Thursday, May 31, 2018

516 - Who Done It?, United States, 1942. Dir. Erle C. Kenton.

Thursday, May 31, 2018

516 - Who Done It?, United States, 1942.  Dir. Erle C. Kenton.

What do you do when you dream of being a writer for a nationally syndicated radio program?

Get a job as a soda jerk at the soda counter in the lobby.

Of course it helps to be competent.  After all, this is Abbott and Costello we are talking about.

Or Chick Larkin and Mervyn Q. Milgrim in this case.

They do gags at the counter, showing off their lack of skills.

But through a series of shenanigans, including getting in with the Colonel's secretary, they find themselves upstairs in the studio during the live broadcast of the big show, Murder at Midnight.

And as the show progresses and the plot unfolds, the events of the show really happen in real life.

Or to put it another way, the Colonel--Col. J. R. Andrews, president of the radio network--is killed.  Electrocuted, to be precise.  In his chair during the show.  As he depresses the button to engage his microphone.

Someone has rigged his seat.  Turned it into an electric chair.

And for the rest of the film we will ask that simple, age-old question, Who done it?

As we parade past a cadre of characters.  Many of whom are prime suspects.

The film begins with shadows.  Dark blacks.  Hard lights.  Three men in silhouettes.  A fourth man.  A shadowy figure.  Enters and shoots.  Fires a shadowy gun.  Establishes the film noir vocabulary of the film.  And the tone of parody that is to come.

After the service comedies, and the Western, and the trip to the islands--all musicals, all song-and-dance shows--this one stands apart as a genre parody.  A comedy of a crime drama.

With performances by actors from real crime drama actors.  Including William Gargon, Don Porter, Jerome Cowan, Thomas Gomez, and William Bendix.

By the end of the film, we will know who done it.

But we will spend the bulk film caring less about that question than about following all the nonsense.

And no one does nonsense quite like Abbott and Costello.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

515 - Pardon My Sarong, United States, 1942. Dir. Erle C. Kenton.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

515 - Pardon My Sarong, United States, 1942.  Dir. Erle C. Kenton.

Algy and Wellington are driving a bus.

The only problem is that their own bus company does not know where they are.

It seems as though they have gone off the grid.  Off the map.  Out of contact.

Celebrity bachelor Tommy Layton rides aboard the bus.  Along with his cadre of ladies.  He has hired the pair of drivers to take him cross country, from Chicago to Los Angeles, where he will board his yacht and race a race to Hawaii.

If only Algy and Wellington were not so incompetent.

They stop at a gas station to fill up the bus.  But they do not have the money to pay for it, and Tommy is not paying.  The total is $12.50.  He does give them a $20.  But one of the girls takes the money back from Wellington's hand as she reboards.

So they do a routine.  Abbott and Costello movies always make room for routines.  And songs.  And dances.  People do not always think of them as musical comedies, but so far all of them have been.

Detective Kendall is sent by the bus company to track down the bus and arrest the two drivers who have absconded with it.

Detective Kendall is played by William Demarest.  We could watch any movie with him in it.

He chases them into the backstage of a magic show, and in a series of gags, he interacts with the real magician, and then Algy, and then Wellington, and then chases them both through the magic tricks until he finally captures them.

Back on the bus, he orders Wellington to drive back to the station where he can book them.  But somehow Wellington ends up parked on a moving ferry.  Not knowing they are moving, Kendell orders him to back up.

He does.

They wind up at the bottom of the river.

Watching William Demarest emerge from a submerged bus below water--presumably a studio tank--and swim to the surface in a three-piece suit, brings back good memories.

Once I booked a role in a commercial for an insurance company where business people competed in a triathlon.  In their suits.  We ran, biked, and swam.  In the Pacific ocean.  I came up out of the ocean onto Coronado Island off San Diego and ran onto the beach, wearing a suit, tie, dress shoes, and watch, and carrying a briefcase, and continued to sprint to the finish line.  It was one thing to ruin a nice new suit on someone else's dime.  But those shoes!  They were fine quality.  The watch, meanwhile, was waterproof.

So Kendell surfaces and rejoins the ferry, but we lose him as we cut to Tommy Layton, now aboard his yacht, having had it boarded by his female competitor, Joan Marshall, who has boarded his boat and fired his crew.  When he discovers it, he hires her on the spot to take their place.

And when he weighs anchor, he pulls up Algy and Wellington.  Out of the sea.  Now they too will be his makeshift crew.

Which means they will steer off course.

Get them lost at sea.

And get them on an uncharted desert isle.

The island is inhabited by natives, who make Wellington a hero and commit him to marry the chief's daughter Luana--to be fought by her former suitor, a very large man.  And it is inhabited by a faux scientist, Dr. Varnoff, who is really there with his cronies to manipulate the natives into stealing their precious jewels.

This new band of sea suckers is thwarting his plans.

It all comes to a head when Wellington is chosen to climb up to the sacred temple to offer himself as the ultimate sacrifice.  And Dr. Varnoff's cronies are waiting to kidnap him secretly.  After having tied up Tommy and Joan.

How will they get out of this jam?

The film features the singing performances of The Four Ink Spots and the dancing performances of Tip, Tap, and Toe.

They have nothing to do with the plot, but they steal the show.  Tip, Tap, and Toe are three men who dance on a table top.  A small table top.  Which has been waxed.  And they both tap and slide.  One at a time, and then all together.  The lead man slides in such a way that he appears to do a one-legged moonwalk.  Forty years before Michael Jackson.  He also does the full splits.  On the table top.  And on the floor after jumping high off the table top.  These men have a style of tap that seems unique to them.  It is of a high quality.  Athletic.  And impressive.

The film also features a seal.  Sharky the Seal.  Played by Charley the Seal.  Because all movies are improved by a lovable animal.

The bus company superintendent is played by Charles Lane.  The one man in Hollywood history who may have appeared in more movies than William Demarest.

We have seen William Demarest in a film before.  In The Lady Eve.

310 - The Lady Eve, 1941.
www.realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/11/310-lady-eve-united-states-1941-dir.html

And we have seen both William Demarest and Charles Lane before, in the movie nearly everyone was in, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

038 - It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, 1963.
www.realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/02/038-its-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-1963.html

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

514 - Ride 'Em Cowboy, United States, 1942. Dir. Arthur Lubin.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

514 - Ride 'Em Cowboy, United States, 1942.  Dir. Arthur Lubin.

Forget Bronco Bill.  It's time for Bronco Bob.

Bronco Bob Mitchell, that is.

Bob Mitchell is a writer.  He used to write novels that did not sell.  Then he wrote a Western.  His Western sold.  His publisher took advantage of it.  They had him write more Westerns.  They polished his image.  They sold him to America as a Cowboy.

The only problem is that Bob Mitchell has never ridden a horse.

And a national reporter has sniffed him out.  He published an article in his syndicated column this morning stating that he believes Bronco Bob is a phony.

So Bronco Bob steps up to prove himself.  He shows up at the rodeo in Long Island, mounts a horse, and walks it out to sing to the crowd.

All he has to do is wear his cowboy costume, sit on the horse, and sing.

He sings.  He croons.  He captures the hearts of women in the crowd.  One cowgirl, Anne Shaw, smiles dotingly at him.

So far, so good.

Until the bull escapes.

The horse reacts.  Bucks.  Throws him off.  Anne Shaw, it turns out, knows how to steer wrestle.  She comes to Bob's rescue, wrestles the steer, possibly saves his life.

But her good deed in turn renders her injured enough to be unable to compete in the rodeo for the $10,000 cash prize.

Anne angrily returns home.  To Arizona.

