L'abito bianco di Robinet (1911) Online

Viewers who've seen the 1969 feature The Comic may recall the bit where "Billy Bright," the former silent comedy star played by Dick Van Dyke, appears in a TV commercial for detergent. The comedian steps out onto the street in a blinding white suit, which, of course, is promptly spattered with mud, axle grease, and every other dark and nasty substance the filmmakers could think of, only to be magically cleansed by the product being pitched. If you need evidence that this routine has been around for a while, it can be found in a very brief but amusing comedy called L'abito bianco di Robinet (a.k.a. Robinet's White Suit), made way back in 1911 by a comedian named Marcel Perez. Perez appeared under a variety of names in a screen career that spanned over two decades. At this point in his career, known as Robinet, he made a series of highly popular films for the Ambrosio Company of Turin, Italy. This one offers a brisk, amusing example of his style.

Robinet appears to be a prosperous householder, and he starts his morning in a cheery mood. Once he determines that the weather is good—erroneously, as it turns out—he instructs the maid to fetch his white suit. Looking dapper, he takes his hat and cane, and steps out to face the day. But things do not go smoothly. First, it's raining hard. Undaunted, our hero purchases an umbrella and tries to continue on his way, but he is forced to deal with a series of escalating calamities: his umbrella is destroyed, he is splashed with mud by a passing car, knocked down by a cyclist, smeared with paint (black, of course), and, on top of all that, pummeled by just about everyone he meets. Finally, in a twist ending (only slightly marred by a bit of missing footage), order is restored, and so is Robinet's cheery mood.

The films of Marcel Perez would become more elaborate in the ensuing years, but this very short and simple effort serves as a pleasant introduction to a long forgotten silent clown.

At first this looks like simply another primitive comedy, perhaps a variation on THE MILLER AND THE COALSWEEP, versions of which had been and continued to be popular. As a result, when Perez sees it's going to be nice weather and decides to wear his nice white suit -- with black shoes! -- the audience knows exactly what to expect: that suit is going to get dirty beyond belief.

What makes this a superior comedy is the great variety and skilled performance that Perez gives in his pratfalls. There's one he performs that I've only seen Keaton perform as well -- he takes a roundhouse swing, his arm drags him in a whirlaround and pulls himself into the mud. I'd like to know what that particular pratfall is called.

The performance is fine and the final gag is a perfect topper. See this one if you can.