I've seen quite a few Larry Semon films and because of that, it made watching "The Gown Shop" even worse. This is because I know that Semon could make some wonderful comedies...and this one simply was bad.
The story is set at a fancy women's gown shop where Oliver Hardy is the manager. There really is no more plot than this, as Semon plays a screwup employee who keeps making a mess of things while the gown maker and Hardy chase him about the place.
The film is horribly unfunny and is chaotic...but with no real purpose to the chaos. Such slapstick might have worked better a decade earlier, but by 1923 comedies actually had plots...though Semon seemed to have forgotten to include one here...as well as laughs.
By the way, the credits to the copy I found were in Italian, but as there were no intertitle cards explaining the action, anyone can watch the film...even if they don't understand Italian. What I could read was that the film was written, directed and starred Semon...so he alone is to blame for the flatness of the plot...or lack of plot.
