Max entre deux feux (1916)
Directed by Max Linder

Film Review

Between being invalided out of the army during WWI and his first unsuccessful attempt to break into Hollywood, Max Linder made a number of shorts which, whilst not as comedically inspired as his earlier work, show significant progress on the directing front.  Max entre deux feux is one of Linder's most beautifully shot films, elegantly photographed in and around Lake Léman in Switzerland.  Max appears in the film with two attractive young actresses, whose identities appear to have been lost in the mists of time. 

The gags are less interesting than the film's visual composition, which has a striking romanticism with its brooding landscapes and immaculate gardens.  The sequence in which Max rows across the lake at night is particularly eyecatching.  Linder's comic timing is as impeccable as ever and his genius for mime allows him to tell much of the story without inter-titles, a narrative economy that Chaplin and Keaton would struggle to match.  Whilst not the funniest of Linder's films, Max entre deux feux ultimately rewards with one of the best punchlines of any of his films.

Film Synopsis

Max is holidaying incognito in Switzerland when he is noticed by two pretty American girls.  One is blonde, with blue eyes; the other is a brunette with dark eyes.  The girls flatter Max and arrange to meet up with him, but, ever the prankster, Max plays a practical joke on them.  Max then proceeds to court the two girls separately.  In the afternoon, he flirts with Dora, the blonde; in the evening, he flirts with Maud, the brunette.  When the girls discover that Max has sent them an identical love letter they decide to take their revenge.  Aware that Max is within earshot, they declare they will fight a duel.  Max is naturally delighted by this news - it is the first time that two women have fought to the death over him!  Little does he know what the two Americans have in store for him...