Happy New Year! (1909)
A man goes out on New Year's Day and is greeted by everyone with "Happy New Year", in the hope of getting a tip. The fellow is so annoyed that he runs into trouble with the law and almost loses his mind.
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This is a very pleasant split reel comedy in which the protagonist is overwhelmed by everyone insisting that he buy some New Year's kitsch -- I've been there myself on New Year's Eve, as well on Saint Patrick's Day.For a split-reel, there's an awful lot of variety in what goes on, from the usual chase, to a plethora of special effects shots. It appears that the final gag was cut on the print I saw on Youtube, but it's not as if anything happened that I really didn't expect. Once the inevitability of the gag is set up, its anticipation before the character can see it provides its own humor.The movie was shot a lot darker than most comedies are usually. This might have been simply a decision in printing it, of course, or it may have been a deliberate choice to add a serious undertone to the complaining tone.