A major reason I've loved the 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz all my life is Bert Lahr. In a film packed with great performers, all in rare form, his Cowardly Lion is tops. I could watch him in that role again any time, and still find him fresh, funny and enjoyable.
So, naturally, I've looked for other films featuring Lahr. As a kid I read the fascinating biography about him written by his son John, "Notes on a Cowardly Lion," and learned that Bert appeared in several films in the years before 'Oz,' but somehow didn't quite catch on as a popular screen attraction. Now that I've seen some of these films I can understand why. On the vaudeville stage, his mugging and over-the-top antics must have rocked audiences. In his early screen appearances, however, he plays to the camera like he's playing to the folks in the second-tier balcony seats, and the effect is off-putting. He's CRAZY in all-caps, and absolutely relentless. On screen, in these early efforts anyway, Bert is a little too much of a good thing.
This over-the-top quality is on full display in the early talkie short Faint Heart, Lahr's movie debut. We first see him sitting at a sewing machine in his workshop, wearing a silly smock and a beret, stitching a pair of pajamas. As it turns out, he's a dress maker named Rudolf. And, in case we were wondering, he immediately establishes himself as very fey, behaving in the stereotyped fashion of a sissy. Suddenly a noisy altercation breaks out in the hallway, just outside Rudolf's door. It turns out that a well-dressed masher is forcing his attentions on a young lady. When Rudolf intervenes the masher backs off, but before he departs he contemptuously addresses both the lady and Rudolf as "you girls." The young lady is grateful to be rescued, but otherwise unimpressed with her rescuer. So Rudolf, abashed, decides to join the police department.
Next thing you know, he's a cop. On the beat late one night, Rudolf distinguishes himself by catching a safe-cracker known as "Dynamite Dan" in the act of cracking a safe, and handcuffs him. But as he attempts to complete the arrest, he loses the key. Dan, as you'd expect, isn't terribly impressed with Rudolf, either. The two of them are walking to the police station, cuffed at the wrists, when they encounter a rival of Dan's, who sees that he's been arrested and taunts him. A boxing match ensues, and poor Rudolf gets caught in the middle. All three men wind up on the ground in a writhing mass.
The handcuffs come undone somehow, one thing leads to another, and soon Rudolf is being pursued by Dan's allies, a gang of crooks. (I noticed during this sequence that background music is abruptly heard for the first time in the film; it seemed out of place for a Vitaphone short from this period, and I suspect it was dubbed-in at a later date, possibly for a theatrical reissue.) Ultimately, Rudolf triumphs, locks up all the crooks, and gets the girl. And just before the fadeout he also has the opportunity to deliver his trademark sound effect: "Gnong, Gnong, Gnong!"
Well, hey, you have to start somewhere. Seeing a notable comedian in his film debut is always, at the very least, interesting. That said, I have to confess I found Faint Heart more "interesting" than funny. Like most Vitaphone comedy shorts of the period it was probably shot in a hurry. None of the quips are especially memorable, and when possibilities for physical comedy present themselves (as with the handcuff routine, or the chase with the crooks), they're tossed off in a perfunctory manner. Bert Lahr himself does not come off as an appealing figure in this debut. Still and all, I'm glad this film survives. I believe Lahr gave one of the movies' great comic performances in The Wizard of Oz, and it's intriguing to see how his movie career started out, ten years earlier -- and to marvel at how much he would improve, with time.
So, naturally, I've looked for other films featuring Lahr. As a kid I read the fascinating biography about him written by his son John, "Notes on a Cowardly Lion," and learned that Bert appeared in several films in the years before 'Oz,' but somehow didn't quite catch on as a popular screen attraction. Now that I've seen some of these films I can understand why. On the vaudeville stage, his mugging and over-the-top antics must have rocked audiences. In his early screen appearances, however, he plays to the camera like he's playing to the folks in the second-tier balcony seats, and the effect is off-putting. He's CRAZY in all-caps, and absolutely relentless. On screen, in these early efforts anyway, Bert is a little too much of a good thing.
This over-the-top quality is on full display in the early talkie short Faint Heart, Lahr's movie debut. We first see him sitting at a sewing machine in his workshop, wearing a silly smock and a beret, stitching a pair of pajamas. As it turns out, he's a dress maker named Rudolf. And, in case we were wondering, he immediately establishes himself as very fey, behaving in the stereotyped fashion of a sissy. Suddenly a noisy altercation breaks out in the hallway, just outside Rudolf's door. It turns out that a well-dressed masher is forcing his attentions on a young lady. When Rudolf intervenes the masher backs off, but before he departs he contemptuously addresses both the lady and Rudolf as "you girls." The young lady is grateful to be rescued, but otherwise unimpressed with her rescuer. So Rudolf, abashed, decides to join the police department.
Next thing you know, he's a cop. On the beat late one night, Rudolf distinguishes himself by catching a safe-cracker known as "Dynamite Dan" in the act of cracking a safe, and handcuffs him. But as he attempts to complete the arrest, he loses the key. Dan, as you'd expect, isn't terribly impressed with Rudolf, either. The two of them are walking to the police station, cuffed at the wrists, when they encounter a rival of Dan's, who sees that he's been arrested and taunts him. A boxing match ensues, and poor Rudolf gets caught in the middle. All three men wind up on the ground in a writhing mass.
The handcuffs come undone somehow, one thing leads to another, and soon Rudolf is being pursued by Dan's allies, a gang of crooks. (I noticed during this sequence that background music is abruptly heard for the first time in the film; it seemed out of place for a Vitaphone short from this period, and I suspect it was dubbed-in at a later date, possibly for a theatrical reissue.) Ultimately, Rudolf triumphs, locks up all the crooks, and gets the girl. And just before the fadeout he also has the opportunity to deliver his trademark sound effect: "Gnong, Gnong, Gnong!"
Well, hey, you have to start somewhere. Seeing a notable comedian in his film debut is always, at the very least, interesting. That said, I have to confess I found Faint Heart more "interesting" than funny. Like most Vitaphone comedy shorts of the period it was probably shot in a hurry. None of the quips are especially memorable, and when possibilities for physical comedy present themselves (as with the handcuff routine, or the chase with the crooks), they're tossed off in a perfunctory manner. Bert Lahr himself does not come off as an appealing figure in this debut. Still and all, I'm glad this film survives. I believe Lahr gave one of the movies' great comic performances in The Wizard of Oz, and it's intriguing to see how his movie career started out, ten years earlier -- and to marvel at how much he would improve, with time.
