Prize Puppies

Directed by Alf Goulding, who did many Harold Lloyd silent classics, this short like many two-reel shorts divides up into two segments. First, we see Lloyd Hamilton in his apartment being driven up the wall by an opera-singing neighbor. After getting boiling mad, he finally does something to stop it. Then a tap dancer who lives on the floor above starts practicing...then a tuba player living beneath him starts practicing...THEN Hamilton is harassed by the landlord for not paying his rent and tries to get his trunk, which is being held until he pays his rent, out of the building. All of this is quite funny and takes up most of the first reel. In the second reel, Hamilton stumbles into a situation where a group of people involved with a dog show are waiting for the judge to show up, a judge they have never met. As you would guess, Hamilton is mistaken for the judge, and since he has nothing better to do, plays along. The parody of dog shows (70 years before Best In Show!)is spot-on, with contestants attempting to bribe and threaten the judge, and with the ridiculous pretensions of the human owners of the dogs being shown. Another winner from Lloyd Hamilton. Running time 19 minutes.

While pretty much forgotten today, back in the silent and early sound era, he was a popular film comic...making tons of short comedies. Sadly, however, he also drank himself to death at an early age and this might be some of the reason he faded into obscurity. It's a shame, and if you want ot see one of his better sound comedies, try "Prize Puppies".

The plot to "Prize Puppies" goes all over the place through the course of the film. In the first portion, Lloyd cannot pay his rent and his neighbors in the other apartments are driving him crazy with all the noise. After being tossed out by his nasty landlady, he wanders by the train station and is assumed to be the dog show judge....and he's whisked off to the venue. What's next? See the film.

While there are some funny moments, the film COULD have been funnier had they capitalized on the situations...especially the dog show. But it does have its moments and overall it's a pleasant little comedy.

I've just been getting into watching the comedies of the well-regarded but little-seen comedian Lloyd Hamilton, and I found this one very funny, if a bit scattershot.

In 1930, a year when it was fashionable to try to impress audiences merely with the new ability to put sound on film, this "Lloyd Hamilton Talking Comedy" opens with a lengthy sequence that includes no dialogue but is still deeply sound based. It's an ingenious sequence of gags in which Lloyd, a poor boarding house resident, invents a series of very clever ways of making himself a meal and simultaneously quieting members of what seems like an incredible crowd of terrible musicians who live in the rooms surrounding him. It's the highlight of the film and really shows off Hamilton as the great gag idea man that he seems to have been. I suspect this scene may also have had an influence on Buster Keaton's celebrated later short "Grand Slam Opera."

When dialogue comes in we get a terrible pun ("You've owed me rent for a week back!" "I didn't know you had a weak back."), but the real laughs come from Hamilton's reedy voice and delivery, which fit his established character very well. I got a big kick out of how, after being kicked down the stairs, he haughtily declaims, "You have hurt my feelings!" After a nice bit where Ham employs a bum to help him move his trunk surreptitiously and this gets him chased by the police, we move into the second half of the film, which gives it is title. This might as well be a totally separate two-reeler, if also a good one. Ham is mistaken for a dog show judge, and the only connecting thread is that he is still hard up for money (he stuffs the dog treats in his hat to embarrassing consequences, and is happy to get the key to the city because he can sleep there tonight).

This section revolves less around visual comedy and becomes an-on target if perfunctory satire of the kind of people who compete hard in over-the-top dog shows -- and especially their reactions when Ham judges the dogs based on their length or which girl he thinks is pretty! The final shots feature a visual gag that's a funny sight but again totally disconnected. Watching this is like watching an extremely funny and creative comic mind spin out in lots of different directions at once -- which is not a bad thing.