The Sleeping Porch

Raymond Griffith was a big comedy star around 1925 and 1926, but he broke his contract with Paramount and his career nearly ran aground. He had also lost his voice due to diphtheria in his childhood (not during World War I), so a talkie career would have been difficult. He did make two sound comedies for Al Christie in 1929, and this is one of them.

This film isn't nearly as bad as most 1929 shorts that were not made at Hal Roach's lot, but it is not a laugh-fest either. Griffith and his wife have moved to the country on doctor's orders so that he can get more "fresh air". Although it is snowing outside, she insists that he sleep on an outdoor porch. His "cold" is used to explain Griffith's hoarse voice. Griffith phones a friend and gets the friend to pretend to be a burglar so the wife will be concerned for their safety and let Griffith sleep back inside the house. Of course, a real criminal escapes from prison and makes it to the house first.

Griffith made one more short for Christie (POST MORTEMS), which sounds like it might be funnier. Griffith and his wife argue about a bridge game force a pair of burglars to replay their bridge hand. Unfortunately, this film has not been seen in decades. Griffith made one more appearance as a dying soldier in ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. He spent the next decade writing scripts at Warner Brothers and producing films at 20th Century-Fox.

Raymond Griffith only made one talkie because his vocal chords were damaged in childhood and he couldn't talk above a whisper. In this comedy short, he plays a man with a bad respiratory infection who has lost his voice. The doctor prescribes plenty of fresh air, including sleeping on an open porch at a house in the country. Griffith's character just wants to stay warm and comfortable, but his loving wife is adamant that he must follow the doctor's instructions to the letter, despite the fact that it is snowing heavily. Unbeknownst to the wife, a friend from the city comes by and Griffith's character persuades him to pretend to be a burglar to scare his wife into letting him sleep inside. Meanwhile, a desperate criminal escapes from a nearby prison and breaks into the house via the sleeping porch. Griffith's character mistakes the convict for his friend with generally hilarious results. There is an episode of I Love Lucy in which a fake burglary turns into the real thing. I wonder if this is where they got the idea? This is a funny and entertaining short that isn't shown very often. Don't miss it, if you get the opportunity to see it.

Raymond Griffith has a bad cold. His doctor has ordered him to sleep outdoors, so he sets up in the house's sleeping porch, despite the snow. Desperate to get somewhere warm and get a drink inside himself -- that's also forbidden -- he talks friend John Litel into coming over and pretending to be a burglar. When a real burglar shows up, he doesn't realize it.

Raymond Griffith was a major comedy star for Paramount in the late silent era; thanks to the malign neglect of the company, all but three of his features are gone. He was also one of those silent movie stars about whom the legend of "no voice for talkies" was correct. For reasons which varied whenever he told the story, Griffith couldn't speak above a hoarse whisper: hence his performance in this short. Lovers of classic sound pictures may also recall him as the dying French soldier stuck in a trench with Lew Ayres in ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. After his performing career he became a writer and producer for Darryl G. Zanuck, with a number of excellent credits. He died in 1957 at the age of 62.

As for this movie, it's fairly stagey, with limited visual appeal, and one or two amusing lines in its dialogue. Still, it's interesting to see Griffith at the end of his career.