Echoing Jacques Tati and silent film era comedies, Richard Allen's two shorts, combined here to make one showing, are funny, clever, and visually stunning.

Allen filmed the two shorts in the 70's, presumable before 1975, since the latter stars a very young and unrecognizable Chevy Chase. The first film, "Crashpad" is kinda silly. It stands only fairly well on it's own. What is remarkable is it's sense of silent comedies and French fare that sort of envelops the film in a warm glow. The films star, a mustachioed actor named Paul B. Price exhibits his remarkable ability to handle the absurd and make it work, and make it comedic. The film also works well because of it's ending, where Allen's protagonist (and seemingly his camera as well) fall onto the street outside and we are dumped into the real world where a man-on-the-street's reaction to the chaos pouring into the real world is glimpsed briefly before the camera seems to run out of film and the white glow of the projector bulb pops onto the screen. It's a delightful ending.

In "The One Armed Bandit," Allen again employs Price to play his lead. The film may go on much to long but it is sweet and amusing nonetheless. Here, rather than the proverbial "one armed bandit" being a slot machine, Price plays the titular character, a literal one armed bandit, a robber with one arm in a cast.

Allen opts for funny and lingering sequences where Price has enormous fun trying to hold a gun and rob his victim all with just one arm available to him. It's cleaver and amusing. His film's victim, Larry Bryggman could be Tati's American cousin. So the film looks like a silent era Keystone Cop, dressed as a French peasant, robbing Tati on a deserted New York City street. It's wonderful.

The film has a gorgeous and vintage look to it. It's no surprise to us to find out it was filmed in the 70's. It would take $100,000 to get a modern cityscape to look this desolate and wonderful. Allen's film is a wondrous relic brought back into the light. It's simply a marvelous work. Instant cinematic Americana.

Allen has wonderful and amusing stories to tell about the films when you meet him in person. The films should come either with him in person or with a filmed interview with him. His personality and storytelling add so much to the satisfaction of seeing the films. But even without allen the films are genuine masterpieces, especially "Bandit." Perhaps we should all make films, hide them in our closets, and go to Park City in 2020 with them.

Note:

One of Allen's best stories is about how the films (in a plastic bag) were thrown into his backyard (by a angry girlfriend) and buried buried out there for quite sometime before he found them.

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