By the tail end of the silent era, Mack Sennett, who once sat at the top of the heap of comedy producers, was being criticized for being too old-fashioned and sticking to brad slapstick when his competition was becoming much more subtle and sophisticated. This short is an interesting example of Sennett's trying to adapt that same wild slapstick comedy ethos to the infant medium of sound on film.
In a lot of cases this addition of sound translates to people shouting "Oooooh!" or "Oh no! Oh dear!" while the typical Sennett hi jinx of barrels bursting, people tripping, and, in the big finale, bees invading people's pants plays out. In other cases, though, it's used to augment the action, with the addition of some legitimate good lines and puns (and a witty song that the players seem to jump right into at the beginning after a few lines of odd rhythmic dialogue.
Sennett actually succeeds mightily in the sense that he manages to translate the craziness, energy, and speed of his silent films remarkably well to sound, in a year when very early sound equipment caused many films to be clunky and slow.
However, this short loses points for not making much of any sense. The plot, such as it is, involves a woman who is going to elope with a different man than the on she is supposed to be engaged to (no further explanation of this). We meet the new fiancé as he enters and pours alum in the punch for no apparent reason other than to set up an alum-in-the-mouth gag (done better by Laurel and Hardy in "Tit for Tat"). A chase, of course, ensues, which includes a scene that causes us to wonder why a full-sized cow costume would be sitting around a real barn, maintained by a farmer with no idea that he "cow" could be a costume. The two lovers also miraculously have a rubber glove they can use to emulate an udder, only to set up the funny gag of the farmer feeling guilty for pulling the udder right off.
This must also be one of the earlier instances of Andy Clyde playing his "pops" character, though he doesn't get much to do on his own. Vernon Dent is very good as the jilted fiancé's old pal. There's a good stunt sequence involving just missing a full-speed train.
While trying to make sense of anything that happens here is futile an it doesn't have anything like the artfulness that a lot of Sennett's competitors developed, I think anyone would agree this isn't boring for an instant, and what it does -- fast paced, large-scale broad slapstick -- it does well, despite the difficulties adding sound must have introduced.
In a lot of cases this addition of sound translates to people shouting "Oooooh!" or "Oh no! Oh dear!" while the typical Sennett hi jinx of barrels bursting, people tripping, and, in the big finale, bees invading people's pants plays out. In other cases, though, it's used to augment the action, with the addition of some legitimate good lines and puns (and a witty song that the players seem to jump right into at the beginning after a few lines of odd rhythmic dialogue.
Sennett actually succeeds mightily in the sense that he manages to translate the craziness, energy, and speed of his silent films remarkably well to sound, in a year when very early sound equipment caused many films to be clunky and slow.
However, this short loses points for not making much of any sense. The plot, such as it is, involves a woman who is going to elope with a different man than the on she is supposed to be engaged to (no further explanation of this). We meet the new fiancé as he enters and pours alum in the punch for no apparent reason other than to set up an alum-in-the-mouth gag (done better by Laurel and Hardy in "Tit for Tat"). A chase, of course, ensues, which includes a scene that causes us to wonder why a full-sized cow costume would be sitting around a real barn, maintained by a farmer with no idea that he "cow" could be a costume. The two lovers also miraculously have a rubber glove they can use to emulate an udder, only to set up the funny gag of the farmer feeling guilty for pulling the udder right off.
This must also be one of the earlier instances of Andy Clyde playing his "pops" character, though he doesn't get much to do on his own. Vernon Dent is very good as the jilted fiancé's old pal. There's a good stunt sequence involving just missing a full-speed train.
While trying to make sense of anything that happens here is futile an it doesn't have anything like the artfulness that a lot of Sennett's competitors developed, I think anyone would agree this isn't boring for an instant, and what it does -- fast paced, large-scale broad slapstick -- it does well, despite the difficulties adding sound must have introduced.
