The Extraordinary World of Charley Bowers {Blu-ray Review}

Reviewed By Jason Lockard

When people think of the silent film era, most people think of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, The Keystone Kops ect. But there was an amazing silent film star that has more or less been forgotten over the years. His name is Charley Bowers.

Charley began his career as an animator in 1915, but soon turned to mixing live-action with puppet animation, producing a score of mini-masterpieces, often featuring himself in France as Bricolo. Now the fine folks at Flicker Alley have release 17 of this forgotten genius on blu-ray! Let's take a look at what is included in this collection.

Disc One:

• The Extra-Quick Lunch (1919, 5 min)
• A.W.O.L. (1918, 5 min)
• Egged On (1926, 22 min)
• He Done His Best (1926, 23 min)
• Fatal Footsteps (1926, 22 min)
• Now You Tell One (1926, 21 min)
• A Wild Roomer (1927, 25 min)
• Many A Slip (1927, 23 min)

Disc Two:

• Nothing Doing (1927, 21 min)
• There It Is (1928, 22 min)
• Say Ah-h! (1928, 14 min)
• Whoozit (1928, 10 min)
• It's A Bird (1930, 15 min)
• Believe It Or Don't (1935, 8 min)
• A Sleepless Night (1940, 11 min)
• Wild Oysters (1941, 10 min)
• Pete-Roleum and His Cousins (1939, 15 min)
  

Charley Bowers reminds me a lot of Buster Keaton in his dead pan facial expression and his childlike approach to situations. Both also used a lot of machines and technology in their films. But Bowers imagination and the tools of stop-motion animation pushed his films past the laws of physics and into the realm of fantasy unlike anything seen at the time.

I have to say this release is something special! These films have been lovingly and beautifully restored and remastered. They look stunning for the age of the films. Now two blu-rays filled with 17 classic films of the early days of cinema is enough for me to say this a must add for film fans. But Flicker Alley decided to go further with this release.

Flicker Alley loaded this release with special features including; Looking at Charley Bowers: A 15 Minute documentary by Christophe Coutens, A slideshow gallery and a beautiful souvenir booklet, that features photos from Charlie Bowers and an essay written by film historian and author Sean Axmaker. And Finally there is a reversible alternate sleeve artwork! Either side is amazing!

I am glad I got the opportunity to discover the extraordinary world of Charley Bowers. This release is getting a place of recognition in the Classic Cinema Magazine Library right along side the films of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Right where it deserves to be.

So if your a fan of classic films of the silent era. And you want to experience a real genius at work! I highly recommend this collection of films featuring Charley Bowers. What an amazingly talented man! You can pick up a copy of this bluray by going to Amazon.com or to FlickerAlley.com.


Audiences: Families
Objectionable Material: None
Length: 288 Minutes
Genre: Comedy
Blu-ray Value Rating: A