Searching for documentation about Max Linder, we found in an abandoned house a trunk sealed for 100 years, with a film from 1926 by an unknown filmmaker. The film depicts Max Linder, the first international screen star who was once revered in France, throughout Europe and in Hollywood. This pioneer of early silent film comedy was a mentor to Charlie Chaplin. Max miraculously avoided death five times. And finally, at the height of his artistic powers, he and his adored wife committed a double suicide. How was this possible?

A look back at Charlie Chaplin's early life and career, from his rough childhood and music hall success in England to his early Hollywood days and the development of his enormously popular character, the Little Tramp, also called Charlot.

A documentary with many excerpts from the films of French movie pioneer Max Linder, narrated by his daughter.

Produced for television by Claude-Jean Philippe, the « Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma », recounts the history of French cinema from its birth to the beginning of the 1960s. With commentary read by Jean Rochefort.

Pioneering comedy legend Max Linder wrote, produced, directed and starred in Seven Years Bad Luck. Hilarious misadventures begin when Max' butler, chasing a maid, breaks an expensive full-length mirror. The butler persuades the cook, who somewhat resembles Max, to stand behind the frame and be Max's reflection. This gag, developed by Max, has become a classic of film and even television borrowed by everyone from the Marx Brothers to Abbott and Costello to Red Skeleton.

This German crime drama was based on a true story. Willy Forst stars as a poverty-stricken Italian glazier who falls in love with French hotel maid Rosa Valletti. Struck by the girl's resemblance to Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Forst manages to steal the painting from the Louvre in hopes of impressing his sweetheart. But when the girl proves to be a fickle sort, the crestfallen hero confesses his crime and is carted off to jail. Unwilling to admit that he'd been led astray by a woman, Forst claims that he stole the Mona Lisa to restore it to his native Italy, and as a result is hailed as a national hero! Raub der Mona Lisa was distributed in the U.S. by RKO Radio, under the title The Theft of the Mona Lisa.

Max accepts a wager that he cannot remain in a haunted castle for one hour (11 PM to midnight) without crying for help. As soon as he arrives he encounters strange and nightmarish visions, but he is nevertheless on the verge of winning the bet when a phone-call brings startling news.

Directed by Édouard-Émile Violet.

Some promotional footage shot for "Max, der Zirkuskönig".

In this movie, Max Linder parodies the famous novel "The Three Musketeers".

Max is determined to woo Mary, despite her Aunt Agatha's disapproval. Then, Max and Mary become embroiled in the world of Madam Coralie, a prominent dressmaker-bootlegger.

After breaking a mirror in his home, superstitious Max tries to avoid situations which could bring bad luck, but in doing so causes himself the worst luck imaginable.

Max is a millionaire who is forced to lead a double-life as a waiter, the result of having lost a wager.

The story is about Max who in holiday in Switzerland meets two young American girls. They're friends, the first one is blond, the other one is brunette. He falls in love with the two of them and decide to declare his flame first to the brunette then to the blond. When they realize the game Max is playing, they decide to play also. It is a delicate comedy between the three characters realized all in outsides (certainly around the Leman's lake)with a very good direction and very pretty images. The two unknown actress are also very charming. One of the best of Max Linder.

A wealthy alcoholic is disowned by his father for his drunken behavior. Now penniless, he takes a job as a taxi driver, despite not knowing how to drive.

Max is forced to choose between losing his newly wedded wife and a fortune. He hits upon a brilliant scheme: He will give his wife grounds for a divorce, secure the money and then make his ex-wife Mrs. Linder again. He goes through any amount of trouble in helping her to get the necessary evidence, only to find that it is all a mistake on the part of a stupid lawyer - the money and the wife are both to be his.

The adventures of Max Linder, some based on real events, some fictional, as he travels by ocean liner from France to America.

Max being a gentleman and helping a lady in distress. Max willingly helps the lady recover her forgotten purse before the boat they're traveling on is leaving.

