The Surf Girl

"The Surf Girl" is about the misadventures of a family at the beach. Much of the time, Pa is being slapped around by his very tough wife. During one of their bouts, their daughter sneaks off to go swimming....and meet men. When Pa learns of this, he is determined to keep his daughter and men apart--with varying success.

This film does not have anyone in it who you'd recognize today and it has very little real plot. However, I really did like it. Now you can't compare the quality of this silent short to those of the 1920s. Comedy was FAR less refined in the 1910s and for its time period, "The Surf Girl" is a pretty dandy film. The biggest reason I liked it is because of its frenetic pace. When one joke falls flat, it doesn't matter, as another one is coming almost immediately. In addition, there are tons of knockabout stunts that will leave you almost breathless. Clever and cute.

Harry Edwards was a new director when he turned out this Keystone in the house style -- fast, furious and not making much sense. It takes place in the space between a swimming pool and the ocean and the three plots -- Poppa wants a drink, Raymond Griffith wants Julia Faye -- which certainly makes sense -- and the fat guy, who I think is Albert Gillespie, but I wouldn't take a Bible oath on it, wants to jump into the swimming pool, which, of course, pushes everyone else out.

People keep falling into the ocean, and even the Keystone Kops show up here, but other than a lot of splashing and Julia and Raymond standing out as human-looking among the grotesques, it's all confusing. For once, the editing, which was always topnotch at the studio, fails, as it runs the three stories concurrently, like Griffith's INTOLERANCE. That's D.W. Griffith, not Raymond.

I'd give this one a miss, unless you're pining for a view of everything Keystone.

The Surf Girl (1916)

** (out of 4)

This Keystone comedy is about as wild and crazy as you can get but I'd say fans are going to be split on whether or not they like it. The story pretty much takes place at a pool where all sorts of people cause trouble, fights and various other bits of mischief. You've got an angry father whose daughter is out flirting with men. You've got an obese man who wants to go down a water slide. You've also got lifeguards doing more than just watching people. THE SURF GIRL pretty much features typical Keystone madness and there's no doubt in my mind that some people are really going to enjoy it. There's no doubt that this film is going a mile a minute because there are non-stop jokes right from the start and they never slow down. You see the obese man going down the slide, which causes everyone in the pool to be thrown out and we immediately jump to a scene where a man with a long beard gets it caught on fire. If you slow down to think about anything going on then you'll notice that none of it makes any sense but I'm sure Mack Sennett felt that if he kept everything moving no one would stop to think. The problem for me is that none of it really struck me as being funny. While I enjoyed the fast nature of the film, it still needed to bring the laughs and I just thought these were missing.