Bob follows her.

And two knuckleheads, Duke and Willoughby, unwittingly follow him.  On the train.  In the cattle car.

Bob is going to get Anne to teach him.  How to be a cowboy.

Then the real cowboy appears.

Enter ALABAM.

Played by the real Alabama halfback.  The National Champion.  The Dothan Antelope.

Johnny Mack Brown.

Winner.  Champion.  Rose Bowl MVP.  This Fall when you sing, "Remember the Rose Bowl / We'll win then," you will be singing about Johnny Mack Brown's two of three touchdown receptions which catapulted the mighty Crimson Tide to victory over the Washington Huskies in the 1925 Rose Bowl and the first of seventeen, so far, National Championships.

Johnny Mack Brown went on to star in Hollywood Westerns beginning with his role as Billy the Kid in King Vidor's Billy the Kid (1930).

There is a supporting story here where Willoughby accidentally shoots an arrow through a heart drawn on a tepee, and is now obligated to marry the woman who resides inside.  She emerges and is determined to collect on his commitment.

As Anne trains Bob, Duke and Willoughby cause havoc at the ranch.

Will Bob develop into enough of a cowboy to convince his fans that he is legitimate?  Will he be able to win the state rodeo championship?

Will these things happen before Duke and Willoughby destroy the ranch?

As they each try to make it as a real cowboy.






513 - Keep 'Em Flying, United States, 1941. Dir. Arthur Lubin.

Monday, May 28, 2018

513 - Keep 'Em Flying, United States, 1941.  Dir. Arthur Lubin.

Keep 'Em Flying is the third service film made by Abbot and Costello to promote patriotism in the build-up to America's entering the War.

Each film focuses on each of three branches of the military as they existed in the early 1940s.

Buck Privates (1941) focuses on the Army; In the Navy (1941), on the Navy; and Keep 'Em Flying (1941), on the U.S. Army Air Corps, later known as the Air Force.  It would become the U.S. Army Air Forces that year, and give place to the Air Force in 1947.

Blackie Benson and Heathcliff work at a carnival as assistants to their stunt pilot Jinx Roberts.  Jinx flies in a daring aerial show that thrills the crowds, but he and his boss do not get along.  And Blackie and Heathcliff get into their own kind of trouble down on the carnival's boardwalk.  So the three of them are released, and they find themselves joining the Army Air Corps.

Jinx meets a singer at a club and runs into his former colleague and rival Craig Morrison.  Blackie and Heathcliff fall for twins Gloria and Barbara Phelps, and the film makes use of site gags with Big Mouth Martha Raye playing both roles.

Lou Costello will find himself on more than one occasion out on the wing, hanging from a plane, or falling in a parachute in ways that are outrageous and comical.



Sunday, May 27, 2018

512 - Hold That Ghost, United States, 1941. Dir. Arthur Lubin.

Sunday, May 26, 2018

512 - Hold That Ghost, United States, 1941.  Dir. Arthur Lubin.

Chuck Murray and Ferdinand "Ferdie" Jones work at a gas station.

But one night their employment agency sends them on assignment to wait tables at an upscale cocktail lounge.

Ted Lewis is singing.  Mr. Entertainment.  "When My Baby Smiles at Me."  I sigh.  I cry.  Why, it's just a bit of Heaven.  "Me and My Shadow."  His shadow, Eddie Chester, dances along beside him.

Is everybody happy?

The Andrews Sisters join in.  "Sleepy Serenade."  And later, "Aurora."  For their third appearance in Abbott and Costello's third movie.

Shemp Howard also returns.  This time as a Soda Jerk.

Because Murray and Jones are working at the cocktail lounge, they are present when gangster Moose Matson comes in, when Charlie Smith tries to blackmail him, and when Moose makes a getaway with them in the back seat of the car.

There is a high-speed car chase.  A shootout.  And the death of the gangster Moose.  Who keeps "his money in his head."

And because Moose has no friends, he states in his will that his possessions will go to those who are with him at the moment of his death.

Those who are with him are Chuck and Ferdie.  Murray and Jones.  Abbott and Costello.

Of course.

The authorities surmise that Moose is broke, but he does have the old mansion.  So Chuck and Ferdie inherit the mansion.

When they decide to go there, they are offered a ride by none other than Charlie Smith, the blackmailer.

But what they do not know is that Smith is taking them for a ride.

He knows that Moose had money.  Lots of it.  And that it is hidden somewhere in that mansion.  In Moose's head.

When he takes Chuck and Ferdie, he is stuck with four other passengers--Doctor Jackson, Camille Brewster, Gregory, and Norma Lind--and the six innocents spend the night in the haunted mansion.

Ferdie sees things that none of the others see.  He is convinced there is a ghost in the house.

Camille is into Doctor Jackson and wants his attention, but he seems too focused on his experiments to notice her.

Norma cuts up with Ferdie.

But somebody dies.

And somebody disappears.

And something is amiss in this booby-trapped place.

Will they find the money?

Will they make it out alive?

Will anybody ever see what Ferdie sees and finally believe him?

Will Camille get Jackson to notice her?

Or will none of it matter?

After the long, dark night in the abandoned house.

Which might be protected by a ghost.

Saturday, May 26, 2018

511 - In the Navy, United States, 1941. Dir. Arthur Lubin.

Saturday, May 26, 2018

511 - In the Navy, United States, 1941.  Dir. Arthur Lubin.

Dick Powell was a song-and-dance man in the movies going back to 1932.  He worked a lot.

Here is a list of the musicals in which he starred in a 12-year period.  He sings and dances in each of them.  Look at how many movies he would make in a given year.

Blessed Event (1932), 42nd Street (1933), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Footlight Parade (1933), Wonder Bar (1934), Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934), Dames (1934), Happiness Ahead (1934), Flirtation Walk (1934), Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935), Broadway Gondolier (1935), Shipmates Forever (1935), A Midsummer Night's Dream (musical) (1935), Thanks a Million (1935), Colleen (1936), Hearts Divided (1936), Stage Struck (1936), Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936), On the Avenue (1937), The Singing Marine (1937), Varsity Show (1937), Hollywood Hotel (1937), Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938), Hard to Get (1938), Going Places (1938), Naughty but Nice (1939), Christmas in July (1940), In the Navy (1941), Star-Spangled Rhythm (1942), Happy Go Lucky (1943), Riding High (1943), True to Life (1943), Meet the People (1944).

In 1944 he shifted gears and spent the next ten years as a dramatic actor and the next five as a director before passing away early in 1963 at age 58.  During the mid-to-late-40s he starred in eight film-noir crime dramas, and for my money he was out of his league, yet several of them still became classics in the genre.  Check out my blog of the film Ride the Pink Horse (1947) for a discussion of his (Murder, My Sweet (1944)) and Robert Montgomery's performances as Philip Marlowe, as well as a list, at the end, of actors who have played Philip Marlowe.

Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
http://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/11/329-ride-pink-horse-united-states-1947.html

Dick Powell begins this movie as America's favorite crooner, Russ Raymond.  He sings live on the radio; the radio hall is filled with adoring women in the audience; and the fans storm him when he attempts to exit the back door after the show.

It is time for him to join the Navy, so what does he do?  He disappears.

Russ Raymond is the stage name for Thomas Halstead.  That is Tommy to you.

Tommy Halstead gives up a $100,000-a-year celebrity income to become a $21-a month sailor.

Because he loves his country.

And wants to serve.

Attitudes were different in 1941.

Meanwhile, Smokey Adams and Pomeroy Watson have joined the Navy.  They are dumped off by a dump truck.  They cause a traffic jam trying to jaywalk.  Pomeroy gets a ticket from the officer.