Renowned French comedian and filmmaker Max Linder visits Charlie Chaplin in 1917.

A love sick Max fly to find his love and recover.

A Max Linder comedy short.

The extremely ludicrous adventures of an intoxicated man aboard a yacht.

Auguste is cured! The doctor at the asylum said so. Delighted, his mother gives him a few coins so he can go out for a little entertainment. Auguste settles in a cinema to admire the great Max Linder. Enthused by the film, he goes off with the movie poster to make himself a suit like the star's. With a false visiting card, he goes to an agent, who sends him to the Comica film company. But the charming man is going to make a terrible mistake on his way… This comedy brings together two French silent film stars: Max Linder and Romeo Bosetti.

In this three-reeler, the young lady with whom he is in love is sent to a convent to get her away from Max. Max goes after her. While we are not forced to watch the mustachioed Linder in drag, there are some nice gags here as Max manages to get his chauffeur blamed for everything, including an abduction of the girl.

Again Max is forced into marriage. If he doesn't marry soon he won't get any more money from his uncle. As all three candidates refuse his proposal he talks his servant into playing the bride. He manages to fool his uncle and both get actually married. As soon as he holds in his hands the treaty that grants him a huge amount of money the hurry home. When his uncle pays them a visit they are found out.

When Max's friends doubt his acting ability, he invites them to a dramatic theatrical performance.

Max visits a lady doctor for a chest cold and is alternately anxious and nervous and excited, in a romantic and sexual way, depicted by his clever pantomime.

Coming to visit a girl, Max presents himself as a pedicurist.

In consequence of a first kiss, poor Max finds himself claimed as a property of a persistent damsel. Even his approaching marriage does not deter the lady, who leads him a merry dance.

A Max Linder comedy short.

"Scene, a first-class railway carriage. Max and delightful girl alone. "May I smoke?" breaks the ice, and then Max brings all the arts of fascination to bear on the lady, who is by no means shy. Max calls next day. Her father is in the enamel bath and geyser line. Max is making love; a customer enters. Girlie hides Max in portable shower bath. Enter father, who is a good salesman. He turns on the shower - and Max. What a delightful comedian Linder is." (The Bioscope, Nov. 22, 1917)

Max is late for his own wedding, and, worse yet, has no shoes.

At the beach, amorous Max exchanges his shoes for those of a fair bather. The scheme goes awry, Linder's dog still further adding to the fun.

Max is invited to join his uncle for a holiday, but he hasn't invited his wife, so he sneaks her in in his suitcase, always hiding her from his uncle...

Max loves a charming girl to distraction, but her father declares that his daughter shall never marry anyone but a musician. Max tries his hand at all kinds of instruments, only to fail lamentably. Eventually, he bluffs the professor by using a mechanical instrument, only to have his clever trick discovered on the evening of his betrothal.

Blind courtship over a hedge.

Max has been invited to meet with his in-laws and must dress formally, but each hat he attempts to wear for the occasion gets destroyed.

In this one, Max is engaged to a girl -- called, as in all his shorts, 'Jane' -- and she loves her pussycat. She loves the lazy, immobile lump of fur in a way that only cat lovers can, and which is a mystery to us normal people. She pets it, she croons to it, she makes it play the piano --- 'presumably "Kitten on the Keys" and Max just hates it. Max is all reaction takes in this one and up to his usual standards, including one great gag to round off the picture.

Max Linder finds himself obsessed with bull fighting. This seems to echo the nature of the actual man, who is reported to have mastered most of the skills that his character attempts within a rapid amount of time; when you see Max challenging a bull or several towards the end of the film, you can be quite confident that it is the real Linder triumphing out on the arena.

Max is in love with a charming girl, who also is already affianced to another. Does Max despair? Never. The debonair gentleman sets his wits to work to frustrate his rival's little game, and though he meets with several rebuffs in the end he is successful. Even then the rival, on the eve of his wedding, tries to turn the tables on Max, and very nearly succeeds, but with the little lady's help Max finally wins. The story is full of quaint and whimsical humour, which culminates in some exceedingly funny scenes before a mirror, in which Max sees strange visions.

