''Mabel's Blunder'' (1914) is a silent

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by, written by, and starring

Mabel Normand Amabel Ethelreid Normand (November 9, 1893 – February 23, 1930), better known as Mabel Normand, was an American silent film actress, comedienne, director and screenwriter. She was a popular star and collaborator of Mack Sennett in their K ...

, the most successful of the early

silent screen Silent Screen (1967–1993) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Background Silent Screen was trained by J. Bowes Bond for owners Sonny and Leah Ray Werbin who raced under the ''nom de course'', Elberon Farm. Racing career Sil ...

comediennes.

Plot

''Mabel's Blunder'' tells the tale of a young woman who is secretly engaged to the boss's son. The young man's sister comes to visit at their office, and a jealous Mabel, not knowing who the visiting woman is, dresses up as a (male) chauffeur to spy on them.

Production background

Produced at

Mack Sennett Mack Sennett (born Michael Sinnott; January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was a Canadian-American producer, director, actor, and studio head who was known as the "King of Comedy" during his career. Born in Danville, Quebec, he started acting i ...

Keystone Studios Keystone Studios was an early film studio founded in Edendale, California (which is now a part of Echo Park) on July 4, 1912 as the Keystone Pictures Studio by Mack Sennett with backing from actor-writer Adam Kessel (1866–1946) and Char ...

, known at the time as "The Fun Factory", ''Mabel's Blunder'' showcases Normand's spontaneous and intuitive playfulness and her ability to be both romantically appealing and boisterously funny.

National Film Registry

This film, with its unusual

gender-bending A gender bender is a person who dresses up and presents themselves in a way that defies societal expectations of their gender, especially as the opposite sex. Bending expected gender roles may also be called a genderfuck. The concept of gender ...

aspect, was added to the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

in December 2009 for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant.

Music

The film was re-dubbed in 2023 on behalf of the german TV Station ZDF/ARTE. The soundtrack was compiled live by Leipzig-based D
SilentFilmDj
Repertoire
see silentfilmdj.wordpress.com The film will be available for free o
arte.tv
till 31 May 2024 as part of the Female Comedies series.

References

External links

*''Mabel’s Blunder'' essa

by Brent E. Walker on the