Maud Linder

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

In 1914, Max Linder (1883-1925) was a great star of silent cinema, the King of Cinema. But then World War I broke out, in which Max participated, and the whole world, and his life in particular, was changed forever. His daughter Maud has fought for seventy years to regain his legacy. This is his story…

Paul Merton goes in search of the origins of screen comedy in the forgotten world of silent cinema - not in Hollywood, but closer to home in pre-1914 Britain and France. Revealing the unknown stars and lost masterpieces, he brings to life the pioneering techniques and optical inventiveness of the virtuosos who mastered a new art form. With a playful eye and comic sense of timing, Merton combines the role of presenter and director to recreate the weird and wonderful world that is early European cinema in a series of cinematic experiments of his own.