Comedy shorts from 1926-1941Rating: 14/20
Plot: Shorts, mostly involving Bowers' characters inventing weird contraptions. And most seem to have something to do with eggs. The films were "lost" until discovered somewhere in France. Hence, the "rediscovery" in the title of the collection.
The comedy is sub-standard here, and Bowers doesn't have nearly enough screen presence for even these 20 minute films. But these are still worth watching for the ingenious use of stop-motion animation. Each short, in fact, contains at least one surreal animated bit (cars hatching from eggs, giant chickens, anthropomorphized shoes) that add a flavor to these things, making them uniquely cool and entertaining. The inventions, complicated devices reminiscent of Rube Goldberg machines, also come from the mind of an inspired madman. This Bowers fellow was one creative dude, and the effects (which I doubt had a precedent) probably do make him a genius, if not exactly a comic one. Unfortunately, disc two in this set contains stuff he did once sound was available, and then the humor gets really embarrassingly bad. Still, recommended for fans of stop-motion or silent comedy.
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