Two Knights of Vaudeville (Short 1915)

Two Knights of Vaudeville (Short 1915). 11m

“u0026quot;Two Knights of Vaudevilleu0026quot; is a silent slapstick comedy made with an all black cast, though the company itself was white owned. The film isnu0026#39;t all that different from other comedies of the day in that the humor was very broad and not particularly funny. The best silent comedies would come in the following decade–after films started using scripts and comedy was refined. However, while seeing silent comics act like idiots was the norm, some folks in 1915 were bothered by the filmu0026#39;s depiction of the characters.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA rich white man accidentally drops some Vaudeville tickets on the ground. Soon, two black men run up and snatch the tickets and soon go to the show along with their lady friend. During the course of the show, the two men behave like total idiots and, not surprisingly, they are tossed out of the theater. So, in anger, they decide to put on a show of their own for their friends.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe main problem with the film is that it isnu0026#39;t all that funny. And, I can see why some folks were offended when the film debuted, as the black characters cannot spell ANYTHING correctly and they behave so poorly. While some of the white comics of the time also behaved similarly, this was one of the only depictions of blacks…and it certainly was not positive in any way. Not a horrible short but one mostly of interest to historians…and the average viewer will have little to enjoy here.”