A Clever Dummy (1917) User Reviews

Clever It Is

[Michael_Elliott · 19 September 2012]

A Clever Dummy (1917)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

An inventor creates a mechanical dummy modeled after a moron (Ben Turpin) who lives in the basement. A vaudeville owner comes to take a look at the dummy but the human dummy replaces himself with it and that night he ends up taking the stage. A CLEVER DUMMY isn't all that clever but it's story is decent enough to where you can get a few laughs at it but it's clear that Turpin is the star of this picture. I was really amazed to see how well he did in the physical portion of the film and especially towards the end when he's up on the stage doing all sorts of tricks. I thought these moments were the highlight of the film because the actor was pretty much just set free to do whatever he wanted. This led to some funny stuff including the "dummy" going back out on stage once the pretty girls started their dance. We're also treated to some fun supporting performances including Chester Conklin and his mustache as well as Wallace Beery in a small role. The film is certainly far from a classic or even a good one for that matter. There simply wasn't enough laughs but it's still worth seeing for Turpin's performance.

Not a clever film

[Horst_In_Translation · 2/10 · 16 January 2017]

"A Clever Dummy" or "The Automatic Figure" is an American black-and-white silent film from 1917, so it has its 100th anniversary this year. The writer is Mack Sennett and no less than three directors worked on this one. The especially shocking thing is that it still turned out so weak. It suffers drastically from one of the biggest problems when it comes to silent film: the lack of sufficient intertitles. You cannot blame them for not including sound as technology wasn't ready yet, but if you make a film and show us people talking non-stop basically from start to finish, but only include an intertitle every 1 or 2 minutes and then that one consists of maybe three words, I would think that the filmmaker is trying to make a fool of us. It is virtually impossible to understand the movie or the plot and this is a negative deal-breaker. This is especially disappointing as the cast includes names like Turpin, Conklin and Beery, all pretty successful actors in the first half of the 20th century and they definitely have the potential to show us better quality in terms of their performances. Then again, there are nonetheless several moments of severe overacting in this one, so I guess the lack of creativity was contagious. There are many films about robots, golems or dummies from the early days of film and this has to be one of the worst. Also clearly inferior to some of the stuff Méliès and others did even 2 decades earlier.

An excellent early Turpin film

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 29 April 2008]

This is one of Ben Turpin's earlier silents for Keystone (Sennett Studios). While there is some of the typical material from a Keystone comedy (including a short but exciting obligatory chase at the end), the rest of the movie is very, very unusual to say the least! For some odd reason, an inventor has made an automaton that is modeled after Ben. While the audience can tell which is which, the folks in this little short are a bit dim and can't seem to tell that later when the dummy is supposed to perform on stage, it's actually Ben taking its place. I was particularly impressed by Turpin's physicality and ability to do some complicated scenes and I was also impressed that this was a pretty funny short for 1917. While not great, it is among the better shorts from that period.

By the way, look for Chester Conklin (a perennial in these films) with his trademark mustache as well as a young Wallace Beery as the owner of the theater.

Excellent silent comedy

[knsevy · 8/10 · 5 December 2003]

***SPOILERS - IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET, THOUGH, YOU PROBABLY AREN'T READING THIS***

A pleasant little film from crosseyed Ben Turpin. The tape I have with this movie on it contains several other Turpin movies, and from watching them, I believe the reason he didn't achieve the fame of the great silent comics was because he never really solidified his character. He plays a thief, a milquetoast, a masher, a victim...other than his crossed eyes, there was nothing you could look at in his performances and say 'This is Ben Turpin'.

Not that Turpin didn't make some funny films, mind you. In this particular outing, he plays a janitor whose engineer associate has made a mechanical man who looks just like Ben. Of course, the mistake in identity is made, and Turpin spends the better part of the movie pretending to be a mechanical dummy. This is good work; understanding, as a viewer, that no human can totally mimic a machine (i.e. when thrown over someone's shoulder, a real person's arms and legs WILL flex to a certain extent), you can get some good laughs out of these sequences. Ben fails to elicit a whole lot of sympathy, however, for his crush on the engineer's girlfriend. His act of deception in order to get more attention from her is what leads to his playing the mechanical man, and a blatant act of thievery leads to his unmasking and downfall.

A fun film; much better-constructed than a lot of Sennett's work. Relies on plot AND slapstick to sell the humor.

Remarkably inventive for 1917

[morrisonhimself · 9/10 · 8 January 2017]

Ben Turpin steals the movie from ... Ben Turpin.

The science-fictiony aspects of this very clever motion picture make this a superlative Keystone production.

But there are also first-class production values along with a first-class cast of actors, most of whom are just unknown today.

For 1917, this is a fascinating look at imagined technology.

Mack Sennett gets writing credit, and there are three directors, very unusual.

Out of all the cast, today only Ben Turpin and Wallace Beery are known, and Beery, though listed third in the cast here, actually had a small part. Out of all the players, he is the only one who went on to big parts in the talkies.

"A Clever Dummy" is indeed very clever, and deserves your attention as some amazing Hollywood history, including its inventiveness and Wallace Beery's early work.