Comedy
Format: Standard, B&W
Directors: Dell Henderson and Mack Sennett
Starring: William Collier Sr. And Blanche Payson
A slightly jumbled and hectic story, in the slapstick style of comedy, using Keystone Kops-type of action, is presented here with plenty of classic silent-era comedy stunts. Then there is the story inside, between our hero, his abusive wife and the mother-in-law, that tends to get a little too silly. The wife shooting off the gun, chasing the husband around an apartment building, was way too cartoonish, but that is how they did things in the silent era.
Using speeded up action, because of the 18 frames per second, the blurring images sometimes helped hide some of that stuff, but not here. That was the only problem with slapstick too. Sometimes it went too far or too long and became too cartoonish, but slapstick would be a genre that would last for over 65 years and that is a good thing. It's good clean comedy. The current DVD version I saw has mediocre canned music complete with vocals that are an obvious cheap add-on by the DVD company. The problem is, I don't think it hurt the film at all. It may have helped. It still was fun to watch and short enough not to be brutal.
7.3 (C+ MyGrade) = 7 IMDB.
A slightly jumbled and hectic story, in the slapstick style of comedy, using Keystone Kops-type of action, is presented here with plenty of classic silent-era comedy stunts. Then there is the story inside, between our hero, his abusive wife and the mother-in-law, that tends to get a little too silly. The wife shooting off the gun, chasing the husband around an apartment building, was way too cartoonish, but that is how they did things in the silent era.
Using speeded up action, because of the 18 frames per second, the blurring images sometimes helped hide some of that stuff, but not here. That was the only problem with slapstick too. Sometimes it went too far or too long and became too cartoonish, but slapstick would be a genre that would last for over 65 years and that is a good thing. It's good clean comedy. The current DVD version I saw has mediocre canned music complete with vocals that are an obvious cheap add-on by the DVD company. The problem is, I don't think it hurt the film at all. It may have helped. It still was fun to watch and short enough not to be brutal.
7.3 (C+ MyGrade) = 7 IMDB.