The Perfect Clown.

Review #2042: The Perfect Clown.

 

Cast: 

Larry Semon (Bert Larry), Kate Price (Mrs. Sally Mulligan), Dorothy Dwan (Rosie), Joan Meredith (Her Chum), Otis Harlan (The Boss), Curtis McHenry (Snowball), Oliver Hardy (Babe Mulligan), and Frank Alexander (Tiny Tott) Directed by Fred C. Newmeyer (#667 - The Freshman, #674 - Grandma's Boy, #758 - Safety Last!, #864 - Hot Water, #889 - A Sailor-Made Man, #903 - Dr. Jack, #918 - Why Worry? and #938 - Girl Shy)

Review: 

Nine years ago, I reviewed a movie called Wizard of Oz (1925) that featured comedian Larry Semon as the star. It sucked. But hey, he was a comedian that had his time in the spotlight during the 1910s and early 1920s, clearly it was a case of me not picking something more representative of who Semon was as a presence in silent comedy. Born in West Point, Mississippi, he was born into vaudeville from his parents, a magician and assistant that did their own show. Semon worked for a time in graphic art with newspapers but found his way into vaudeville and later Vitagraph, where he had a contract that dealt with scenario writing, directing, and eventually starring for himself. He did a variety of short films (which can detailed in small part by better folks here) but eventually had to try his hand at feature filmmaking when it came to trying to make big financially due to his free-spending habits. All of this just so happens to match up with seeing Fred C. Newmeyer direct a film without Harold Lloyd in it. Actually, the Colorado native directed various comedy shorts and features between his time spent as an actor in the 1910s and early 1920s, which came after he had also tried his hand at minor league baseball. Newmeyer directed eight features that had Lloyd as star (albeit a few of those directing jobs were shared with Sam Taylor), but he made his first venture without Lloyd in Seven Keys to Baldpate (1925) that featured Douglas MacLean (unfortunately the film is lost). The Perfect Clown, was released not long after this one. So yes, the same year that saw Newmeyer go from directing Lloyd to going on his own was the same one where Semon was the star of two feature films, which both happen to feature Oliver Hardy (two years away from being paired up with Stan Laurel for the first time) in a supporting role.

Norman Taurog, who worked with Semon for a time, once related a story about Semon and his tactics by the mid-1920s. He would be handed a script by Semon before he left for a trip that meant that Taurog filmed the script with a stunt double (Bill Hauber) to stand in for Semon before he returned for shots of close-ups. Of course, a biography of Semon once stated that in a two-year span, Semon was reported to have taken a vacation that totaled two days. It seems that Semon had plenty of gag ideas brimming in his head that he needed to get done in some way, but that did not mean his sense of timing was good enough to execute said gags. Honestly, I wish I could say that the runtime being just a few minutes short of an hour means a jolly time for the curious. Alas, what we have is a pretty mediocre time that doesn't exactly live up to its title beyond an expressive face that its star has. It lingers in coincidences and gags that might as well pop up in a cheesy haunted house show, which is too corny to really be anything other than just the most bored of chuckles ever imaginable. Semon may very well have been trying to draw blood from a stone with his attempt at dragging comedy into feature form, he seems a bit played out within this structure. Granted, it is better than the "ambitious" attempt he did with the aforementioned Wizard film, because it is obviously less high-strung, but that doesn't mean much more than saying a man who did well in shorts necessairly should be in features. The stuff just seems a bit mechanical, not really generating anything besides mild bemusement with a persona that can't hold anything further than what you might have seen with an earlier silent comedian. There are gags here and there that make the film get a bit more chuckles (such as one involving a knocked over person), but as a whole it just is very okay. As a whole, it lingers with nothing special under the foundation that could make you want that many more like it. In short, being average is one thing, being better than generic average is another, but at least it might make you wonder just how much potential there might have been for Semon, and I suppose that is enough.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

3 Bad Men.

Review #1324: 3 Bad Men.

Cast: 
George O'Brien (Dan O'Malley), Olive Borden (Lee Carlton), Lou Tellegen (Sheriff Layne Hunter), Tom Santschi ("Bull" Stanley), J. Farrell MacDonald (Mike Costigan), Frank Campeau ("Spade" Allen), Priscilla Bonner (Millie Stanley), Otis Harlan (Editor Zach Little), Phyllis Haver (Lily), Georgie Harris (Joe Minsk), Alec B. Francis (Rev. Calvin Benson), and Jay Hunt (Nat Lucas) Directed by John Ford (#398 - The Last Hurrah)

