The Diligent Orderly
About The Diligent Orderly
An old general brings sheets of flypaper into the kitchen as an excuse to court the maid, and she sticks the sheets around the room. After he leaves, his batman, hungry and just as flirtatious, gets tangled in the paper. Hot food, dishes, a needle, and other household objects follow. Wikipedia calls the short the first Russian comedy. It survives in part, without intertitles.
Cast & crew
More about The Diligent Orderly
Alexander Drankov is the cinematographer on Wikidata, which lists no director. Wikipedia says Nikolay Filippov, who plays the batman, directed it, with Vasily Garlin as the general, using Saint Petersburg theater actors. The length is 3 minutes, and still cards printed from frames were used as advertising.
Themes
Background
It is dated 1908, the year Drankov set up the first Russian studio.
Making
The production printed cards of film stills, which Wikipedia describes as a new form of advertisement.
Look
Alexander Drankov is the cinematographer on Wikidata.
Preservation
The film is partially preserved, and the surviving material has no intertitles.
Notes
- The Russian title is Userdny denshchik, rendered in English as The Zealous Batman.
- The catalog calls the lead a clumsy valet.
- The surviving copy has no intertitles.
- Filippov is identified as both player and director on the English page.
Scenes
- The batman walks into the flypaper the maid has spread through the kitchen.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (1908. Усердный денщик.webm)