Watch Now You Tell One For Free

Good concept, poorly executed.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Wow, this was sure a creative little silent comedy! The film starts with a meeting of the Liars Club. Each member is trying to outdo each other with their fanciful tales, but they really aren't that good, so one of them stomps off in disgust. He meets an odd little man (Charley Bowers) with his head stuffed in the end of a cannon (why, they never really seemed to adequately explain). Charley is so weird and tells the strangest stories, so the guy takes him back to the Liars Club to show him off! Charley's story concerns a wonderful scientific potion he's created. Just a few drops can do almost ANYTHING! And, using the best visual tricks of the day I have ever seen, he does the most astounding and unbelievable things!! For example, when he meets a lady in a house infested with mice, he uses the formula to make a plant that grows cats! It looks pretty real as the cats begin rapidly sprouting one after the other! Even today, such a scene would be very difficult to replicate without computers. It took immense patience and skill to do all the amazing camera tricks in the film. You really MUST see them to believe it! In the end, not surprisingly, he wins the admiration of the liars but he's very upset when they announce he is the champion liar. The problem is that everything he told them is TRUE!By the way...look for the mouse who is packing heat. What a great tiny segment!

Although I've been a silent comedy buff practically all my life I never heard of Charley Bowers until quite recently, but after one look at his amazing two-reel short Now You Tell One I wanted to see as much of his work as I could find. Take my word for it, once you see a Charley Bowers film you'll want to see more, and you'll want to know more about the guy, too. Unfortunately, several of his films are missing, and biographical info about the man is sparse, but as in recent years, as interest in this unusual artist has grown, all of his surviving movies have been restored and released on home video and DVD. I've managed to see several of Bowers' other comedies, but keep coming back to this one, which I feel stands as his most accomplished and surreal comedy.The premise is ideal for Bowers' off-the-wall imagination: the story concerns an organization known as the Liars' Club, whose members bestow an annual award upon the Champion Liar. The film kicks off with three brief whoppers related by club members (one of which involves impressive animation depicting a herd of elephants marching into the U.S. Capitol building), but this is merely a warm-up for the main event. Once Charley arrives on the scene and launches into his own tall tale we're truly in Never Never Land, with imagery that rivals Salvador Dali's most feverish nightmares. And make no mistake, what Bowers gives us is more dream-like than funny, in the traditional sense, although you may well laugh at the sheer craziness of it all. The imagery includes boots that lace themselves, a straw hat that sprouts on a man's head, terrorist mice firing pistols, a Christmas tree -- complete with ornaments and tinsel -- which grows before our eyes from the handle of a farmer's plow, and, most disturbing of all, a pussy willow sprig that produces actual cats. When it's all over you may feel the way you do after viewing the most outrageous Fleischer cartoons, goggle-eyed and dazed.This fascinating film was first made widely available a few years ago as part of Kino's "Slapstick Encyclopedia" video collection, where it was included in a cassette of the more offbeat or semi-forgotten comedians. Seen in this context, alongside the comparatively famous Ben Turpin and Larry Semon, Bowers' obscurity is all the more bewildering. The guy was so original, so amazingly creative, why wasn't he better known? His work jumps right out at you, but maybe that in itself was the problem -- perhaps he was just too weird for widespread, mainstream appreciation. Whatever it was, we're lucky that any of Charley Bowers' work survives at all, and movie buffs with an interest in silent comedy, animation, or screen surrealism should make it a priority to see his films and spread the word about this unsung, eccentric artiste!

For something so little known now, this is pretty impressive and very entertaining. Charley Bowers had some amazing creativity, if this short comedy is any indication. The story itself is amusing enough - Charley's character gets involved in a tall-tale contest at the Liars Club - but it is the visual effects that set it apart. The nearly seamless effects are well-chosen in illustrating Charley's stories, and show an extraordinary creativity in using so many simple objects in clever and surprising ways.It's not even necessary to say that the effects are good 'for their time'. If anything, they are more creative and effective than most of the computer-created visual effects you see these days, because Bowers knew how to create something interesting and enjoyable to look at without resorting to explosions or other tired devices. Based on this feature, it's a real shame that more of Bowers's work is not readily available. But "Now You Tell One" is an excellent little feature, and one that is easily worth the trouble it takes to track it down.

Charles Bowers was first an animator, and his flair for stop-motion shows in this amazing short comedy. The excellent special effects will truly amaze even the most CGI-jaded viewer. Luckily, Bowers' creative wit matches his agility with the camera - there're some crazy and hilarious sight gags here.