"My first ticket, and I wasn't even driving a car."

Dorothy Roberts is a rising journalist.  And she is on to Tommy Halstead.  Somehow she knows he is Russ Raymond.  And throughout the film she finds ways to sneak into his hotel and on to his naval base to take secret pictures of him to break the story.  Her boss, the editor, wants the scope.  It is worth at least $100,000 to his newspaper if she gets it.  A celebrity's annual salary in one story.

Dorothy is resourceful.  She keeps a string attached to the shutter-release button in order to depress it from a distance.  She has a camera built into her purse and a camera built into her shoe.  She dresses as a sailor and stows away aboard the battleship.

The U.S.S. Alabama.

En voyage to Hawaii.

Pomeroy finds her and stows her.  He finds her to be a cute tomato.  He stows her with the potatoes in the potato locker.

A tomato in the potato locker.

But Halstead finds her and exposes her.  And exposes her film in another locker.  In Davy Jones's locker.

The Andrews Sisters are aboard.  And Pomeroy (the short, squat Bud Costello) tries to woo Patty Andrews.  He writes her letters describing his tall, slim physique.  Then she meets him.

Shemp Howard (Moe and Curly's brother from The Three Stooges) plays Dizzy the Chef.  He also played the chef in yesterday's military movie, Buck Privates (1940).

The Alabama makes it to Hawaii, but will Halstead make it without Dorothy getting his picture?  And will Pomeroy ever make it with Patty?

In the Navy picks up where Buck Privates leaves off, promoting patriotism in the dawn of the War, while mingling site gags, slapstick, wordplay, romance, song, and dance.

Who knew sailors wore tap shoes?

They do here.

And they all know all the routines.

Friday, May 25, 2018

510 - Buck Privates, United States, 1941. Dir. Arthur Lubin.

Friday, May 25, 2018

510 - Buck Privates, United States, 1941.  Dir. Arthur Lubin.

Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown have just joined the Army.

They did not mean to.  They thought they were entering a movie theater.

In order to hide from the police.

But they have now discovered that the movie theater is being used for military recruitment.

Now that the draft has been instated.

It is 1941, and the United States is preparing for defense.

They get assigned to Sergeant Michael Collins.

He does not like them very much.  Or perhaps we should say, He does like pretending that he does not like them very much.

But they are going to thwart him at every turn.  He is their Sergeant Carter to their Gomer Pyle.  No matter how bumbling they are, they come out on top.

Meanwhile, Bob Martin and Randolph Parker III have run into one another.  Over a girl.  And a man's sense of duty.  It seems that Bob does not approve of Randolph's behavior.  In fact, he detests it.

Randolph is rich.

So he tries to use his powerful connections, especially his father, to get himself out of the Army altogether.  But his father refuses to do so.  He knows that his son is spoiled enough already.  And he wants him to stick it out and be a man.

But Parker and Martin are also fighting over a girl.  Judy Grey.  She is a hostess where they are stationed.  Bob Martin treats her with respect.  Randolph Parker treats her with entitlement.  Who will win?  Seriously.

Enter The Andrews Sisters.

Laverne.  Maxene.  And Patty Andrews.

They come to the camp to increase morale while the men are there.  Kind of their own personal, permanently embedded, USO Tour.  Complete with singing and dancing.  And tightly synced choreography.

They say the Army turns boys into men.

Good luck with this group.

They are less than boys.

They are Buck Privates.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

509 - One Night in the Tropics, United States, 1940. Dir. A. Edward Sutherland.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

509 - One Night in the Tropics, United States, 1940.  Dir. A. Edward Sutherland.

Love Insurance.

Steve is in love.  He is so in love that his best friend, Jim Lucky Moore, cannot believe his eyes.  Jim considers Steve a chaser.  He has never known him to be ready to settle down.

But sure enough, Steve is ready to tie the knot.  To marry Cynthia.

But Steve has a problem with aunt poison.  Aunt Kitty Marblehead, that is.

Aunt Kitty dislikes Steve from the moment she meets him.  It starts when he runs into her on the sidewalk and knocks her over.  Then she accuses him of breaking the elevator

And to top it all off, he was born on May 12.

Aunt Kitty does the numbers, and the numbers do not add up.  That is, his numbers to not add up to hers, according to the way she counts birthdays.

So of course he has to go.

Steve is discouraged.

But Jim knows just what to do.  After all, he is Lucky.

Jim works for his father's insurance company, and like many good insurance experts, he is a natural born gambler.

He has written insurance on just about everything.  And he has never had to pay out on a policy.  He is batting a thousand.

So to reassure his buddy Steve, Jim comes up with Love Insurance.  Steve pays the premium, and it gives him the confidence that Cynthia will walk down the aisle with him.

If they do not make it to the altar on their wedding day, then Jim will have to pay Steve one million dollars.

Yes, some of you reading may be wondering why not just break up and take the money.  Especially when considering that $1 million in 1940 is worth $18 million today.

But Steve is in love.  And he would rather marry Cynthia than have all the money in Manhattan.

But something else is trying to stand in Steve's way besides Aunt Kitty.

A woman named Mickey.

Steve's ex-girlfriend.

She still loves him and she is determined to win him back.

So we have a romantic triangle.  Steve and Cynthia and Mickey.

But we need another one.  Enter Mickey and Steve and Jim.

It all goes South when they all go South.

To San Marcos.

And things get hairy in this lush romantic comedy musical which also introduces Abbott and Costello as they perform five of their most classic routines.  Including "Who's on First?"

Steve has followed Jim's advice: "To be sure, insure."

But now, Steve is less sure than ever.  And it puts the insurance policy in jeopardy.  They may have to pay out.

So Roscoe, the policy's backer, played by William Frawley of I Love Lucy fame, sends his two strong men down to make sure the bride and groom make it to the altar.

And who is the muscle?

Why, Abbott and Costello, of course.

So the viewer is thinking, If Roscoe really wants to protect his investment, he might begin by eliminating these two salaries.

But so be it.  They are there for comic relief.  And their appearance grounds the film and adds to our enjoyment.

How will it all end?  And will our man Steve finally get the girl of his dreams?  And cover the spread?

Or will he continue to make mistakes and drive her farther away from him--and others?

Allan Jones and Nancy Kelly provide the film with singing to round out the action.

Now if Steve can just make it to the altar before his time is up.

When he would have to cash in his Love Insurance.


*                             `*                             `*                             `*                             `*


A man who leads a double life shouldn't have two telephones.

The last time I saw you you were wearing a very becoming phone booth, trimmed with Steve.

I'm going to give him a taste of his own love insurance.


Wednesday, May 23, 2018

508 - Utopia, United States, 1950. Dir. Leo Joannon.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

508 - Utopia, United States, 1950.  Dir. Leo Joannon.

Stan receives an inheritance from his uncle!

Unfortunately, his other uncle--Uncle Sam--takes it for taxes.

So Stan is out of money.

But at least he has his boat.  An old, dilapidated, ramshackle, threadbare, shabby-sham set of barely bobbing boards.  A somber, crumbling tumble-down of timber lumber.  A frowner-downer of a schooner.  A scowl of a scow.  A yucky yacht.  A sloppy sloop.  A sorry dory.  A dingy dinghy. 

At least it floats.

Well, it drifts, anyway.  It wafts the wakes of the waves.

Ever since Ollie took engine parts out of the engine room and handed them to Stan, who in turn laid them on the deck, only to have them slide off into the sea, the boat no longer has a motor.

It barely has a rudder.

Time to hoist the sail.

