Review: Bromo and Juliet (1926)

USA/Silent/B&W-24m./Dir: Leo McCarey/Wr: Charles Alphin & H.M. Walker/Cast: Charley Chase (Charley), Corliss Palmer (Madge), William Orlamond (Madge’s Father), Oliver Hardy (Cab Driver), L.J. O’Connor (The Cop)

While cinefiles still savor the silent slapstick of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, and (the somewhat overrated) Harry Langdon, the silver screen comedy of Charley Chase is largely forgotten today. However, in his day (the 1920’s and 30’s), Chase was a popular movie comedian, who starred in dozens of silent and sound shorts, as well as a respected director (under his birth name of Charles Parrott) who helmed films for fellow comics from Oliver Hardy to The Three Stooges.

Part of the reason why Chase may be less remembered today than other silent clowns is because his comedy character was less cartoonish than that of his contemporaries. His standard role was that of an average man thrust into the middle of an embarrassing situation. In many ways, Chase’s films were a blueprint for the situation comedies that dominate the television airwaves today. However, that is not meant in any way to devalue Charley Chase’s work; because the best of his output, including Mighty Like a Moose (1926) and Limousine Love (1928) are as good as the best shorts produced by his more famous contemporaries. Charley Chase is long overdue for a critical rediscovery.

Like most comedians of the era, Chase managed to milk prohibition for laughs. In Bromo and Juliet (1926), Chase plays a young man eager to please his fiancé (Corliss Palmer). However, he is less than enthused when she pressures him into playing Romeo to her Juliet in a charity variety show. For one thing, his legs look awful skinny in tights—a problem the resourceful romantic overcomes by padding his legs with sponges.

On the day of the show, not only does Charlie look ridiculous in his Shakespearean garb. He also has to pick up Madge’s perpetually pickled father (William Orlamond), because the old man has also been roped into performing. When Charlie tracks down his father-in-law to be, the old man is boozy and belligerent. Worse yet, he owes a tenacious cabbie (Oliver Hardy) a $40 fare, and the hack won’t let them go anywhere until he is paid.

To raise the required funds, Charley attempts to sell a case of the old man’s bootleg scotch to a man that turns out to be a prohibition agent. The lawman forces Charley—a teetotaler—to down several glasses of the illegal brew. With a snootful of scotch, sponge-filled tights, and an appointment on the stage, Charley represents several disasters waiting to happen.

While Bromo and Juliet would not rank as one of Charley Chase’s best, it is fast and funny throughout. The comic situations are clever and varied; and the cast, including a young Oliver Hardy, are practiced in the art of slapstick. Soused cinema enthusiasts are sure to enjoy Chase’s unique take on drunken farce, and others will find the short a pleasant introduction to the forgotten comedian’s work.

Drinks Consumed--Scotch

Intoxicating Effects—Sneaking sips, slurred speech, staggering, stumbling, hiccups, passing out, public disturbance, and destruction of property

Potent Quotables--TITLE CARD: “—Where c’n I get some o’ the stuff the ol’ bird’s been drinkin;?—“

Video Availability—Bromo and Juliet can be found on DVD as part of both The Charley Chase Collection, Vol. 2 (Slapstick Symposium) and The Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy, Vol. 3 (Image).

Similarly Sauced Cinema—A drunken Charlie Chaplin interferes with a stage performance in his Essanay short A Night in the Show (1915).

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News: THE LOST WEEKEND added to the National Film Registry

Greetings fellow inebriates,

Soused cinema enthusiasts received a late Christmas gift today when the Library of Congress announced the list of 2011 inductees in the National Film Registry. Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the National Film Registry that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant. Amongst this year's list is The Lost Weekend, probably the most important booze movie ever produced.

Prior to Billy Wilder's film, drunkenness was generally depicted in the movies for comedic effect. Even serious dramas often employed booze as comedy relief. The Lost Weekend was the first film to depict alcoholism fairly accurately (with the exception of an uplifting ending that doesn't quite mesh with the rest). Here's how the Library of Congress described the film in today's press release:

A landmark social-problem film, "The Lost Weekend" provided audiences of 1945 with an uncompromising look at the devastating effects of alcoholism. Directed by Billy Wilder and co-written by Wilder and Charles Brackett, the film melded an expressionistic film-noir style with documentary realism to immerse viewers in the harrowing experiences of an aspiring New York writer willing to do almost anything for a drink. Despite opposition from his studio, the Hays Office and the liquor industry, Wilder created a film ranked as one of the best of the decade that won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Direction, Screenplay and Actor (Ray Milland), and established him as one of America’s leading filmmakers.

