"Jus' Passin' Through" was the relatively lavish, three-reel debut film for Will Rogers as a starring comedian for producer Hal Roach. It wouldn't be the last time Roach would give a series to a humorist who was actually best known for his writing (see his later Irvin S. Cobb series), but Rogers was already a well-known film actor, even if one who had run into some hard times when he tried to produce himself. Interestingly, here he reprises the titular role from his he successful previous feature "Jubilo." I haven't seen that film so I can't comment, but this one is a very pleasant little piece.
To bring in Rogers well to the studio, then-Director General Charley Chase is enlisted to direct, and he brings a slick, good humored feel to the proceedings. Rogers is a vagrant in a town with a zero-tolerance policy for vagrants, desperate for a meal on Thanksgiving (and willing to be imprisoned for the one being collected for the prisoners). Rogers is a good comic performer, actually, and clearly a good actor. He has some nice philosophically startled reactions and never overplays. The whole short is subtle as Rogers' performance is.
The three-reel format let's it take its time in its development in time to Jubilo's wanderings, and sidle into a nice Charley Chase-style farce plot, with the family that must run Jubilo out of town unknowingly inviting him into dinner so they don't make thirteen.
Jubilo gets time to develop into a believable character, and there are a number of quietly very funny gags and sequences, including a great shot where his attempts to shout at a policeman so he gets put in jail end up inspiring the crowd to cheer for a politician, whom he doesn't know is behind him.
"jus' Passin' Through" is a very pleasant and good-humored welcome to Hal Roach for the prestigious acquisition of Will Rogers. It feels like a generous and expansive comedy as it riffs on Rogers' search for a decent meal in an unsympathetic town.
To bring in Rogers well to the studio, then-Director General Charley Chase is enlisted to direct, and he brings a slick, good humored feel to the proceedings. Rogers is a vagrant in a town with a zero-tolerance policy for vagrants, desperate for a meal on Thanksgiving (and willing to be imprisoned for the one being collected for the prisoners). Rogers is a good comic performer, actually, and clearly a good actor. He has some nice philosophically startled reactions and never overplays. The whole short is subtle as Rogers' performance is.
The three-reel format let's it take its time in its development in time to Jubilo's wanderings, and sidle into a nice Charley Chase-style farce plot, with the family that must run Jubilo out of town unknowingly inviting him into dinner so they don't make thirteen.
Jubilo gets time to develop into a believable character, and there are a number of quietly very funny gags and sequences, including a great shot where his attempts to shout at a policeman so he gets put in jail end up inspiring the crowd to cheer for a politician, whom he doesn't know is behind him.
"jus' Passin' Through" is a very pleasant and good-humored welcome to Hal Roach for the prestigious acquisition of Will Rogers. It feels like a generous and expansive comedy as it riffs on Rogers' search for a decent meal in an unsympathetic town.