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Too much of everything

Best movie ever!

Absolutely the worst movie.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Put on a silent comedy with any music in the background, and you'll find all ages of audiences. As long as the visuals are silly, unrealistic and delightfully dangerous, people will stare. This has the lamest of plots, but the action is fast and hysterical. Beds flying outside for no apparent reason, wacky automobiles in a race, dangerous curves and fast camera movements keep this one going at a breakneck speed. There's always the urge to squint and say ouch because of what happens on the screen, and this is filled with many moments like that. You can see the influences of this style of comedy in classic cartoons, on sitcoms and in films made today. But this has the innocence that most of those genres don't, all over in less than 15 minutes.

Lizzies of the Field (1924) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Rival auto repair shops who own spots across the street from one another enter a car race and it's clear from the start that both are willing to do whatever it takes to win. LIZZIES OF THE FIELD is a pretty mindless film as there's really not too much story but did this ever really stop Mack Sennett? For the most part silent film fans are going to enjoy this thing because it's really fast paced and it never slows down for a second so if you really get caught up in what's going on then it's doubtful you'll even realize or miss the story. I thought the cast was extremely good in their parts and you could really feel that both sides hated one another. Billy Bevan, Sidney Smith and Andy Clyde are all familiar faces to those who watch these films so fans of theirs will be happy to see them working together here. One of the best gags actually happens right at the start of the film as we see Bevan speeding down the road somewhere and then we see that he's actually driving a car that's really a bed. The last five or so minutes really didn't strike me as being funny but there's no question that the car chase was extremely well done and contained some very impressive stunts.

This was another silent comedy short I watched on the "American Slapstick" DVD collection. It's from Mack Sennett starring Billy Bevan. In this one, there's a car race between two competing garages that are built across each other. There's a few amusing sight gags like a bed that's running like a car or the way one car manages to come quickly to the finish line or seeing how some people are bumping into each other. And I liked the last line as depicted on the title card. Otherwise, I didn't think this was such a hilarious short and part of the gags just seemed a little shopworn to me though I'm sure many of them here were brand new and funny to many of the audiences that watched this then. Still, if you're interested in seeing many of these vintage films, Lizzies of the Field is worth a look.

This is a brilliant slapstick comedy, the climax of which is one of the greatest car race sequences ever filmed. Part of the wonder of this film is how on earth they did the stunts with those fragile old jalopies. Equally baffling is how they managed to film those stunts - some of the camerawork is astounding. From the opening sequence, when a bed is racing down the street, to the literally explosive finale, this film does not let up in action or laughs. Do not miss this one, it is a classic!