Chester Conklin – MRQE

The Haunted House

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Four heirs to a family fortune are summoned to appear at the family estate for the reading of the will, where they meet the estate’s staff, which includes a nurse, a crazed doctor, and a sinister handyman.

The Masquerader (1914/I)

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Charlie Chaplin’s 24th short for the Keystone company is a film about making films at Keystone. It is unusual in that we see Chaplin the actor, Charlie the Tramp, and Chaplin’s second female impersonation in a film. The film opens outside the Keystone Studio where Chaplin, in street clothes, is talking to Mabel Normand and a reporter, who is writing on a pad. Charlie Murray emerges and grabs Chaplin by the ear and drags him inside — it’s time for work. Murray leaves Chaplin at the dressing room where Fatty Arbuckle is also preparing for work. Chaplin begins by brushing off his Tramp pants. Seated at a dressing table across from Arbuckle he hears Fatty open a beer bottle and tries to sneak a swig, but Fatty substitutes his hair tonic instead. Meanwhile, on the stage, Murray is rehearsing a melodramatic scene with two actors. Chaplin is now in costume as the Tramp. On the set, Charlie misses his entrance because he is flirting with two lovely actresses, and he messes up the scene. He is replaced by fellow actor Chester Conklin, but interferes with Chester’s entrance and is chased out of the studios. The next day a “Beautiful Stranger” appears — it’s Charlie in drag, and his female impersonation is perfect. He immediately attracts the attentions of every male in the company, especially director Murray. Murray tries to make time with the stranger and hires her to act in films. He gives her the men’s dressing room, amid the objections of all the actors. While Murray’s back is turned, Charlie lets us in on the gag by winking at the camera and later takes a very unladylike drag on Murray’s cigarette. Alone, Charlie removes his disguise, and resumes his Tramp outfit. When the director comes looking for his new actress, he finds Charlie and discovers his deception. He chases Charlie through the various film sets until Charlie jumps into what he thinks is a prop well. It turns out to be a real one, and the film closes as Murray and the actors mock Charlie as he struggles, sinking, at the bottom of the well.

Say It Again

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Bob Howard, a WWI wounded soldier in a army hospital, meets and falls in love with Princess Elena. When the Armistice is signed, he is quickly shipped back home to America. Returning to Europe, he is mistaken as a Crown Prince traveling to be married to a Princess from another country. The Princess-bride, intended for another man, is his Elena.

The Beast with a Million Eyes

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

An alien space craft lands in the desert. The alien takes over the minds of some of the local humans and animals and is able to see through them. The animals attack and the terror begins.

Private Hell 36

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

In New York, a bank robbery of $300,000 goes unsolved for a year, until some of the marked bills are found in a Los Angeles drugstore theft. Police detectives Cal Bruner and Jack Farnham investigate and are led from the drugstore to a nightclub, where singer Lili is another recipient of a stolen bill. With Lili’s help, the partners track down the remaining money, but both Lili and Frank are dismayed when Cal decides he wants to keep part of it.

Springtime in the Sierras

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Jean Loring has her men illegally killing and selling game. Roy suspects her and gets himself invited to stay at her ranch. Investigating he finds the freezer where the slaughtered game are kept. But he is caught, tied up, and left to freeze.

The Perils of Pauline

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Funloving Pearl White, working in a garment sweatshop, gets her big chance when she “opens” for a delayed Shakespeare play…with a comic vaudeville performance. Her brief stage career leads her into those “horrible” moving pictures, where she comes to love the chaotic world of silent movies, becoming queen of the serials. But the consequences of movie stardom may be more than her leading man can take

The Virginian

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

A good-natured cowboy who is romancing the new schoolmarm has a crisis of conscience when he discovers his best friend is engaged in cattle rustling.

Flat Foot Stooges

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

The stooges are firemen at a station that still uses horses to pull the engines. A salesman who wants to sell the chief some modern equipment plants gun powder in one of the engines. The chiefs daughter catches him and after a chase both are knocked unconscious. When a fire starts, the stooges respond to the alarm, but don’t realize its their firehouse that’s burning! Somehow they manage to arrive in time to save the girl, and the villain gets his just desserts.

The Big Noise

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

John Stoval, a guard in a New York subway, thinks that Philip Hurd, who owns a concession at Coney Island, would make a good husband for his daughter Sophie. Sophie, however, has her sights set on Bill Hedges, the son of a wealthy farmer in upstate New York. Her father arranges for her to marry Hurd in exchange for a 25% interest in the concession, but matters come to a halt when John slips and falls off a subway platform and is injured.