusing enough for fans of early silent comedy and the two stars especially very curious Chaplin enthusiasts. This is a film from Chaplin's first year in films. During this VERY hectic year, he churned out film after film after film for Keystone Studios and the quality of the films are, in general, quite poor. That's because the character of 'the Little Tramp' was far from perfected and the films really had no script--just the barest of story ideas. While some Chaplin lovers might think this is sacrilege, all these movies I have seen are pretty lousy. Yes, there are some cute slapstick moments but barely any plot--absolutely NOTHING like the Chaplin we all came to love in his full-length films of the 20s and 30s. If I were to try to describe the plot, I'd be VERY hard pressed to do so. There really wasn't any and the film was awfully dull. Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914) ** (out of 4) A woman (Mabel Normand) is walking her dog through a hotel lobby when a Tramp (Charles Chaplin) takes notice and begins to follow her around. The woman escapes to her room to get into her pajamas but soon she finds herself locked out with the Tramp following her some more. This is an interesting short as we see Mabel at the height of her popularity just as an unknown Chaplin is starting to weave what would become the best known character in film history. Sadly the film isn't that good but there are a few nice scenes to be had. I found the opening sequence in the hotel lobby to be pretty funny in large part to Mabel's reactions to the Tramp. The middle sequence with Mabel running around in her pajamas aren't as funny as they should have been and this is where the movie wonders off. Chaplin doesn't quite have his Tramp character working here but it is a starting point. Mabel’s Strange Predicament is a short film, 17 minutes long, starring Mabel Normand, with as the villain of the picture. Mabel Normand was, at the time, a major film star, as well as one of the first female movie directors. However, she is now remembered primarily for her work with Charlie Chaplin. In this movie, however, Mabel Normand is clearly the star, with Charlie Chaplin in a supporting role. Although dressed as the Tramp, Charlie Chaplin is not in character as the Tramp in this film. Rather, he plays a variation on his inebriate character that he made famous on the London stage. The basic plot is that the inebriated Charlie Chaplin runs into an elegant lady ( Mabel Normand) in the hotel lobby, gets tied up in her dog’s leash, and falls down. Later, Charlie runs into the same lady in the hotel corridor, where she has been locked out of her room. A chase follows, with Charlie chasing Mabel through various rooms, with Mabel ending up in the room of an elderly husband, where she hides under the bed when his wife and Mabel’s lover come chasing. Trivia for Mabel’s Strange Predicament starring Charlie Chaplin • Banned by Swedish censors, who found it “brutalising” because of the amorous scene. |
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