| Cohen Saves the Flag | |
|---|---|
 Scene from the film | |
| The Jewish Soldier | |
| Directed by | Mack Sennett |
| Produced by | Mack Sennett |
| Starring | Ford Sterling Mabel Normand Henry Lehrman |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Mutual Film Corporation |
Release date |
|
Running time | One reel |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent |
Cohen Saves the Flag is a 1913 American comedy silent film directed and produced by Mack Sennett, and starring Ford Sterling and Mabel Normand. [1]
Cohen (Ford Sterling) and his rival Goldberg (Henry Lehrman) enlist in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Goldberg receives a lieutenant's commission while Cohen becomes a sergeant. During the Battle of Gettysburg, Cohen inadvertently becomes a hero when he tosses back an enemy hand grenade and raises a fallen flag in the midst of the conflict. Goldberg conspires to have Cohen shot by a firing squad, but Cohen's girlfriend Rebecca (Mabel Normand) rides to the rescue and details Cohen's battlefield bravery. Cohen is hailed for his valor and later exacts revenge on Goldberg.
Cohen Saves the Flag was a part of Mack Sennett's "Cohen" series that used a burlesque of Jewish stereotypes for its humor. Typical of the film's comedy is having Cohen chased into a pigsty, where he views the porcine residents with nervous apprehension – this is an obvious riff on the Jewish prohibition on eating pork. [2]
Sennett set up his production company for Cohen Saves the Flag alongside Thomas H. Ince’s epic The Battle of Gettysburg . Sennett staged his battlefield scenes on the edge of Ince's production, capturing Ince's grand wartime sequences for his film while keeping the Cohen Saves the Flag cast discreetly out of Ince's camera range. Today, The Battle of Gettysburg is considered a lost film, and all that remains of that endeavor are the battlefield scenes appropriated by Sennett for his slapstick film. [3]
The Keystone Cops are fictional, humorously incompetent policemen featured in silent film slapstick comedies produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917.
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-American producer, director, actor, and studio head who was known as the "King of Comedy" during his career.
Keystone Studios was an early film studio founded in Edendale, California on July 4, 1912 as the Keystone Pictures Studio by Mack Sennett with backing from actor-writer Adam Kessel (1866–1946) and Charles O. Baumann (1874–1931), owners of the New York Motion Picture Company. The company, referred to at its office as The Keystone Film Company, filmed in and around Glendale and Silver Lake, Los Angeles for several years, and its films were distributed by the Mutual Film Corporation between 1912 and 1915. The Keystone film brand declined rapidly after Sennett went independent in 1917.
Henry Lehrman was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. Lehrman was a very prominent figure of Hollywood's silent film era, working with such cinematic pioneers as D. W. Griffith and Mack Sennett. He directed, as well as co-starred in, Charlie Chaplin's first film, Making a Living.
The Little Billy films are a series of short films produced by Keystone Studios, revolving around the character of a small boy, portrayed by Paul "Little Billy" Jacobs.
Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life is a 1913 silent comedy short, directed and produced by Mack Sennett. It stars Sennett, Mabel Normand, Ford Sterling, The Keystone Cops and Barney Oldfield as himself, in his film debut. It was distributed by the Keystone Film Company, and released in the United States on June 3, 1913. The film is preserved and was released as part of a DVD box set, titled Slapstick Encyclopedia, and is frequently featured in silent film festivals.
Mabel's Busy Day is a 1914 short comedy film starring Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin; the film was also written and directed by Mabel Normand. The supporting cast includes Chester Conklin, Slim Summerville, Edgar Kennedy, Al St. John, Charley Chase, and Mack Sennett.
Mabel's Dramatic Career is a 1913 American short comedy film starring Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett while featuring Roscoe Arbuckle in a cameo. The movie features a film within a film and uses multiple exposure to show a film being projected in a cinema.
The Fatal Taxicab is a 1913 American short comedy film featuring Fatty Arbuckle. It is also known in some sources as The Faithful Taxicab.
The Bangville Police is a 1913 comedy short starring Fred Mace, Mabel Normand and the Keystone Cops. The one-reel film, generally regarded as the seminal Keystone Cops short, was directed by Henry Lehrman.
Oh, Mabel Behave is a 1922 American silent comedy film starring Mabel Normand, Owen Moore, Mack Sennett, and Ford Sterling. Sennett and Sterling also directed the film.
The Water Nymph is a 1912 American silent comedy "split reel" short film starring Mabel Normand and directed by Mack Sennett. Normand performed her own diving stunts for the film, which was the first Keystone Studios comedy.
Why He Gave Up is a 1911 American short silent comedy film starring Fred Mace and Mabel Normand. The film was co-directed by Mack Sennett and Henry Lehrman and shot in Huntington, Long Island.
Mabel's Lovers is a 1912 American short silent comedy film starring Mabel Normand. The film was directed and produced by Mack Sennett.
Mabel's Adventures is a 1912 American short silent comedy film starring Mabel Normand and produced and directed by Mack Sennett for the Mutual Film Corporation.
The Flirting Husband is a 1912 American short silent comedy film starring Mabel Normand and Ford Sterling. The film was directed and produced by Mack Sennett.
At Coney Island, also known as Cohen at Coney Island, is a 1912 American short silent comedy starring Mack Sennett, Mabel Normand, and Ford Sterling. Sennett also directed and produced the film. Sennett claimed this was the first Keystone Studios production, shot on location at Coney Island on July 4, 1912. It was the eleventh Keystone film released, on a split-reel with A Grocery Clerk's Romance.
The Battle of Gettysburg is a 1913 American silent war film directed by Charles Giblyn and Thomas H. Ince. The Battle of Gettysburg is based on the American Civil War battle of the same name. The film is now considered to be lost, although some battlefield footage was used by Mack Sennett in his comedy Cohen Saves the Flag, which was shot on location alongside this production. There are claims that The Battle of Gettysburg was screened in France in 1973.
Bert Hunn was an American actor who starred in silent films in the 1910s.
At It Again is a 1912 American short silent comedy film produced and directed by Mack Sennett. The film stars Fred Mace, Mack Sennett, Ford Sterling, Mabel Normand and Alice Davenport.
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