Wait.  What is that man doing living wrapped-up inside the sail?

A stowaway.

That explains where all the rations have been going.

Ollie is convinced that Stan has been taking his drink.

Stan is convinced that Ollie has been taking his food.

Giovanni Copini has been taking both.

We now have four men set a-sail.  The two men.  Their chef.  And the stowaway.

And the seastorm.

And the shipwreck.

And the deserted island.

Christened Cruseoland.

Named after that book they found on the boat called Robinson Crusoe.

The film shifts.

It becomes a parody of a documentary.

A voice-over speaks in booming voice of our man Adam in Eden without his Eve.

Then it shifts again.

A parody of a foreign film.

Over in Tahiti the lovely Cherie Lamour sings in clubs, marries Lieutenant Jack Frazer, and the two talk in loud, ill-synced ADR voiceover above the dialogue of the hard-to-hear bartender.  They argue.  He wants her to give up her career and devote herself to him.  She would be willing but he is gone to sea for months out of the year.  What is she to do back on the island without him?  She might as well sing.  He grows more jealous.  She leaves.

And winds up, but of course, on Crusoeland.

Lt. Frazer comes looking for her, and the plot thickens.

And it all goes south.

To the South Seas.


Utopia, originally known as Atoll K, was the last film made by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.  Together they made more than one hundred films, both short and feature.  They each made more than that separately, before they came together as a comedy team.

Oliver Hardy would live just a few more years before dying.  Stan Laurel would live a few more.


Tuesday, May 22, 2018

507 - The Flying Deuces, United States, 1939. Dir. A. Edward Sutherland.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

507 - The Flying Deuces, United States, 1939.  Dir. A. Edward Sutherland.

Ollie is in love.

Too bad she is married.

If only he knew.

Stan tells her--Georgette, that is--about Ollie's feelings, and she explains that she is married.

Now he does know.

And he is crushed.

Ollie decides to jump into the river.  Stan walks down with him.  Ollie puts the rope around Stan.  He decides they should jump together.

A shark has escaped.

It swims below them, where they cannot see it.

A man, Francois, comes along.  He talks them out of it.  He talks them into joining the Foreign Legion.  It will help Ollie forget his trouble.

There is just one problem.

Having Stan and Ollie in the Foreign Legion is like having Gomer Pyle in the Marines.

Plus, Francois is Georgette's husband.

If only they knew  . . . .

They are about to get themselves into a lot of trouble.

All over a girl.

And their own incompetence.

Monday, May 21, 2018

506 - Be Big, United States, 1931. Dir. James W. Horne.

Monday, May 21, 2018

506 - Be Big, United States, 1931.  Dir. James W. Horne.

Stan and Ollie lie to their wives in order to go to a men's party rather than with their wives on vacation.

Ollie pretends to be sick.

Everything goes wrong.

The wives miss their train and return to discover the husbands engaged in shenanigans.

A kind of a prototype for The Honeymooners and The Flintstones.


Sunday, May 20, 2018

505 - The Lucky Dog, United States, 1921. Dir. Jess Robbins.

Sunday, May 19, 2018

505 - The Lucky Dog, United States, 1921.  Dir. Jess Robbins.

Stan Laurel is a poor man being evicted by his landlady, kicked out on the streets.

A dog befriends him.  And he cannot get rid of it.  Because it is 1921, the film is replete with sight gags and physical comedy.

The poor man runs into the bandit, Oliver Hardy, who is in the process of holding up another man.

Hardy drops the money into Laurel's pocket.
Then he robs him.  And receives back the money he has already stolen.

Laurel winds up meeting a woman with a poodle and enters a dog show.

What happens next?

Tune in next time to find out.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

504 - March of the Wooden Soldiers (Babes in Toyland), United States, 1934. Dir. Gus Meins, Charley Rogers.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

504 - March of the Wooden Soldiers (Babes in Toyland), United States, 1934.  Dir. Gus Meins, Charley Rogers.

Babes in Toyland was originally a 1903 musical.

It was remade in 1934 as a Laurel and Hardy musical comedy.

It has aired at Christmastime for years.

It has been remade a few times since then as well.

Friday, May 18, 2018

503 - Movie Crazy, United States, 1932. Dir. Clyde Bruckman.

Friday, May 18, 2018

503 - Movie Crazy, United States, 1932.  Dir. Clyde Bruckman.

Harold Hall dreams of being in the movies.

He rides home in his luxury car.  Well, no.  He dreams of that.  He rides home on his bicycle.  He picks up the newspaper with a hook on his foot.

He acts on camera.  Well, no.  His mother cranks the coffee grinder, and he pretends she cranks the camera.

He senses that another man is in the closet and calls to him, "Come out of the closet, you cad!"  Well, no.  He opens the ice box and points his father's pipe into it as though it is a gun.

The frozen turkey falls out of the ice box.

His father retrieves his pipe.

His mother stops cranking the coffee grinder.

Harold is single.

Back to reality.

But Harold will never stop dreaming.

So he responds to an ad by Planet Films and sends a photograph of himself to Hollywood, hoping to get a screen test.

And because his father accidentally knocks Harold's photo onto the floor and kicks it under the end table, and because Harold accidentally puts another man's photo into the envelope--a handsome man whose picture was sitting on the end table--Mr. J. L. O'Brien of Planet Films does indeed invite Harold Hall to come to Hollywood to make a screen test.

His father buys him a round-trip ticket on the train.

Thanks, Dad.  Thank you for believing in me.

When he disembarks from the train in sunny Hollywood, he sees a film being filmed right there at the train station.

And if you are watching and find yourself unwilling to suspend your disbelief--"Yeah, right, as if you step off the train and see a movie being made right there"--then note that in my time in Los Angeles I saw many a production being filmed near the airport, as well as all over town, every week of the year.  And I myself filmed next to the airport.  In the wetlands.  Terrible for sound.

Harold Hall has Harold Lloyd's gift for stumbling, bumbling, and bungling.  He more-than watches a leading man and beautiful Spanish lady put on make-up and film their scene.

He walks through their scene.  Trying to be an extra.  But being an extra nuisance.  Picking up the rose that the Spanish lady drops for the leading man.  Going again.  Running into the leading man and knocking him and himself down.  Going again.  Accidentally pulling a stack of milk jugs off a truck bed and releasing a cage of white doves onto the set.

At least he catches the Spanish lady's rose again as she gets into her chauffeured car and rides away.

So much for his career.

Until he stumbles once again onto the running board of the car of a beautiful woman.  This time a blonde.

In the rain.

And as he rides alongside her, one waits for her to announce in her singsong voice, "Here we are, Sunset and Camden!"

Meaning, one feels some parallels between this film and Singing in the Rain (1952).  In that we are watching a romantic comedy taking place on the soundstages and backlots of Hollywood.  Which begins when a man falls onto the convertible car of an actress.

And when she cannot shake him and inadvertently brings him home with her--with the top down, in the rain--she begins to find him amusing.

She begins to call him trouble.

And after she takes him in and gives him a change of clothes--her clothes--a man in a woman's clothes--and you think of Cary Grant in Katharine Hepburn's character's gown in Howard Hawks' Bringing Up Baby (1938)--then her suitor Vance shows up.

Drunk.

And we have a double love triangle.

The Spanish lady and the blonde, whose name he learns is Mary Sears, both love Harold Hall.

And Harold Hall and Vance both love Mary Sears.

But Harold Hall is sweet and innocent and does not hit on women.  Which is why Mary Sears loves him in the first place.  He is different.  He is awkward.  He is good.

