Dumb Belles

Sailor-suited Billy Dooley stands to inherit a private school if he can convince Jack Duffy he is a better teacher than William Irving. When it turns out it is a girl's school, his interest in the work increases.

The copy I saw is one that was adapted for the sound era, with effects (mostly of running feet) slightly sped-up running speed and a voice over that makes bad jokes and explains what is going on, no matter how obvious it is. Setting aside these grumpy-making additions, this short subject is a standard late-silent comedy, directed by competent-but-undistinguished William Watson, as part of the deal that the Christie brothers cut with Paramount to release a co-branded series of comedies starring blank-faced Mr. Dooley, a stage dancer.

Like the rest of the series, which ran in the waning days of the silent era, it is eked out with pretty girls and the Christies' competent slapstick cast. Yet it contains little that is not available in hundreds of other shorts that survive from the era. Neither do the characterizations extend beyond the briefest description. This was typical of the Christies' shorts, which concentrated more on "types" than individuals. Still, the work is competently performed, and if you're the sort of person who likes circus clowns, you'll like this.