To read the full press release and to check out the other 24 inductees, click on the link below:
2011 National Film Registry

Have a safe and happy new year, and check out the excellent boozy dark comedy, Young Adult, if you get a chance. I'll post a full review of Young Adult when it's released on video, but consider it highly recommended.

Cheers,
garv

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Review: Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)

USA/C-B&W-126m./Dir: Alan Rudolph/Wr: Alan Rudolph & Randy Sue Coburn/Cast: Jennifer Jason Leigh (Dorothy Parker), Campbell Scott (Robert Benchley), Matthew Broderick (Charles MacArthur), Wallace Shawn (Horatio Byrd), Nick Cassavetes (Robert Sherwood), Gwyneth Paltrow (Paula Hunt), Tom McGowan (Alexander Woollcott), Martha Plimpton (Jane Grant), Sam Robards (Harold Ross), Chip Zien (Franklin P. Adams), David Thornton (George S. Kaufman), Matt Malloy (Marc Connelly), Peter Gallagher (Alan Campbell), Jennifer Beals (Gertrude Benchley), Andrew McCarthy (Eddie Parker)

Before the Rat Pack (Frank, Dean, Sammy, etc.) and the Bundy Drive Boys (W.C. Fields, John Barrymore, Errol Flynn, etc.) there was the Algonquin Round Table--a loose social club of playwrights, humorists, theater critics, and actors that gathered at the Algonquin hotel in the 1920’s and 30’s to lunch, toss off bon mots, play word games, gossip, flirt, and drink. Most of the group--Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Robert Sherwood, George S. Kaufman, Charles MacArthur, Marc Connelly, Franklin R. Adams, and Alexander Woolcott among them--became more famous for their witticism-laden lunches and for their alcohol intake than they did for their writing.

The dizzy nights and hung-over mornings of the Round Table are captured sporadically in Alan Rudolph’s film, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. This biopic focuses on Dorothy Parker (Jennifer Jason Leigh), one of the wittiest and most celebrated members of the Algonquin group. Rather than covering a lifetime, the film focuses on two important periods for Mrs. Parker--her later years as a Hollywood screenwriter, shot in black and white, and her Jazz Age heyday, shot in color (but leaning heavily on browns). More than anything else, the movie focuses on Dottie’s soulful friendship with fellow Algonquinite Robert Benchley (Campbell Scott) and her constant struggles with depression.

Unfortunately, Alan Rudolph’s film often comes across as warmed-over Robert Altman (a producer on the film). While Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle features a large canvas and a multitude of characters to fill it, the movie doesn’t have the sense of spontaneity or visual flair that buoys even the most middling of Altman’s output. The picture has its draggy sections, and the total effect of the film is to leave the viewer awfully depressed. To be fair, it is hard to imagine telling the story of a woman who tried to commit suicide multiple times without bringing the audience down a bit.

It may sound like I’m panning the picture, but in truth, I’m actually quite fond of it. Primarily, I love the Algonquin wit that is peppered throughout the script. The boozy bon mots help balance out the more downbeat sections of the story. It also doesn’t hurt that much of the humor is alcohol-related.

Secondly, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Campbell Scott’s performances are remarkable, perhaps their best on film. Leigh captures Parker’s savage wit and fragile spirit, as well as her rather unusual vocal tone (Dottie really did talk like that). Scott also does an uncanny job of capturing Benchley’s mannerisms, self-deprecating humor, and dry delivery.

I must admit that I am a sucker for period pieces set in the 20’s and 30’s, and I’ve had an interest in the Algonquin Round Table from the time I read Harpo Marx’s autobiography as a child. Consequently, I was predisposed to like the picture, despite the fact that it did not fully convey the humor, intelligence, camaraderie, and bitchiness of the group. All in all, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is a cocktail that tastes vaguely off. Still, it has enough good stuff in it that it is hard not to grudgingly recommend.

Drinks Consumed--Haig and Haig Scotch, gin, whiskey, Champagne, red wine, unnamed liquor in a flask, and unnamed cocktails

Intoxicating Effects--Sneaking sips, depression, soused sex, passing out, slurred speech, bickering, physical violence, and hangover

Potent Quotables-- DOROTHY PARKER: One more drink and I’ll be under the host.