But nothing is easy.  And life is filled with conflict.  Certainly good drama is filled with conflict.  So Harold is perpetually at risk of washing up in Hollywood and moving home to Littleton, Kansas.

"Little Town," Kansas.  In the center of the nation.  In a typical town.  Everytown.

If there can be an Everyman, then there can be an Everytown.

All-American.

Will Harold make it in Hollywood or will he go home a washed-up extra?

Will Harold win one of the girls?  Will he find love?

Or will he be exposed as a goofy guy who does not belong?

And can the women even trust him?

There is an extended scene at a formal dinner party where Harold accidentally dons a magician's jacket in the men's room, only to have multiple magic tricks fall out of his pockets while dancing with the evening's hostess.

And another extended scene on a set built to resemble a ship with multiple decks, open for the camera to see into any level.

And speaking of cameras, the real camera, the one controlled by DP Walter Lundin, filming this film, moves with a gentle and daring grace ahead of its time.  On jibs and dollies.

Which puts it on a par with 1932's other film of that caliber, Howard Hawks' Scarface, lensed by Lee Garmes and L. William O'Connell.

This film is a hidden gem.

A talkie.  With a plot.  And a heart.  With lots of laughs.  Signature sight gags.  A mature take on love.  And well-developed lead characters.

With a memorable performance by leading lady Constance Cummings.  She may be best remembered for playing Ruth opposite Rex Harrison as Charles in David Lean's adaptation of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit (1945), but before that she was doing great work in films such as this one.

The film's only drawback is some inefficient pacing.  Which does not even matter if you allow yourself to get swept up in the story.

Someone on the internet suggested that if the director had tightened it up, then the film would have been a classic.

A good observation.

This is a good film.

Released nine years after Safety Last! (1923).  With The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947) still fifteen years away.

Harold Lloyd was still on top.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

502 - Hot Water, United States, 1924. Dir. Fred C. Newsletter and Sam Taylor.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

502 - Hot Water, United States, 1924.  Dir. Fred C. Newsletter and Sam Taylor.

New Hubby Harold is sent to the store by Wifey.  For just a few things.

So many things that he can hardly carry them all.

And just as he begins struggling to contain all the items to take home, he wins a wild turkey in a raffle.

Because everybody could use a wild turkey surprise.

He is riding the trolley home, and his fellow riders are not too happy with his turkey.

Let us just say that the Hubby and the turkey may be using am alternate route to go home.

The Hubby is motivated to buy a car.

He does.  He offers to take the Wifey for a spin.

Unfortunately, her two brothers--one older and one younger--and her mother Winnifed--Hubby's mother-in-law--have already climbed into the backseat and are waiting.

So much for a couple's getaway.

The driving sequences are vintage Harold Lloyd, with a mother-in-law's nagging to boot.

After typical Lloyd mayhem, the family ends up back at the house with the Hubby beyond his wits.

His neighbor gives him a stiff drink.

His temperance-promoting mother-in-law threatens to bust him.

So he quickly conceives of a way to distract her.

Chloroform.

He does not consider that she sleepwalks.

And what follows is clever and and funny.

This 60-minute film is due for a reappraisal.  It is not on the level of work such as Safety Last!, but it is better than it has been remembered.

Hubby Harold starts by saying he will never get in a hurry to get married.

Then he finds himself getting married.

And being married.

And in hot water.


Wednesday, May 16, 2018

501 - For Heaven's Sake, United State, 1926. Dir. Sam Taylor.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

501 - For Heaven's Sake, United State, 1926.  Dir. Sam Taylor.

"Every city has two districts--Uptown, where people are cursed with money, and Downtown, where they are cursed without it."

Mr. J. Harold Manners is The Uptown Boy.  A millionaire.  He purchases a great white car to match his great white pants.

A 1923 Duesenberg Model A.

He crashes his car.  Or rather his driver crashes it.  His driver swerves to avoid a box--which he thinks is a cat, because it has a cat painted on it--and runs head-on into a truck.

And the truck's boxes fall on top of the car.

No problem.

Mr. Manners excuses his driver for the day.

And goes and buys another car.

A 1927 Packard Eight Phaeton.

He writes a check for $9,000.

That is worth $125,474.08 today.

How many cars are worth that?

Maybe these: Acura NSX, Aston Martin Vanquish, Audi R8, Bentley Flying Spur, BMW i8, Ferrari 488 GTB, Lamborghini Aventador, McLaren 650S, Mercedes-AMG GT, Porsche 911 Turbo, Rolls Royce Phantom.

Mr. Manners crashes that car as well.

But his third check turns out not to be a check for a new car but a check for a man who has a Free Coffee stand.

Which Mr. Manners has burnt to the ground.

Thinking he was putting out a fire, he doused a fire with fuel.

To reimburse, he gives the coffee stand owner a one-thousand dollar check.

The man in turn begins a new Mission.  A mission named after J. Harold Manners.

And from this the plot things begin to unfold.

In this six-reel film from Harold Lloyd.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

500 - A Sailor-Made Man, United States, 1921. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

500 - A Sailor-Made Man, United States, 1921.  Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.

The Boy loves The Girl.

The Boy is rich.  The Girl's father is rich.

They spend time at the country club.

The Boy asks The Girl's father for her hand in marriage.

The father says not until you get a job.  The father is unimpressed by The Boy's wealth.  He wants him to work.

The Boy goes and joins the Navy.

The Girl tells The Boy they are going on a cruise with Father.

The Boy tries to un-join the Navy.  It is too late.

He dreams of being the ship's officer.

He wakes up and finds himself at the bottom of the chain of command.

Mayhem ensues.

Monday, May 14, 2018

499 - Among Those Present, United States, 1921. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.

Monday, May 14, 2018

499 - Among Those Present, United States, 1921.  Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.

The Boy is a coat-check boy, working at the luxury hotel.  He dreams of one-day being one of the VIPs who comes and stays there.

It just so happens that his services are needed.

Mrs. O'Brien longs to be a society maven, and her mentor, The Society Pilot, plots to give her what she wants.  Or what seems to be.

Mrs. O'Brien husband and daughter are not quite as ambitious as she is.  Their idea of high society is sitting on the porch with their feet up.

Under the advice of her Society Pilot, she puts on a fox hunt.

The Boy, conveniently, poses as Lord Abernathy.

He dresses up, shows up, and entertains the guests with his imaginative stories.

The one where he fought a bear inside a hollow log, and came out on top, with the bear on a leash.

The one where he fought a lion singlehandedly and tamed it.

The one where he shot up in the air and caught the bird in his bag, or where he shot half a dozen times and half a dozen birds fell to the ground.

Mr. O'Brien thinks his lion story is a lyin' story.  But he does not care.  Mr. O'Brien is too busy spiking the punch behind his back, while blocking Mrs. O'Brien's view.

The only problem is that The Boy gets to the punch before Mr. O'Brien does.  And it makes his stories grow progressively larger than life.

But because Harold Lloyd movies often require sequences strung together loosely without a tightly fitting plot, The Boy goes on to ride a wild horse and then loses his pants and runs and hides from all the people who are shocked by his indecency.

The physical comedy is clever and funny.

The plot is loose and lighthearted.

The Boy gets The Girl (the O'Brien daughter).

Mrs. O'Brien gets her fox hunt.

But Mr. O'Brien gets his relief.


Sunday, May 13, 2018

498 - I Do, United States, 1921. Dir. Hal Roach.

Sunday, May 14, 2018

498 - I Do, United States, 1921.  Dir. Hal Roach.

The Boy
The Girl

The Agitation
The Disturbance
The Annoyance

Time, Place, Plot - Lost in the Rush

"Some young men fall in love.  Some go crazy from other causes."

