Monty Banks

1897 - 1950

Monty Banks was a short, stocky but somehow debonair Italian-born comic actor, later also writer and director. In the US from 1914, he first appeared on stage in musical comedy and cabaret. By 1917 he was working as a dancer in New York's Dominguez Cafe. After this he turned to films, acting and doing stunt work at Keystone, Universal and for Al Christie. Changing his name from Mario Bianchi to Monty Banks may have been prompted by Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle as a passing reference to his playing '"montebanks". By 1919 Banks had moved to Vitagraph to play a villain in The Grocery Clerk (1919), foil to star comic Larry Semon. Banks first came to the fore in his own right as star of the "Welcome Comedies" made by Warner Brothers. He spent the early 1920s at Fox and Grand Asher, graduating to writing and directing two-reel comedies with himself as the star. Most noteworthy entries in regard to inventive sight gags and Mack Sennett--style madcap plots are Pay or Move (1924) and The Golf Bug (1924). The success of this series prompted Banks to create an independent production company, the Monty Banks Pictures Corporation, in conjunction with writer/director Howard Estabrook. He made several feature-length films for Pathe, including Play Safe (1927)) (generally considered his best work), which featured a climactic runaway train sequence. This style of fast-action slapstick made it inevitable that Banks suffered more than his fair share of injuries, especially since he continued to do many of his own stunts. From the late 1920s Banks worked in England and made several appearances in sound films. However, his accent proved to be something of an obstacle. He therefore decided, after 1930, to concentrate on directing and producing. He helmed four features starring the popular entertainer Gracie Fields, who became his second wife in 1940. In 1935 he directed a well-received George Formby comedy, No Limit (1935), about the TT motorcycle races on the Isle of Man, which were shot on location there. With the outbreak of World War II Banks--being an Italian citizen--would have faced internment in England as an enemy alien. He therefore deemed it necessary to flee to Canada, and from there to the neutral United States. He eventually obtained American citizenship, for which he had applied years earlier, but had forgotten to submit the necessary paperwork. Back in Hollywood he ended up at 20th Century-Fox, directing Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Great Guns (1941), arguably one of their lesser efforts. Banks died of a heart attack during a trip through Italy in January 1950, aged just 52. Sadly, the majority of his one- and two-reelers are now considered lost films. As a result, his status as a leading comic of the silent screen may have somewhat diminished--except, perhaps, in his home town of Cesena, where a foundation was established in his honor (the "Aula Didattica Monty Banks"), offering students "practical courses on experimental aspects of video production".

Фильмы

Keep Smiling

Albert Austin, Gilbert Pratt

Monty Banks, Robert Edeson

The Boy, involved in a maritime disaster as a child, suffers from hydrophobia. He invents a life preserver that automatically inflates when it hits the water, using it to save the life of Rose Ryan, the daughter of a steamship magnate.

Keep Smiling

1925

США, комедия

Olympic Honeymoon

Alfred J. Goulding

Claude Hulbert, Monty Banks

Comedy set in Switzerland. An estranged honeymooner, mistaken for an ice- hockey champion, helps England to win an international ice hockey match.

Olympic Honeymoon

1940

Poor Old Bill

Monty Banks

Leslie Fuller, Iris Ashley

A man sponges off an old comrade from the First World War who believes he has saved his life during the war, although this ultimately proves not to be true.

Poor Old Bill

1931

Великобритания, комедия

Money for Nothing

Monty Banks

Seymour Hicks, Betty Stockfeld

As he pursues Joan Blossom, ruined gambler Jeff Cheddar is mistaken for two-faced financier Jay Cheddar, eventually leading to Joan's stockbroker father, Sir Henry Blossom, investing heavily in a supposedly worthless gold mine. Financial chaos ensues in a farcical comedy of confused identities, romantic entanglements, and a fortune hiding in a hat.

Money for Nothing

1932

Великобритания, комедия

Almost a Honeymoon

Monty Banks

Clifford Mollison, Dodo Watts

An ambitious young man secures a job in the colonial service, the only stipulation being that he needs to be married which he isn't. He has just twenty four hours to find a woman to persuade to marry him.

Almost a Honeymoon

1930

Великобритания, комедия

Nearly Married

Herman C. Raymaker

Monty Banks, Florence Gilbert

Monty Banks comedy produced by Warners.

Nearly Married

1920

комедия

What a Night!

Monty Banks

Leslie Fuller, Molly Lamont

While staying at a reportedly haunted inn a traveller discovers that the 'ghost' is a thief.

What a Night!

1931

Великобритания, комедия

Eve's Fall

Monty Banks

Muriel Angelus, John Stuart

A girl with amnesia believes she is a bachelor's wife.

Eve's Fall

1930

Великобритания, музыка

Kiss Me Sergeant

Monty Banks

Leslie Fuller, Gladys Cruickshank

In India, a British soldier saves the jeweled eye of a sacred idol.

Kiss Me Sergeant

1930

Великобритания, комедия

Week-End Wives

Harry Lachman

Monty Banks, Jameson Thomas

A lawyer spends the weekend with a married actress at the same hotel as his wife and her lover. This British silent film exists in an abridged 2-reel (32-min) format.

Week-End Wives

7.7 ⚠️ 1929

Великобритания, комедия

The Musical Beauty Shop

Monty Banks

Leonard Henry, Ethel Baird

A beauty salon owner puts on a cabaret.

The Musical Beauty Shop

7.5 ⚠️ 1930

Великобритания, комедия

Chasing Choo Choos

Joseph Henabery

Monty Banks, Virginia Lee Corbin

Virginia Craig will become super-wealthy and gain sole control of her factory, unless insubordinate schemers can trick her into marrying one of their clique. Unfortunately for them, she loves Monty, one of her employees. When the schemers' plot is discovered, a chase starts away from the factory and onto a runaway train.

Chasing Choo Choos

7.4 ⚠️ 1927

боевик

Too Much Johnson

Donald Crisp

Bryant Washburn, Lois Wilson

Augustus Billings has a domineering mother-in-law, and to get away from both her and his wife, he takes a trip, claiming that he is going off to check on Mexican oil investments. But he's really going on a cruise with Mrs. Dathis, who has purchased his yacht. To throw everyone off track, he uses the name Mr. Johnson. When he decides to repeat the trip, however, all hell breaks loose -- the jealous Mr. Dathis is out to get his hands on this Johnson character, while a real Mr. Johnson shows up in Mexico, and Mrs. Billings shows up with her mother, and the confusion continues from there.

Too Much Johnson

7.2 ⚠️ 1919