Video Availability--DVD (Image)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--If you, like me, prefer docs to biopics, you may want to seek out the Academy Award-winning documentary, The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table (1987).

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Booze News: 2012 Silent Movie Calendar

Greetings fellow inebriates,

Every year at this time we interrupt the flow of soused cinema reviews with a brief commercial for silent film preservation. Fifty percent of the films made before 1950 (including a number of alky-centric titles) are lost forever, and resources are limited to save those that remain. You can make a small contribution to aid the restoration of silent films by purchasing the 2012 Silent Movies Calendar.

Rodney Sauer of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra produces this calendar each year, featuring rare film stills and photographs of silent movie stars contributed by fans. In addition to a dozen beautiful photos in glorious black and white, the calendar also features birthdays of silent-era film stars and personalities, as well as notable marriages, deaths, film openings, and other significant dates. Best of all, the net proceeds made from the sale of the calendars (after printing expenses) are donated to support silent film restoration. This year the profits will go to the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

The theme of the 2012 calendar is silent film stars with animals, including Tony the Wonder Horse, Rin Tin Tin, and various other dogs, cows, and geese. The price is just $14.74 ($12.00 plus shipping), so click on the link below to order yours today!

Get it here-->2012 Silent Movies Calendar

Cheers,
garv

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Review: Part Time Pal (1947)

USA/C-8m./Dir: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera/ /Cast: Tom (Himself)), Jerry (Himself), Mammy Two-Shoes (Lillian Randolph)

When one thinks of the great animation studios of the golden age of Hollywood, Disney and Warner Brothers immediately spring to mind. However, in the 1940’s the Best Animated Short Oscar was awarded to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer more than any other studio; and all but one of those awards were for cartoons starring a blue-gray cat and a brown mouse.

From 1940 to 1958, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera produced 114 Tom and Jerry shorts, earning seven Academy Awards in the process (tied with Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies as the animated series with the most Oscar wins). Not only were the cat and mouse team award magnets; their comedy formula of chase and violence influenced animation of the time and forever after, from the Road Runner to Roger Rabbit to Itchy & Scratchy.

Being that the original Tom and Jerry series lasted 18 years, Hanna and Barbera employed numerous variations on the core idea of “cat chases mouse.” It was inevitable that alcohol would eventually be incorporated into the shenanigans; and in 1947 Tom got plastered in Part Time Pal, the team’s most booze-centric short.

The cartoon begins with the painfully stereotypical housekeeper, Mammy Two-Shoes (Lillian Randolph), threatening to throw Tom out of the house if he allows Jerry to once again sneak into the refrigerator. Despite Tom’s best efforts at guarding the ice box, the mouse outsmarts him and a chase ensues. Tom, of course, gets the worst of it, slipping on some bottles and tumbling down the cellar stairs into a barrel of hard cider. Under the influence of the fermented fluid, Tom sees Jerry as a pal and is more than happy to help the rodent to the contents of the fridge. Unfortunately for Jerry, all conviviality subsides when Tom is hit with the hangover.

Part Time Pal is a serviceable short with some clever inebriated gags. In terms of quality, it falls squarely in the middle of Tom and Jerry series. The animation and writing are not top quality, but there are also Hanna and Barbera shorts that are far worse. The main thing that distinguishes this particular short is the use of drunken behavior as the cartoon’s central theme. Fans of soused cinema will likely notice similarities between Tom and Jerry’s on-again-off-again relationship in this cartoon and the vacillating friendship of the tramp and millionaire in Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece, City Lights (1931).

Drinks Consumed--Hard cider and Bay Rum cologne

Intoxicating Effects--Staggering, hiccups, conviviality, slurred speech, destruction of property, and hangover

Potent Quotables--TOM: Hiccup!

Video Availability--The first 37 Tom and Jerry shorts, including Part Time Pal, have been remastered and released in the Tom and Jerry - Golden Collection, Vol. 1 on both Blu-ray and DVD. The cartoons are presented uncut, preserving ethnic stereotypes that were a product of their time. This is one of the most beautiful animation packages presented on disc and is highly recommended.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--The original animated cat gets loopy on joy juice in the 1928 short Felix the Cat Woos Whoopee.

Tom and Jerry - Golden Collection, Vol. 1 (Blu-Ray)

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