The Boy crosses the street like Frogger, between the oncoming cars, carrying flowers, on his way to his wedding.

The wedding is shown in cartoon.

One Year Later.

The Boy's brother-in-law asks him to do him a favor.  Take care of my children for me while I am gone.

He does all right.

Or at least the children take care of him.


Saturday, May 12, 2018

497 - Number, Please?, United States, 1920. Dir. Hal Roach.

Saturday, May 12, 2018

497 - Number, Please?, United States, 1920.  Dir. Hal Roach.

"An old, old story of men who have loved, lost, and tried to forget.

Some seek the whispering shadows of the great outdoors haunted always by the face of the One Girl.

Some lose her image in the mystic haze of the silent seas.

Others turn from The Girl to the feverish lure of the gaming table.

The devil-may-care type--he who toys with death--anything to forget the Only Girl."

The Boy "toys with death" by riding a roller coaster.  Maybe that will help.

"The Girl.  Grief laid its heavy hand upon her--but the hand slipped."

She is happy again.  She is with a new boy, The Rival.  They, too, are at the amusement park.  Together.


As The Boy, our boy, rides the roller coaster, alone, his hat keeps flying off and landing back on his face.

The Girl walks and laughs with the Rival at the games of skill.

The Boy, now walking, sees The Girl with The Rival and jealously begins throwing balls.  Rather than hitting their targets, they hit the porcelain dolls laid out as prizes.  He must pay the game operator for the damage.

General Pershing gets lost.  General Pershing is The Girl's dog.  Both boys race to be the first to find the pooch.  They both find it.

The threesome comes upon the balloonman.  He is not little and lame.  He does not whistle far and wee.  The boys are not coming from marbles and piracies.  But it may be Spring.  And they may just as well be eddieandbill, since Harold Lloyd has given them no names.

And the world may as well be mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.

But enough about e. e. cummings.  Back to our movie.

The balloon man offers two passes to the three people.  The Girl says she will take whichever boy first gets her mother's permission.

The boys race to get her mother's permission.  The Rival races to the mother's home.  The Boy tries to outflank him by calling the mother on the telephone.  But all kinds of problems ensue, from crowded phone booths to testy operators to wrong numbers to someone's baby ending up in his arms.

The boys get permission and scamper back to the Girl, only to find a pickpurse pickpocket has picked her pocket and pilfered her purse to pillage and pocket her pay.

The Boy, of course, is mistaken for the purloiner.  The police chase him.  Because in the physical comedies of 1920, just about every movie seems to be a pretext for a police chase.

Cut to the chase.

The best physical jokes come in this section.  The Boy puts a real boy on his shoulders covered with a long coat to make the two of them appear like one really tall man.  (Which Hal Roach used in full force with his Our Gang shorts.)  When they walk, the little boy gets stopped on an awning with the coat dangling, and The Boy keeps walking without his "top."

While running, Harold Lloyd runs straight at a man riding a bicycle and jumps over him.  These are the moments you want to see.  The plots are so uneven and the physical humor sometimes dated, sometimes classic, that whenever you get to the pure physical comedy, true stunts that never age, that is when you appreciate Lloyd's prowess.

This is one of the Harold Lloyd films where he does not get The Girl.

The Rival and The Girl walk off arm-and-arm, presumably to go to the hot-air balloon, but the movie has abandoned it.  The Boy then rides another ride alone.

"Again, a lone wanderer roams the world facing the drab dawn of a dead tomorrow."

The End.

Friday, May 11, 2018

496 - Get Out and Get Under, United States, 1920. Dir. Hal Roach.

Friday, May 11, 2018

496 - Get Out and Get Under, United States, 1920.  Dir. Hal Roach.

The Boy is in love with The Girl, and . . .
The rest just happens.

There are six reasons why a young man has his picture taken.
One is A Girl.
The other five don't count.

High Noon.

That is when The Girl is to marry The Rival.

She informed her Photographer when they had their pictures taken.

And the Photographer tells The Boy.

The Boy is getting his picture taken.  He shows his picture of The Girl.  The Photographer tells him about the wedding..

The Boy races to the wedding.  To stop The Girl from marrying The Rival.  To make his case.  To marry The Girl.

Cut to:

Harold Lloyd on a farm.  Or in a garden, anyway.  Rivaling with The Rival.

Cut to:

Harold Lloyd with his car.  Which breaks down.

He has to Get Out and Get Under his car to try to fix it.

Etc.

495 - Never Weaken, United States, 1921. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

495 - Never Weaken, United States, 1921.  Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.

The Boy loves The Girl.

The Girl works for The Doctor.  The bone doctor.  The osteopath.

He is going to have to lay her off.

He just does not have enough patients to justify keeping her on.

Good thing The Boy finds out about it.  He knows just what to do.  He takes a stack of the good doctor's business cards and hands them out to people on the street who need his services.

How does he find people who need his services?

He creates their situations!

You have heard of ambulance-chaser attorneys.  How about an ambulance-attractor boyfriend.

The next sequence displays Harold Lloyd in his creative physicality.  As he meets people in town, he sets up situations that cause them to fall or have something fall upon them, and then surreptitiously deposits one of the good doctor's business cards on their person.

Before no time business is booming.

But in a repeat of a previous film, he misunderstands something he overhears The Girl say and thinks she is marrying someone else.  So in the next sequence he tries to end it all in various unsuccessful ways, only to have everything work out in the end.

As with many of his films of this period in his career, the skeleton plot is a framework upon which to hang his comical physicality, and the film works as a warm-up for his later features.

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

494 - Haunted Spooks, United States, 1920. Dir. Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach.

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

494 - Haunted Spooks, United States, 1920.  Dir. Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach.

The Boy - He wants to get married.  Has no other faults.

The Girl - Sweet sixteen and never . . . , well, only once or twice.

The Uncle - A man of sorts.  We are not saying what sort.

          Not exactly crooked, but he's beginning to curve.

The Place - Go down the Mississippi River several miles and turn to the right.


Before Scooby Doo, there was Bob Hope's The Cat and the Canary (1939).

Before The Cat and the Canary, there was Haunted Spooks (1920).

A couple of days ago we watched Grandma's Boy, and in it we saw a plot--though we did not state the twist--that has been used in perhaps a dozen or more sitcoms since.

Now we see a plot that has been used in perhaps a dozen or more ghost stories since.

Which is not to presume that Harold Lloyd was first.  It is possible he borrowed both plots from those who had gone before as well.

But at least these two are the oldest of these plots of which we are aware so far.

In this one an uncle, as executor, reads a family will, which states that the mansion will go to his niece with the stipulation that she live on the premises successfully with her husband for one year.

The uncle himself conspires with his wife, the aunt, to scare the Girl, and her husband, out of the mansion before she is able to inhabit it for one year.

And to complicate things, the Girl is unmarried.  Of course.

And as with Bob Hope's The Cat and the Canary later, and as with Scooby Doo, the Girl and the husband she will marry, The Boy, played by Harold Lloyd of course, will come this close to being scared out of their wits and leaving, but, well, is it really spoiling it if you know going in that this is a comedy?

But before we get to that part of the story, we first follow Harold Lloyd as he pursues the first girl, The Other Girl, fights the Rival, wins, but ultimately loses, grows suicidal, tries multiple methods of ending it, fails, lives, meets The Girl, marries her, and moves into the mansion.

It was in this film that Harold Lloyd lost a finger and a half.  While holding a BOMB that exploded in his hand.  And nearly lost his life.  He performed the rest of his career, including doing all those daring stunts, with 8-1/2 fingers and a prosthetic.