Max reads in a newspaper, that Gladys Maxence, a rich American woman, seeks a young sportsman for marriage...

Max meets the Countess Duvienne in a very distressing moment, for she has just learned that her jockey will be unable to ride her horse, the favorite for the owner's stakes. In that irresistible way of his, Max volunteers to ride in the jockey's stead, the countess thanks him but cannot accept his offer, because of his excessive weight. The gallant Max, nothing daunted, decides to reduce. After running a mile with a forty-pound dumbbell, he looks like a wet rag, but goes gamely to a Turkish bath. This treatment brings Max down to weight, and mounted on the countess' horse. Max fights every stride of the tight race, hut wins, not only the race, but the countess as well.

He attempts to take a photo of a woman in a bathing suit (and she's no beauty), waiting while she swims around like she thinks she's an early embodiment of Esther Williams. He's waiting for her to emerge so he can snap the photo, but she fools him by diving beneath the sea (like an overweight mermaid) and running ashore some distance away so he doesn't see her.

Max starts out at a costume store to get a costume for a party. He sees a suit of armor and purchases it. He wears it to the party and gets kind of drunk and passes out. In the meantime, a museum has a suit of armor ready for a new display. It is to be dedicated and some such. It comes up missing, so Max, passed out and still in his armor is put on display.

Commonly confused with Max ne se mariera pas

Max is in love with Lili, capricious bride who won't do his will until he has recovered the ring she launched into the sea. But Max is afraid of water...

Max officiates between two brawny boxers, then steps in against the cocky larger man, the acclaimed French stage director Maurice Tourneur. To gain an advantage, the tiny Max summons in the gorgeous young model, Hope Hampton, as a more suitable referee, hoping she will overlook Max's big bag of tricks.

The story is simple: Max and a pretty young lady, whom he has never met before, arrive at the same time at a luxury hotel on the Riviera, each for a little vacation by themselves. They are placed in adjoining hotel suites. Both Max and the pretty lady place their shoes outside their hotel room doors to be cleaned by staff, and the shoes fall in love.

As a struggling artist, Max is not allowed to pay attentions to a girl by her father. Max decides to win by persistency, and it is a case where persistency meets obstinacy to come off victorious. The artist is required to follow the father and daughter through the Alps. He finally gets the old man's promise to give his consent to the marriage in payment for his rescue.

Max and his friend, who came to visit him in Paris both fall in love with his new maid. The girl is very friendly, and while one plays the piano, she dances with the other - and they are so happy that even the decor dances at the rhythm.

Max relates to Mona, staying for the winter sports in Switzerland, that he killed a magnificent bear on the previous day, but that the dogs ate it, skin and all; but for that, concludes Max, Mona should have had his skin. Mona is sceptical, and insists that Max shall shoot another bear.

Max is doing the Tango with Miss Leonora in a Berlin night club. Being impressed by the performance a german Baron asks him to give his family a dancing lesson. In the course of the evening Max gets drunk and is still fighting his hangover when he arrives at the Baron's house the next morning. Before the lesson Max asks them to follow his every move. But because of his condition he is making the weirdest gestures and all ends up in a great turmoil.

Max is informed by his rich uncle that he's tired of supporting him. Instead, he has a farmer friend and he wants Max to marry one of the farmer's daughters. However, the farmer decides that his oldest is for Max and has the youngest dress up like a maid. However, Max finds himself drawn to this 'maid' and although he wants to follow his uncle's advice, his heart is leading him to who he thinks is a common working girl. It all culminates in a cute final scene.

Max wants to marry his girl but one man stands in the way. Her guardian. And Max got to find a way to get him to consent.

Max Linder strays further from his usual haunts of situational comedy, far into straight slapstick as he gets into a dispute over the woman he is courting with a pantomime donkey -- although whether the donkey wants the girl or Max i something I can not quite make out.

