Zany and hilarious, There It Is! is a wild Charley Bowers short featuring his signature stop-motion animation. It concerns a wealthy household plagued by a "Fuzz-Faced Phantom", an entity that knocks people down, floats through walls, and shoots rams out of the sky. They call on Scotland yard for help, only this is literally a fenced square yard in Scotland where men in kilts parade around in circles waiting to be called up. You must see it to believe it. This film was screened at Capitolfest in 2017.

When a mysterious figure appears to cause a series of disruptions at the Frisbie Home in New York, word goes out to Scotland Yard that the Fuzz-Faced Phantom is at work. Soon, Charley MacNeesha and his assistant MacGregor are sent across the ocean to investigate. But even as they arrive at the home, a new series of weird events begins: full-grown chickens hatch from eggs, pots float across rooms, and pants dance of their own volition.Charles Bowers was forgotten for decades and his name was notably absent from most histories of the Silent Era... and how is that possible? Once you have seen this film, you will instantly put it up there with all the silent greats: Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Lloyd... maybe his output was smaller (I don't know), but this one film alone is an incredible mash of surrealistic weirdness and stop-motion chicanery. I can't think of anything else in the era that even comes close.

"There It Is" is a 19-minute black-and--white silent film directed by and starring Charlie Bowers. Now he may not be as famous as Keaton, Lloyd, Chaplin and Arbuckle, but he made a lot of films as well during the silent era and also starred in most of these. Maybe the reason is that most of his work was done when sound emerged already. This one here for example was made in 1928, so almost 90 years ago and there already existed sound films from that year. Anyway, sadly despite this being one of Bowers' most known works, it's hardly a good watch. The only reason I can think of why anybody would want to see it is because of how strange and bizarre it is occasionally. But sadly, despite being described as a comedy, it really never is funny. That's why I cannot recommend the watch overall. Thumbs down.

This is one of those old silent movies that belong in a class with The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916) or Un Chien Andalou (1928)...it is so weird that it stands out and makes you notice it. This little gem involves a Scot detective, a haunted house, and a very goofy looking Phantom. It's very fast-paced and frantic...much like a Keystone Kops movie with a bit higher level of wit.