Is that a movie title?

8-1/2 Fingers and a Prosthetic.

Talk about set safety.

Kaboom!

Harold Lloyd waited it out, recovered, and went back to work, finishing the film a few months later.

Watch out for those self-walking pants.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

493 - Feet First, United States, 1930. Dir. Clyde Bruckman.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

493 - Feet First, United States, 1930.  Dir. Clyde Bruckman.

Harold Horne is at it again.

Harold is a shoe salesman.  At least he wants to be one.  His boss does not believe in him.  His boss keeps him stuck in a lowly job fetching and stretching shoes for the shoe salesmen.

He practices his selling technique with the mannequin legs.

And dreams of making it big one day.

One day he meets the girl of his dreams.  Of course he does.  This is a Harold Lloyd picture.  So Harold is going to fall in love.

This time it is with Barbara.

He takes a six-month course on how to have a personality, from the Personality-Plus Corporation.

Then he pretends to be a leather tycoon.

Then he finds out the girl is the boss's daughter.

And she is on the verge of finding out who he really is.  The lowly worker who cannot even get promoted to salesman.

If only his new Personality can rescue him.


Monday, May 7, 2018

492 - Grandma's Boy, United States, 1922. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.

Sunday, May 6, 2018

492 - Grandma's Boy, United States, 1922.  Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.

Blossom Bend is a sleepy town that moves so slowly the Tuesday morning express arrives Wednesday afternoon.

The Boy at age 11 months and 4 teeth is already afraid.

As he grows up he rubs his knees together and rubs holes in his pants.

The kids at school challenge him to fight, but he will not fight.

At age 19 the boldest thing he has ever done is to sing out loud in church.

At every age he wears Harold Lloyd signature glasses.

The Boy, Grandma's Boy, loves The Girl, Harold's Girl, also known as Mildred.  In this film she gets a name!  But then, she is played by Mildred Davis, so it is not too much of a stretch.

Mildred is as innocent as Harold, so he should not half to try too hard to win her.  In fact, she already likes him.

He makes homemade ice cream for her.

Too bad The Rival comes along.

He goes after Mildred himself.  He mocks Harold,  Rips his accessories off his clothes.  Throws him down the well.  Walks off with The Girl.

Somehow Harold finds a way out of the well.  He walks down the street.  Goes home to his Grandma.  With whom he lives.

All the girls laugh at him.  Look at silly Harold.  He is too afraid to stand up for himself.  He lets The Rival take his girl.  He is stripped and wet with well water.  Is he not a sight?

The Rolling Stone is a vagabond.  He has gathered no moss but has picked up lots of soil.  Harold's grandmother calls him "that nasty old tramp," and demands that Harold remove him from the premises.

Good luck with that.

Grandma is braver with her broomstick than Harold is with his fists.  She runs him off herself.

Later the town will discover that The Rolling Stone is more than just a tramp.  He is a criminal.  With a gun.  And he is up to no good.  Who will stop him?

Harold's suit is ruined from the well.  So Grandma loans him her husband's old suit.  From 1861.  Still in great shape, she says.  Well . . . not exactly.

Harold courts Mildred before the party.  But then The Rival comes again.  And sweeps her off her feet.

What will Harold do?

Grandma knows.  She has a magic charm.  The secret formula.  Just the thing that will give Harold the courage he needs to beat his rival, stop The Rolling Stone, and win The Girl.

Grandma gives Harold the magic charm.  And everything changes.


Grandma's Boy played a role in moving comedies from shorts to features.

It is 5 reels.  One hour long.

Of course features already existed.  D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, at 3 hours, 15 minutes, came out seven years before, in 1915.  But it was a historical epic.  Comedies up to now were still largely shorts, composed of a series of gags loosely strung together on the thinnest of plots.  As we have seen in several of the Harold Lloyd shorts we have been watching.

This one has a plot.  Along with Dr. Jack (1922), which we also just saw.

His next film after those two would be his masterpiece.  Safety Last! (1923).


Sunday, May 6, 2018

491 - Harold Lloyd in Dr. Jack, United States, 1922. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.

Sunday, May 6, 2018

491 - Harold Lloyd in Dr. Jack, United States, 1922.  Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.

Hal Roach Prescribes Harold Lloyd.

So say the opening credits.  Written on the prescription pad.

In Consultation . . .

with the other players.

Dr. Jack Jackson is a doctor.  In a small town.  And his patients love him.

His patients can be a bit psychosomatic.  And he can cure them with a bit of psychology.

I am too sick to go to school today.
No worries.  The schoolhouse has burned down to the ground.
Hey, suddenly I feel better.

He is so busy that his employees chase him to feed him.

He gets plenty of work.  He makes plenty of money.  He is beloved by all.

A good gig if you can get it.

Four men are playing poker.  He stacks the deck by giving four aces each to all four men.

Let them sort it out.

Sneaky Jackson.

Enter the The Sick-Little-Well-Girl.

Yesterday we mentioned the Mary Pickford 1917 comedy The Poor Little Rich Girl and suggested it as having similarities to Now or Never (1921).

The Poor Little Rich Girl was a big hit.  It was a popular phrase.  In 1934 the press would attribute the phrase to Gloria Vanderbilt, born in 1924, in that year's Trial of the Century.  Shirley Temple would star in a version of Poor Little Rich Girl in 1936.  Andy Warhol would use it in his film of Edie Sedgwick in 1965.

So The Sick-Little-Well-Girl would have been a clear reference.

This Sick-Little-Well-Girl, played by Mildred Davis, the soon-to-be Mrs. Harold Lloyd, is being used by the cunning Dr. Ludwig von Saulsbourg as a siphon for her father's money.  Dr. von S. has her father convinced that she must stay locked in dark rooms and drink lots of liquid medicine, very expensive medicine of course, and that Mr. SLWG, The Girl's Father, must steadily pay Dr. von S. lots of money.

Until one day when the father-daughter team arrive in Dr. Jack Jackson's town and The Girl's Father takes her to see Dr. Jackson.

Dr. Jackson, being the genius that he is, opens the curtains.  Lets in the light.  Opens the windows.  Lets in the fresh air.  Opens his heart.  Falls in love with The Girl.

And dreams of a day to be.

And stumbles.

And bumps into her by accident.

And kisses her by mistake.

And creates a scandal.

Because that can happen in the movies in 1922.

And the Father and the bad Dr. von Saulsbourg attempt to run him off.  So Dr. Jack Jackson hides by disguising himself as an escaped Lunatic.  The real one is being chased by two police officers who arrive at the residence.

So Harold Lloyd moves back and forth breathlessly between his disguises.  As different personas are chased by different people.

And madcap mayhem ensues.

But we are not worried.

With Harold Lloyd as the good doctor, we expect a full recovery.  And that all will be well.



Yesterday we also mentioned Jackie Condon and Mickey Daniels from Our Gang.  Both of those little rascals appear here as a patient and his pal.

Saturday, May 5, 2018

490 - Harold Lloyd in Now or Never, United States, 1921. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Hal Roach.

Saturday, May 5, 2018

490 - Harold Lloyd in Now or Never, United States, 1921.  Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Hal Roach.

Silent films and trains.

This is the birth of the movies.

In the berth of the movies.

But first, the set up.

The Lonesome Little Child, Dolly, sits at home.  Her father travels with work.  Her mother lives the good life.  The Lonesome Little Child sits and listens to stories told by her maid, The Girl.

Mary Pickford played the neglected rich girl, named Gwendolyn, four years earlier in Maurice Tourneur's The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917).