Max and his wife each blame the other for a nagging tongue. Max offers to bet his wife fifty pounds, even money both ways, that she will be the first to speak or make a sign after the acceptance of the bet. His wife accepts the wager, and the two young people allow their flat to be burgled rather than move or murmur. Max sits out the ordeal in agony, up to the time the burglar attempts to kiss his wife. Then, with a yell, he rises to punch the burglar's head. There is joy in the punch, but less in the drawing of the check.

It is Max's wedding night, married to the beautiful Stacia Napierkowska. He and his bride are sleeping..... and a flea keeps disturbing him.

Max wants to marry a lady. Inexplicably she insists she won't marry him until he learns to juggle! Perhaps she was just trying to blow him off--but you are left wondering WHY! Max goes home and tries to learn but is pretty hopeless. So, he gets a brainstorm that he hopes might work...

Max, who fears dogs, is chased by them through the city, over walls, and even up a chimney and onto a roof.

Max is in love with a pretty girl, and one evening pays a stolen visit to his sweetheart's, whose father, a successful dyer, has to leave by a late train for the provinces...

When Max, a newly married man, suspects that his wife may be cheating on him, he gives his faithful dog Dick orders to keep on eye on her when he's not at home.

"Max quarrels so with his wife that the lady leaves him. Our hero then attempts to do his own cooking, etc. He buys a fowl, but it proves to be still alive, and after he has chased it with a revolver, partly plucked it, shaved and finally half-roasted it, the bird is still alive and wings its way off. Max next turns his attention to blacking his boots, upsets the liquid blacking, spoons it up, and a minute later is using the same spoon to stir the broth. He writes for his wife to return home, but soon after sending the letter hears he is heir to a large fortune, and lives in the seventh heaven of delight - until his wife returns." (The Bioscope, Feb. 15, 1912)

Max, awakening on his wedding morning, discovers that it is close on the hour when he should be at the church. He dresses hastily, and in struggling with a refractory collar, allows his boots to be burnt by the fire. There is no time to change them, and he hastens off to the bride's house. On the way his soles part company with their uppers, and poor Max enters into negotiations with a passing labourer for the purchase of his footgear.

Max visits a doctor who prescribes a tonic (Bordeaux of Cinchona) for him to drink every morning. Upon returning home, Max sees a large glass which was left by his wife and labeled "Souvenir de Bordeaux". He consumes it its entirety after assuming that it was his medicine. Immediately Max feels much better. Hilarity ensues as Max goes about the day in a completely drunken state.

Max is a stage struck youth, and because of a deep-seated desire to go on the stage, refuses to consent to a marriage his father has planned for him. The girl, whom Max has never met, is also stage struck, and entertains no wish of marrying him, though her mother is anxious to see her make the alliance. The parents finally manage to bring the young people together, and they, in turn, exert all their skill in an attempt to disgust each other. An accidental meeting between the two when they are off guard causes them to change their minds.

Max, the celebrated fun maker, is shown in another of his amusing playlets. His fiancée, ere she marries him, insists that he prove himself a hero by fighting a duel. Max has difficulty in finding an opponent whom he can defeat and his adventures constitute a comedy which is a scream from start to finish.

To reassure his fans, Max Linder has been filming with his family at his place of convalescence...

Max and his young bride attempt to enjoy an Alpine honeymoon, despite the presence of her mother.

Max has just been married, but is about to be divorced, because at his marriage party he disgraced himself. Of course, the matter is a secret, but Max was most horribly annoyed with a persistent flea that located itself in his nether garments. So, retiring to a quiet spot, he removed both the garments and the flea, but, unfortunately, he was discovered in his seclusion. In the divorce court Max wins his case, but just how is too good to tell in a story of this sort.

A short movie.

