Honeymooniacs
- 1929
- 20m
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one of the last silent comedy shorts, with Monte Collins wrecking everything on a train during his honeymoon
Released in mid-1929, HONEYMOONIACS was the last silent "Mermaid" comedy from legendary producer Jack White (according to David N. Bruskin's superb book on the White Brothers--Jack, Jules, and Sam). It features the great rubber-faced comedian and writer Monte Collins (who somewhat resembles Jim Varney facially, or so I think) as a man with his bride (Betty Boyd) on a train during their honeymoon. As one might expect, everything goes wrong at every level. His wife wants him to open the window of the train so she can get some fresh air, and two or three minutes are spent milking every possible permutation of that, culminating in a blast of water coming through and soaking the two people behind Collins and wife. After these shenanigans in the front car of the train, everyone goes to the sleeping berths, and you can imagine how many slapstick set-ups can be created here (later shorts by The Three Stooges using this setting will be remembered by many). The viewer may well be physically exhausted himself after watching this short. Don't expect any great depth here--this is a slapstick comedy short made according to a formula. But if you like the formula, as I do, and if you can appreciate the work of a master physical comedian such as Monte Collins, you will love this short. My copy has a reissue title card and no cast list other than Collins. The cards within the film itself are the original "educational film exchanges" cards, but the film ends abruptly and has no closing card. It runs about 15' 30", so possibly it is edited. HONEYMOONIACS is a solid piece of work that still entertains today (my friends watching it certainly enjoyed it as much as I did) and shows that Jack White went out of the silent era with a bang, not a whimper!
helpful•30
- django-1
- Mar 1, 2005
Details
- Runtime20 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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