Shirley Temple played the neglected rich girl, named Barbara Barry, fifteen years later in Irving Cumming's Poor Little Rich Girl (1936).

This lonesome little child is played by Anna Mae Bilson.  She also played Mary Jane in Hal Roach's Rascals in 1922, one of the early Our Gang or Little Rascals shorts, featuring Jackie Condon and Mickey Daniels.  The Little Rascals ran so long that Mickey Daniels, appearing here as a boy, would continue playing in them as an adult.  You may remember him as the goofy boyfriend of the schoolteacher, who himself becomes the truant officer, such as in Fish Hooky (1933) and chases the kids in the amusement park.

Here, in Now or Never, The Girl tells The Lonesome Little Girl about her boyfriend, who is coming home to help her celebrate her birthday.  She is turning eighteen.

Dolly begs to go.  Her parents are gone anyway.

Meanwhile, Harold Lloyd, The Boy, races his roadster down the road, and crashes through a barn.  He comes out the other side full of hay and carrying a duck.  A classic movie moment.

He pays the farmer for the damage, but the farmer is not the farmer.  The farmer is a vagrant who has taken his money and run.  The real farmer now shoots at The Boy with his shotgun.

The Boy races his roadster down the road, looking for the vagabond.  He finds him.  On the train.  The Boy jumps the train to confront the hobo.  But he winds up under the train.  Holding on for dear life.

The Girl and Dolly end up on the train.  The Girl's Boss ends up on the train.

The Boy ends up trying to take care of Dolly while The Girl goes in search of her Boss.

And madcap mayhem ensues.

All aboard.

Friday, May 4, 2018

489 - Harold Lloyd in High and Dizzy, United States, 1920. Dir. Hal Roach.

Friday, May 4, 2018

489 - Harold Lloyd in High and Dizzy, United States, 1920.  Dir. Hal Roach.

The Boy is now a Doctor.  Just starting.

Now if he can just get some patients.

Wait.  Here comes a father and daughter.  The Boy needs to show them that he has an active practice.

What to do?

He knows.  Dress up as different people and enter in and out of the lobby.  Then the father and daughter will see that he has patients and will have confidence in him.

Problem solved.

Now for the doctor.  What seems to be the problem, Sir?

My daughter walks in her sleep.

Hmm.

What to do?

The Boy gives them some kind of answer.  Take this and call me.

Then he gets drunk with his friend.

Wait.  What?

He stumbles through town with typical Harold Lloyd mayhem, with police involved, and winds up in a hotel.

The Girl and her father just happen to be staying in the hotel.

The Girl falls asleep.  And sleepwalks.

And winds up out on the ledge.

The Boy follows her out on the ledge.

Drunk.

And winds up looking like this:




Here we go.

Thursday, May 3, 2018

488 - Bumping Into Broadway, United States, 1919. Dir. Hal Roach.

Thursday, May 3, 2018

488 - Bumping Into Broadway, United States, 1919.  Dir. Hal Roach.

This classic Harold Lloyd short film is high-energy, fast-paced, creatively witty, and hilarious.

It features four locations: the apartment building, the theater, the street, and the speakeasy.

Broadway.

Avenue of lights.

In the city that never sleeps.

Where the stars live the good life.  Eat the big steaks.  Drink the big booze.  Where the Flappers expect the royal treatment from the hosts and the maitre d'.  Where money flows like champagne.

But also

Where the undiscovered struggle in flophouses, betting on dreams, looking for a morsel to eat.

Bearcat the Landlady is on the prowl.  Handing out third notices.  Pay the $3.75 you owe or be evicted.  And she has a Bearcat Bouncer man ready to bounce you.  And he does.  He takes the first victim and tosses him up and down like a rag doll, with such ferocity that a WWE performer could not take the punishment.

$3.75 in 1919 is worth $56.72 in 2018.  We suspect you would still take that deal today.  But that is more than these people have.  Or have ever had.  At one time.

Well, The Boy can scrounge up just enough change.

But when he sees his next-door neighbor, The Girl, about to be out on the street, he steps in chivalrously, always the gentleman, and gives his rent money to her.

Now the Bearcat and the Bearcat Bouncer are after him.  Up and down the stairs.  In and out of rooms.  In and out of windows.  Hiding and being discovered.  Farce at its highest.

The Boy is an aspiring writer.  The Girl is a dancer at the theater.

The Boy makes it to the theater to show his script to the Director.  The Director who sits in an office with headshots papering the walls.

If only he could get in.

And if we know Harold Lloyd, then we know The Boy will find a way.

It all comes to a head when The Boy finds himself inside the speakeasy, not understanding where is he.  Not knowing what putting money on Number 13 on the Roulette Wheel even means.  But breaking the house.  And walking away with all the cash just as the police raid the joint.

Here we go.

Up and down the stairs.  In and out the doors.  Hiding and being discovered.

With many a whack on the head.

Here Harold Lloyd hones his madcap mayhem skills for the features he would later make, and this one stands among his finest and funniest.

Now if he could just get that rug to block our view so he can kiss The Girl.

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

487 - Harold Lloyd in Billy Blazes, Esq., United States, 1919. Dir. Hal Roach.

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

487 - Harold Lloyd in Billy Blazes, Esq., United States, 1919.  Dir. Hal Roach.

Harold Lloyd is Billy Blazes, a cowboy in a cowboy Western.

And in this one, he is good at what he does.  Not incompetent.

He works with Hal Roach, the silent film director famous for the Our Gang / The Little Rascals series.

Snub Pollard plays Gun Shy Gallagher.

Bebe Daniels plays Nell.

Saddle up.

Guns are a-blazin' with Billy Blazes.

Although how he is an Esq. we are not sure.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

486 - Harold Lloyd in The Cat's Paw, United States, 1934. Dir. Sam Taylor.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

486 - Harold Lloyd in The Cat's Paw, United States, 1934.  Dir. Sam Taylor.

Harold talks!

Holy Cats.

Mr. Cobb Goes to Stockport.

Ezekiel Cobb, that is.  Born in Stockport.  But moved to China as a little boy.  Moved with his beloved father, a missionary, and raised on the writings of Ling Po.

There is a real Chinese poet named Li Po, but this is a fictional poet.

Twenty years later, Ezekiel goes home to find a wife.  A wife back in Stockport to bring back to China.  But because he has lived his entire remembered life in China, he feels out of place in his own hometown.  And because he is played by Harold Lloyd, he is innocent and vulnerable.

So just as Mr. Jefferson Smith--as played by James Stewart in Frank Capra's film five years later--is put up as U.S. Senator to be a patsy for the crime boss Jim Taylor--played by Edward Arnold--under the mentorship of the shady senior senator Joseph Paine--played by Claude Rains--so also Ezekiel Cobb--as played by Harold Lloyd--is put up as the Stockport mayor to be a patsy, or Cat's Paw, for the crime boss Jake Mayo--played by George Barbier.

But what Jake Mayo does not anticipate from Ezekiel Cobb, just as Jim Taylor did not expect it from Jefferson Smith, is that Ezekiel Cobb will take his job seriously and take real action to bring about real reform.

Ezekiel Cobb leans on the writings of Ling Po to guide him in his decision making.

As Cobb attempts to date, in order to find a wife, his naivete generates humorous misadventures with the ladies.  And in particular, with Miss Pet Pratt, as played by Una Merkel.

And as Cobb attempts to clean up the town, his naivete, or simplistic genius, upsets the standard order until things come to a breaking point.

It just so happens that Ezekiel Cobb knows just what to do.

And does it.

And wins.

In a decade where innocent men won against corruption.

And won the girl.

And won the hearts of Americans.