THE MAN IN THE SILK HAT (1983) [Feature]

France (MIFF1984)
Director: Maud Linder

The pictorial biography of Max Linder who died nearly 60 years ago, retrieved and restored by the daughter who never new him. Maude Linder was a baby when her parents committed suicide (for reasons still unknown),and she did not learn the identity of her father until she was a grown woman.

Thus her compilation film is a labour of love and a welcome celebration of one of the great figures of the silent screen. The prolific Max drew upon incidents in his own life as inspiration or his comedies. We are able to trace his life from the family vineyards to his adventures in college and the theatre.

Struck from original negatives, the films are as bright as new, and there is no barrier to our discovery of this dashing, sophisticated young Gascon, the most endearing of the great clowns, whom Chaplin called "The Master".

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