The Alice Howell Collection On DVD From Undercrank Productions On Mar. 5

Ben Model’s Undercrank Productions announced this past week that a double-disc DVD presentation titled The Alice Howell Collection will be available for film buffs, collectors and the curious to savor on Mar. 5.

Rediscovered — not that she was really lost to fans of films from the silent era — thanks in part to writer Anthony Slide’s book, “She Could Be Chaplin!: The Comedic Brilliance of Alice Howell,” (with a foreward written by her grandson, George Stevens, Jr.) and Steve Massa, “Slapstick Divas: The Women of Silent Comedy,” Alice Howell was indeed a leading lady of slapstick comedy, with her mentors being none other than Mack Sennett and Charlie Chaplin.

Undercrank Productions, working with the Library of Congress, has restored no less than 12 of her silent short films (most of her films are sadly lost), many of which have not been seen since they were first screened 100 years ago!

Included in this unique collection (in chronological order), first from the L-KO Kompany period are: Director/actor Rube Miller’s 1914 silent short film Shot in the Excitement, co-starring Al St. John; director Henry Lehrman’s Father Was a Loafer and Under New Management (both from 1915) and director John G. Blystone’s How Stars are Made.

From her time with Century Comedies: Neptune’s Naughty Daughter (1917) and In Dutch (1918) … both director by John G. Blystone.

From Reelcraft Pictures (aka: Emerald Comedies) are: Distilled Love (1920), co-starring Oliver Hardy; His Wooden Leg-acy (1920); Her Lucky Day (also 1920); Cinderella Cinders (Howell as Cinderella, 1920) and A Convict’s Happy Bride (also 1920).

And lastly, the Universal Pictures production of Under A Spell (released in 1925), which was directed by Richard Smith, who was a co-star and director in many of her films … and also her husband.   

Of note, Alice Howell’s daughter, Yvonne Howell (from her first marriage), followed in her mother’s footsteps and the two appeared in director Nat Ross’ 1928 silent short film, The Junior Year.   Yvonne would meet cinematographer George Stevens at one of Oliver Hardy’s dinner parties (her mother’s co-star in Distilled Love) and, as they say, the rest is history … Stevens made the move to producing and directing films and would go on to win Best Director Oscars for both A Place in the Sun and Giant.