Acting
Max Linder
Although all too frequently neglected by fans of silent comedy, Max Linder is in many ways as important a figure as Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd, not least because he predated (and influenced) them all by several years, and was largely responsible for the creation of the classic style of silent slapstick comedy. He started out as an actor in the French theatre, but after making his screen debut in 1905 he quickly became an enormously famous and successful film comedian on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to his character "Max", a top-hatted dandy. By 1912, he was the highest-paid film star in the world, with an unprecedented salary of one million francs. He began to direct films in 1911 and showed equal facility behind the camera, but his career suffered an almost terminal blow when he was called up to fight in World War I. He was gassed, and the illness that resulted would blight his career. Although offered a contract in America, recurring ill-health meant that his US films had little of the sparkle of his early French work, and a brief attempt to revive his career by making films for the recently-formed United Artists (one of whose founders, of course, was Chaplin) in the early 1920s came to little, although these later films are now regarded as classics. He returned to France and killed himself in a suicide pact with his wife in 1925.
Filmography
Life and Deaths of Max Linder
Film · 2024
Charlie Chaplin, The Genius of Liberty
Film · 2020
Max Linder Collection 1917-1922
Film · 2014
Birth of the Tramp
Film · 2013
The Man in the Silk Hat
Film · 1983
Hollywood
Series · 1980
Laugh with Max Linder
Film · 1963
All in Good Fun
Film · 1955
The Way of the World
Film · 1947
Charlie the Innkeeper
Film · 1939
The Theft of the Mona Lisa
Film · 1931
Au secours !
Film · 1924
King of the Circus
Film · 1924
The Three Must-Get-Theres
Film · 1922
Seven Years Bad Luck
Film · 1921
Be My Wife
Film · 1921
Le Petit Café
Film · 1919
Max the Heartbreaker
Film · 1917
Max in a Taxi
Film · 1917
Max Wants a Divorce
Film · 1917
Max and the Purse
Film · 1917
Max devrait porter des bretelles
Film · 1917
Max Comes Across
Film · 1917
Max Linder Visits Charlie Chaplin
Film · 1917
Max in Monaco
Film · 1915
Chance and Love
Film · 1915
Hairdresser of Love
Film · 1915
Max Wishes He Hadn't
Film · 1914
Max Speaks English
Film · 1914
The False Max Linder
Film · 1914
Max Plays the Part
Film · 1914
Max and the Lady Doctor
Film · 1914
Max Sets the Style
Film · 1914
Max as a Chiropodist
Film · 1914
Max's Vacation
Film · 1914
Max in the Convent
Film · 1914
The Forced Marriage
Film · 1914
Max and the Jealous Husband
Film · 1914
Max Plays at Drama
Film · 1914
Max's Latest Hobby
Film · 1914
Max's Hat
Film · 1913
Max Takes a Picture
Film · 1913
Max: Jockey for Love
Film · 1913
Max Linder Does All the Sports
Film · 1913
Max Toreador
Film · 1913
An Unexpected Marriage
Film · 1913
Max as a Musician
Film · 1913
Le billet doux
Film · 1913
Max Linder's Appointment
Film · 1913
Jalousie
Film · 1912
Max and His Dog Dick
Film · 1912
A Farmhouse Romance
Film · 1912
Max Wants to Grow
Film · 1912
Max Juggles for Love
Film · 1912
Max and the Donkey
Film · 1912
Max and the Statue
Film · 1912
An Agitated Night
Film · 1912
Max Sets the Fashion
Film · 1912
Cordial Agreement
Film · 1912
Long-Lasting Love
Film · 1912
The Water-Funker
Film · 1912
The Wedding Trunk
Film · 1912
Max Takes Back His Freedom
Film · 1912
Champion de boxe
Film · 1911
Max and His Mother-in-Law
Film · 1911
Max Takes Tonics
Film · 1911
Max Takes a Bath
Film · 1911
Max and Jane Want to Do Theater
Film · 1911
Max Is Convalescent
Film · 1911
Max's First Job
Film · 1910
Max Gets Stuck Up
Film · 1910
Max Embarrassed
Film · 1910
The Adventures of Tartarin the Younger
Film · 1910
Max Skiing
Film · 1910
I Want a Baby
Film · 1910
The Little Vixen
Film · 1909
Love's Surprises
Film · 1909
The Barometer of Fidelity
Film · 1909
In Love with the Bearded Woman
Film · 1909
A Conquest
Film · 1909
His First Cigar
Film · 1908
Troubles of a Grass Widower
Film · 1908
Beginning of the Serpentine Dance
Film · 1908
At the Show
Film · 1907
Harlequin's Story
Film · 1907
Max Learns to Skate
Film · 1907
Phial of Poison
Film · 1907
C'est Papa qui a pris la purge
Film · 1906
Attempted Suicide
Film · 1906