The film begins with Max being invited to dinner with his fiancée and future in-laws. To be polite, he stops on the way at a bakery to bring along a small gift for the in-laws. Unfortunately, he steps on some flypaper and has a devil of a time getting it off himself. When he arrives at the dinner, he's quite sticky and this causes LOTS of problems--which would have all been alleviated had he told them of his flypaper predicament. The title of the print gives the wrong date and title. Although there may well have been an earlier version with a similar plot (a number of films, which Max Linder made between 1905 and 1908, are still unidentified) it is quite clear that this particular one was made in 1910.

Max is about to make his first call upon a young lady, the daughter of distinguished parents, and he wants to make a good impression. As he dresses to go out he stoops over to fix his shoe and, horrors! He tears his trousers. Where? Well, in a most embarrassing place. He fixes them hurriedly, trusting to have his coat tails cover it, but alas, the coat is too short for this purpose. Nevertheless, he takes a chance and, arriving at the house has the butler make a close inspection. He seems to be all right and enters, but when he bows to his hostess he hears the sickening sound of tearing cloth and knows that his patch has given way. Max hastily seats himself and during the rest of the evening performs the most astounding feats to hide his terrible secret.

In this one, [Max] is on vacation and wooing a young lady, but she and her cousin decide to play a trick on him, by getting him inside a barrel, and then tossing it into the ocean.

On doctor's orders Max buys a new bathtub but things don't work out as planned.

Recommended by a friend of the Ambigu Theatre, Max is summoned to Joinville studios. His first role is that of a husband who comes home late.

The versatile Max Linder heads a novel chase in this film, the pursuers being three dogs, the pets of the comedian's fiancée. Max was dreadfully afraid of dogs anyhow, and of these dogs in particular, because they were jealous when their mistress caressed Max. On the wedding day he had them locked up, but they escaped and ran to the parlor, where the ceremony was in progress. Max fled through numberless streets, houses, rooms, and finally to the roof, where he gave up and sent back a note by the dogs declining to marry and be devoured. The picture amuses.

In a snowy Alpine district Max takes his first lessons in the art of skiing. He leaves the hotel with his skis fixed to his shoes, and his efforts and contortions to get through the door of his room are absurdly ludicrous. Finally he manages to get out and we see him making frantic efforts to maintain his equilibrium on the fairly gentle slope.

Max Linder is out of sorts and bad-tempered. He is rude to his wife, who tells him she will leave him. He sees an advertisement for pills which promote universal love and good fellowship and goes out to buy a box. However, he leaves it on the table and his wife helps herself, with the consequence that she feels impelled to kiss all the men she meets, leaving Max with three duels on hand.

Max acknowledges his father-in-law's dinner invitation with a business memorandum to his horse dealer.

Astigmatic, Max apologizes to lampposts, kisses the wrong lady, and is challenged to a duel.

Max sees himself as a great dramatic actor but his friends all think he's talentless. So, he invites them to come see him in a play. Unfortunately, lots of things go wrong with Max's props during the production. And, following his big dramatic suicide scene, he finds that his friends have all decided to play a trick on him--though Max has the last laugh.

Max and Mick, two brothers, have prepared for a merry spree and are actually stepping into their cab when it occurs to them they are penniless. Lots are drawn to see who shall beard stern father and make the necessary touch. The choice falls on Max who is far from successful in his mission, and he communicates the bad news to his brother Mick, who after thinking announces that he has an idea.

Max and his wife of three years are happy in most regards but one: they still don't have a child. When Max reads of a new method of "spontaneous generation" in the paper, it seems his fondest wish may have come true. However, the young couple may get more than they bargained for.

A young prince secretly married to a gypsy girl is forced to disclose the fact when his father desires him to marry a wealthy girl. Cast out by his parents he is forced to earn his own living, and commencing in the streets as an acrobat he eventually becomes the star turn in a prominent vaudeville house. His father one night sees his son's performance and pleased with his success agrees to a reconciliation with him, his wife and little child. Max Linder plays the chief part in the film and his cleverness on the trapeze shows him in a new light

Mother in law gets a new set of dentures. Despite being initially happy, the family soon discovers the teeth have a life of their own and jump from their owner's mouth and bite everyone who comes near--from ladies to gentlemen to policemen.

