The Pinch Hitter (1917)

Director:

Victor Schertzinger

Writer:

C. Gardner Sullivan (scenario)

Release Date:

29 April 1917 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sport

Tagline:

Bubbling over with college spirit, love and baseball

Plot:

Shy Joel Parker seems bound for nowhere, until Abbie Nettleton enters his life. With her prodding, Joel goes from timid nobody to a baseball star with bravura. |

Plot Keywords:

Baseball | Campus

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Charles Ray	...	Joel Parker
Sylvia Breamer	...	Abbie Nettleton (as Sylvia Bremer)
Joseph J. Dowling	...	Obediah Parker
Jerome Storm	...	Jimmie Slater
Darrell Foss	...	Alexis Thompson (as Darrel Foss)
Louis Durham	...	Coach Nolan

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Kay-Bee Pictures

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Pinch Hitter (1925)

Possibly the Worst Silent Movie I Have Ever Seen

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Charles Ray was a star of the silent era, having shot to fame in the Thomas Ince Production of THE COWARD. He was thereafter cast for the next eight years as a country bumpkin who made good, until he got so tired of playing the same role that he went independent, made a famous flop called THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH and his starring career went into the tank. He ended it playing extras in the 1940s.

SPOILER: GIVES AWAY THE STORY

If he was tired of roles like this, good for him. Here he plays Joel Parker, son of a farmer who despises him. His father sends him to college only because Joel's dead mother wanted him to go. At college there seems to be no classes. Instead, Joel is tormented by his snobbish fellow students, but befriended by a waitress, played adequately by Sylvia Breamer, who tries to get him to act like a man. He tries out for the college baseball team, where he is thought to be so awful that he is made the team mascot without telling him. Finally, in the big game, a run down at the bottom of the ninth with two outs, they need a pinch hitter, but they've used every player on the bench but Joel, so in desperation they send him in. Eventually he hits a home run, so now his father -- who has come to the game -- and all the students now respect him.

So what do we learn from this story? That success is having despicable people admire you. A heck of a life lesson.

Even worse, Charles Ray walks throughout the entire movie with a glum, vacant look on his face, probably the most boring and annoying characterization in the history of Hollywood.

The print I saw was 48 minutes in length, clearly cut down. At 48 minutes it's far too long. About 48 minutes too long. Avoid this one at all costs.