Some of the more innovative film directors and screenwriters insert symbolism into their movies to give deeper meanings to their work. A prime example is director Frank Borzage and the use of symbolism in his November 1925 "Lazybones."
The Frances Marion script was adapted from Owen Davis' story of the same name. It's about a simple son, Steve, who lives with his mother. Steve (Buck Jones) has a habit of sleeping and fishing all day and not doing needed repairs around the house. A quick look at the plot can be interpreted as just a lazy guy experiencing a sleeping problem. But delving deeper into the film's overall storyline, some reviewers have seen Steve personifying nature as a whole. When he's sleeping, he's outside in all kinds of weather. While fishing (sleeping of course) on a nearby riverbank, his body curves exactly into the shape of the tree he's fishing from. There's a naturalist feel of Steve's world. Ultimately, as the picture unfolds, it's apparent those who go against nature are the losers in the story.
Mrs. Fanny (Emily Fitzroy) is very strict with her two daughters. The older daughter, Ruth (Zasu Pitts) has left home, and is a widow with a baby. The younger one, Agnes (Jane Novak), likes Steve, but the mother adamantly disapproves the relationship. She ends up being a spinster while Ruth, who has returned home, secretly leaves the baby with Steve. Ruth never tells her mother about her previous marriage and infant. She wilts to her mother's wishes for her choice of a husband in town and marries the prim and proper, but abusive local man. Throughout "Lazybones," the pattern repeats itself on the natural cycle of nature and the "unnatural" actions of the characters who don't follow "natural" impulses. The latter are scarred for life.
Another of Borzage's motifs playing a pivotal role in "Lazybones" is the river. Steve is seen for the first time getting off his duff while fishing and diving into the river to save the suicidal Zasu early in the movie. It is on the dock of the river he is handed over Zasu's baby, a life-changing responsibility for Steve. And when he falls in love with the young woman he's raised, Kit (Madge Bellamy as the grown-up), he's standing in a tributary of the river where he discovers his "unnatural" physical romantic notions are thwarted by her boyfriend's marriage proposal.
Buck Jones' role as Steve was unusual for the former stuntman-turned-movie actor. Previously, his primary films were Westerns, at times as a backup for superstar Tom Mix. Jones hit his stride in the mid-1920s, becoming a major star. He transitioned well when sound emerged in films, but only in low-budged movies. He happened to be inside Boston's Cocoanut Grove night club on the evening of November 28, 1942, when a destructive fire erupted. He was one of 492 victims who succumbed to the blaze that fateful night. Jones died two days later from his injuries at the age of 50.