Review: 
When it comes to making a classic Western, John Ford as director certainly comes to mind. Ford had a lengthy career that spanned nearly 50 years from his first in The Tornado (1917) to his last with 7 Women (1966). He could direct any sort of genre, whether a Western, drama, war documentary, romance or some sort of drama. In any case, it seems appropriate to pick a film like this from Ford, seeing as a great deal of his silent films are now lost, alongside the fact that it was also his last Western until another classic thirteen years later with Stagecoach. This also ties in to the film's main star in O'Brien, who starred in ten films for Ford (such as The Iron Horse (1924), Ford's first epic) while becoming a popular star for this decade in his own right. It is nice to see a Western that likes to try and play with other genres and succeeds in doing so, having highlights of comedy and romance that gel pretty well with a solid cast. It is a pretty riveting film that comes from Fox Film Corporation (who you might recognize from their subsequent merger with 20th Century Studios in 1935), juggling its plot and numerous characters with careful ambition, where its episodic nature plays out nicely for 92 minutes without overstaying its welcome. It is a film "suggested" by Herman Whitaker's 1916 novel Over the Border, with the scenario and adaptation being done by John Stone while Ralph Spence and Malcolm Stuart Boylan did the titles. There are quite a few Western tropes to spot here, such as bad guys gone good, a last stand for prominent characters, some sort of historical element (in this case, a land rush in the Dakotas), and so on. But it never seems like a cliche waiting to be made fun of because of how interesting Ford can make the landscape seem. Stock characters can still make for great entertainment if one has the right sense of direction to let the actors deliver some effort to them, and Ford does that well. O'Brien and Borden prove to be pretty watchable, having decent chemistry together, compelling to watch when faced with each other or when with the rascally "bad men". Tellegen proves to be a capably ruthless adversary, whose fierce eyes and disposition gel pretty well when needed for a showdown or just being rude to someone who wants to marry him. The highlight proves to be the outlaw group, headlined by a soulful Santschi, who carries this group to redemption with charm and tenderness. MacDonald and Campeau are also pretty good in giving some chuckles (as set up by the title cards). The rest of the cast prove just fine, particularly when it comes to a good ol' bar fight or the land rush. It is a curiosity worth checking out, where one can see a game cast work with equally sturdy foundations for a fun adventure along with seeing an early example of a memorable film by John Ford when it came to delivering capable entertainment that served him well over the course of the next few decades with sound and Westerns.

Next Time: Tribute to the Decades approaches a year of awards and sound first with Underworld.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Review #810: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Cast
Adriana Caselotti (Snow White), Lucille La Verne (Evil Queen / Witch), Harry Stockwell (The Prince), Roy Atwell (Doc), Pinto Colvig (Grumpy and Sleepy), Otis Harlan (Happy), Scotty Mattraw (Bashful), Billy Gilbert (Sneezy), Eddie Collins (Dopey), Moroni Olsen (The Magic Mirror), and Stuart Buchanan (Humbert the Huntsman) Directed by William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson (#178 - Peter Pan, #373 - Cinderella, and #683 - Alice in Wonderland) Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen.

Review
In a year dominated by stories varying from joy to outright tragedy all throughout the world, one can only either let things get to them, or find an outlet to at least provide some sort of comfort. With that in mind, it's time for a new review, incidentally on the first day of summer, which I hope is some sort of entertainment for you. I hope you enjoy.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was both the first full-length cel animated feature film alongside the first full-length film by Walt Disney and his animators, which was distributed by RKO Pictures. This wasn't the first ever animated movie (there were eight before this one, with the earliest being made in 1917, though it is now lost), but it was the first American animated movie, premiering on December 21, 1937. At the time, this movie was referred to as "Disney's Folly", with people doubting that a man (and his animators) known for cartoon shorts could make a successful film. Obviously this movie was a massive success, but the history the surrounds it is quite interesting, and this movie quite obviously was the impetus for animated films that followed this one. The influence and grace that the movie had is what makes this a great movie; from animation to music, it set a standard that is still held true today.

For me, it had been years since I had seen this film (predating even this show), but even years later the movie still resonated with me. It's a universal kind of movie that works for any age, appealing with a unique kind of charm. I especially like when Snow White is comforted by the animals, with a showcase of the numerous kinds of animals from rabbits to the turtle, with the scenes afterward being wonderful. The movie is an adaptation of the tale by The Brothers Grimm, which prior to (and after) this film had been turned into a play and film (including one I touched on in 1916 - #768), with each adaption being its own kind of twist on the story. With regards to this film, it manages to be enjoyable on the animation, musical & story aspects, balancing itself nicely. It's a movie that moves quickly, running less than 90 minutes, but it does have time for songs, such as Heigh-Ho", "Some Day My Prince Will Come", and "Whistle While You Work", with a soundtrack (the first of its kind in America) being released the following year. The dwarfs are a key highlight, with their chemistry between each other and Snow White being fun, especially Grumpy. The Evil Queen is a fine villain, with the right voice by La Verne to give the film its edge. It really is hard to say more about a movie as universal as Snow White, but I can say that if one hasn't seen it, they definitely should, with no hesitation. This isn't me being on the Disney bandwagon (seriously, does everything have a bandwagon now?), it really is a movie one should see, for its influence and charm for all.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.