Silent Comedies: The Way You Like ‘Em

1913.”SILENT” COMEDIES: THE WAY YOU LIKE ‘EM! (1924-I929-USA)
1. PRUDENCE (1927-USA). With MAX DAVIDSON, MARTHA SLEEPER. Produced by HAL ROACH. Poor Papa Gimplewart. His two sons are the laziest, lamest pair of incompetents imaginable. Laugh both with him and at him as he concocts various schemes to find the boys employment of use them to line his pockets with easy money. A highlight: watch Abie, Papa’s eldest, as he single-handedly destroys a pair of buildings with a truck!
2. OFF THE DECK (1929-USA). With BILLY DOOLEY, VERA STEADMAN. While on leave, sailor- boy Dooley simply cannot stay out of mischief. His troubles begin when an on-the-lam thief plants some hot baubles on him, and continue when he crosses paths with a pair of disparate dames. The sight of Billy in his new suit, which most definitely would not be described as made- to-order, is alone worth the price of admission.
3. COURT PLASTER (1924-USA). With NEAL BURNS. Burns, whose comic persona is part-buster Keaton and part-Harold Lloyd, plays a doltish young lawyer hired as a process server. His job: to present a warrant to a brusque doctor. As he attempts to complete his task, he wreaks total havoc in a hospital; there is a clever fantasy sequence in this, the point of which is as fitting today as back in the 1920’s: “No lawyers are allowed in heaven.” “Silent” films with original music scores, correct projection speed. 57 minutes total. ÒSilentÓ Comedy