Reviews

LOVE HAPPY was originally intended to be a solo effort by Harpo, but he couldn't get backing. It was Mary Pickford who suggested that Groucho and Chico become involved, then she, one of the original United Artists, would finance it. So The Marx Brothers ended their cinematic career with an atypical feature, but an improvement over THE BIG STORE.

Groucho shares barely any screen time with his brothers, serving mostly as narrator. This is because he was host of the popular television show YOU BET YOUR LIFE, and had only a couple of days available for filming. (He even wears his real moustache instead of the grease paint one he sported for the previous features!) Chico fares better, easily falling into the patter he long ago perfected.

Obviously, this is not the film to introduce someone to The Marx Brothers. (That would be DUCK SOUP or MONKEY BUSINESS anyway.) Instead, this entry is dessert for the viewer who has already viewed the other dozen Marx Brothers features, but is still hungry for more.

Of all Keaton's walk-ons, and cameos, and appearances in films that are not worthy of the man, this one has to be the strangest. This feature was shot in the Pacific Northwest, and deals with a lumberjack on the run, and a budding romance on the horizon. (All shot in fabulous colour!) While they were shooting the film, they must have realised nobody would care about any of this. Without question, the highlight of the film comes in two disparate sequences dominated by Buster, that may well have been shot after they screened the first cut. What they should have done was release a Keaton short and cut out the hideous feature it was meant to save.

I hate melodrama, but had reservations about this satire of the genre nonetheless. I thought it would be one of those films Buster Keaton only appeared in order to garner a paycheck. My qualms quickly diminished as I watched this unheralded classic. I have watched it a few times since I first obtained a copy, and it never fails to make me laugh throughout. Keaton is superb, as is the rest of the cast, and the comedy stands up very well. As long as we have soap operas, "The Villain Still Pursued Her" will always be funny!

The Keystone period of Chaplin's work (1914) always suffers in comparison to his later films, especially the Mutuals and First Nationals. This is because he was still learning his craft, but mostly because Mack Sennett kept making the same film over and over again. While the majority of Keystones are indistinguishable from one another, this short subject, only Charlie's second, towers above the others. Here Chaplin attends an actual event in Venice (California) as a spectator pretending to be unaware that he is constantly getting in the cameraman's frame. Time has been positively affectionate to this film; appearing on camera is now a national pastime, and being a split reel it clocks in at about the same length as a Saturday Night Live skit. This film deserves your attention. It won't take long.

After a decline in Harry Langdon's career at the end of the silent period, the advent of sound gave him an opportunity to prove himself in a new medium. The shorts he made for Hal Roach feature essentially the very same character that had been silent since the mid-Twenties, now given voice. Langdon would have to alter himself in order to survive on-screen, and he eventually did. (Witness his understated performance in MISBEHAVING HUSBANDS.) These Roach films capture a moment in time that is both awkward and exciting, and in this particular short, even more dream-like. Here, the slow pacing of the new sound environment works for the character, and is as surreal as the likelihood that he would be appointed head guy in the absence of any real authority figure. I recommend it as I would most any Roach film from the same period.

It's hard to watch a great comedian like Langdon get pushed into the background, while lesser comics dominate the proceedings. Columbia must have been attempting to elevate the status of Elsie Ames and Monty Collins, to the film's detriment.

Oliver Hardy exhibits his talent as a character actor in this well-cast Roach feature. People often make the mistake of expecting a Laurel & Hardy film, which isn't really fair. This is a pleasant diversion, filled with rich characters, including Langdon in perfect form as the owner of a sick elephant.

Hitherto to this feature, the longest Our Gang film was a three reel silent short called "Spook Spoofing". A 73 minute feature is a drastic change from their usual territory, but it is a worthwhile effort none the less. Here the comedy comes in contrast to drama, with a storyline that has more to do wih the adults than the Rascals. The Civil War setting is successfully recreated, and Spanky & Buckwheat make a good team. Not a film to introduce one to The Little Rascals, but one to enjoy after being exposed to their classic shorts,