This Max Linder short opens with him and his girl blissfully rowing in a canoe before skipping ahead two years later.

Max Linder is an ardent suitor for the hand of a somewhat rampageous young lady. The gentle Max suffers sadly from her rough treatment, but at length he extracts the promise that she will marry him when he has learned to juggle with three balls.

A man, his wife and their two sons are having a meal. One of the sons leaves the room pretending to be ill and collects a bunch of flowers form a cupboard and goes out. The other son takes a bunch of flowers from under his bed and he too leaves, followed by their father, also carrying flowers. The two sons and their father call on the same young women one after the other; as each arrives, the previous suitor is hidden in a piece of furniture: the father under a chair cover, one son in a cupboard and the other in a piano. A girlfriend of the young woman visits and the two play pranks on the hiding men by playing the piano and sitting on the chair cover. The three men emerge and the father chases his two sons outside until they remind him of his own folly; he gives his sons some money and urges them to keep silent.

Based on characters from Shakespeare's play: When Juliet's father refuses to let Romeo see her, Romeo resorts to extreme measures.

Max at an evening party takes a necklace from one of the guests and makes good his escape. The guests and the police set out in pursuit but Max employs some novel methods and among others mounts a boat on the water chute and finally makes good his escape in a balloon which soars far out of reach of his would-be captors. This film is just cram full of novel situations and laughable episodes.

A young man is seen entering his room and from the many expressions on his worn face one could not doubt that he is just returning from one grand night with the boys, and is in no condition to be annoyed or disturbed. After administering to his wants in the form of headache tablets, he goes to lie down for a while and sleep the effects of the previous night off. In a room directly over him are a number of people conducting a rehearsal.

A housewife tires of her husband's annoying behavior and returns to her mother. At first, the husband is quite pleased to have the house all to himself. But he quickly discovers that even the most basic domestic chores can be fraught with difficulty.

Max, a young man about town, splits his trousers while getting ready to go out one night. After applying some rather risky repairs without taking the trousers off, he gingerly heads off to a dinner party. Of course, disaster strikes almost as soon as he arrives, and he spends the rest of the film frantically attempting to hide the gaping tear in his trousers from the other guests.

The film is quite sophisticated for it's time with a relatively large number of scene changes as we follow Max's misadventures. It also features a close-up shot to show his reactions to the effects of the cigar he is smoking.

Polichinelle the servant (called Harlequin in the English language version) rescues his girlfriend from a gang of decadent aristocrats, who have transformed her into a mechanical doll.

Max causes havoc when he joins other skaters on a frozen lake.

A dramatic short.

A man has diarrhea.... a French comedy.

The setting is a postoffice. A well-to-do lady has brought her maid to lick the stamps. A man, the maid's love interest, is taken by the sight and, as soon as he can, attempts to kiss her. Unfortunately the lovers forgot about the sticky residue…

French film starring Max Linder, released in 1907.

Silent starring Max Linder.

A series of comic mishaps in house boxes at a music hall.

Max has some shoes but they're a bit tight.

Suffering from unrequited love, Max hangs himself from a tree, and ends up hanging for hours while local townspeople squabble over whose responsibility it is to rescue him.

With contraband strapped to the backs of their dogs, smugglers set off to cross the Spanish-French border. Having been spied upon and betrayed to customs officers, a fierce skirmish results and only the dogs and a single smuggler reach their destination.

A young student goes to his father and asks for money. When this isn't enough he goes to his mother who gives him more. Happy, he meets his friends who are at a cafe with two young women. They eat and drink and the waiter comes with the bill and demands the student pay it. A fight ensues and he is brought back to his parents house in a carriage. His parents wake up and rush to their son who can't furnish an explanation.

A young fellow, who is afflicted with a nervous disorder, gets fits of twitching, which is contagious to all within sight.