Wild

Out west, some bad guys have Dorothy Earle tied to a tree while they duel with their 20-shooters to see who gets her. The sight of the helpless Dorothy drives Marcel Perez wild; he rescues her. Her father tells them they can keep each other, just empty one of the gold mines up in them thar hills. However the bad guys incite the local Indians to attack Our Heroes in this funny comedy.

It's not the best of the comedies on THE MARCEL PEREZ COLLECTION vol. 2, despite the usual assortment of imaginative and well-executed gags. There were a lot of western comedies to choose from in the era and the heavy-handed puns that Perez' producers, the Shillers, favored for their titles, tend to make me scowl rather than laugh. Still, it does have the distinction of being in the best shape of any of Perez' American performances I have seen, thanks to its being one of two films released to the 16mm. aftermarket; one copy of this survived in a private collection and wound up at the Library of Congress. The other film is still missing and, like more than 70 per cent of silent films, may never be heard from again.

So by all means, take a look at this one, and, if you can, ignore the titles. You'll see Perez doing a fine comedy, integrating the European and American branches of slapstick.