Teddy at the Throttle

Here's one of the best known of the Keystone pictures, a favorite for decades in show-at-home prints, from Blackhawk and on dvd. Robert Youngson used clips in his compilation films, and it's a thorough delight.

Part of the issue is that people seem to think that tying the heroine to railroad tracks or a log going through a sawmill are from the silent moves. Actually, they are drawn from melodramas, like BLUE JEANS, in which the train would run onto the stage as a spectacular bit. This short, with Wallace Beery playing a top-hatted villain who wants to marry Gloria Swanson -- they actually were married at the time -- is a spoof of all those melodramas.

Gloria Swanson hated doing slapstick according to her memoirs. She also had a very bad marriage with Beery. Well, it's funny, particularly when Teddy the Great Dane cuts loose.

Hilarious comedy short pits Gloria Swanson and Bobby Vernon against villainous Wallace Beery in this fast, funny, and historic comedy short.

Typical plot of Beery being the guardian of rich Gloria... He brings in his sister (May Emory) to lure away Bobby so he can knock off Gloria and inherit the estate. Seems like this 1917 delight is lampooning the already famous 1914 serial The Perils of Pauline, which starred Pearl White.

Several terrific set pieces with statuesque Emory hauling 5' 2" Vernon around a dance floor, Gloria carrying an umbrella out into a raging wind storm and falling in a mud puddle, and finally being tied to the railroad tracks (which Pearl White did not in her famous serial), only to be saved the Teddy The Dog! Just terrific and great fun. Swanson and Vernon have a ball making these comedy shorts even though La Swanson was soon to depart comedy for the drawing room comedy/dramas of Cecil B. DeMille.

Many years ago both Gloria Swanson and Wallace Beery started their careers in short subjects like this one they did for Mack Sennett. At the time they did Teddy At The Throttle they were married, but that didn't last much longer than this Mack Sennett short.

Gloria is an innocent young heiress and her guardian is the grasping and greedy Beery who also has control of the fortune that young Bobby Vernon is coming into. He must prevent the two from marrying lest Vernon discover that Beery has been living off his inheritance.

His efforts foiled Beery in the true Snidely Whiplash tradition ties Gloria to railroad tracks. But he reckons without her trusty Great Dane Teddy who's so smart that Rin Tin Tin should go to remedial obedience school to catch up. What Teddy does to save Gloria from being pancaked by the locomotive is a feat that will leave you gasping as much as 1917 audiences must have.

Nice to see Beery and Swanson in their salad days working for Mack Sennett.

Bobby Vernon (as Robert Knight) is a fickle-hearted youth. His girlfriend Gloria Swanson (as Gloria Dawn) lives down the hall with her dog Teddy (a Great Dane). Ms. Swanson's guardian is rascally Wallace Berry (as Henry Black); he is also in charge of Mr. Vernon's estate, which he is stealing from. In order to protect, and enhance, his stolen wealth, Mr. Berry plots with buxom sister May Emory - the two agree Ms. Emory will lure the unsuspecting Vernon into marriage.

Vernon excels in this film; particularly, watch his performance when proposing to Emory - his expressions, and word-perfect reading, make him easily understood. It's a great scene. Vernon's dance at the hotel (again, with Emory) is another highlight. Swanson and Berry (who married in real life) are terrific, as well. The production is first rate, including a beautifully photographed storm, and an exciting comic climax. Hang on as Vernon and Teddy take a bicycle to rescue Swanson from an approaching train!

********* Teddy at the Throttle (4/15/17) Clarence G. Badger ~ Bobby Vernon, Gloria Swanson, Wallace Berry, May Emory

This is a pretty good slapstick comedy, with a good cast and a humorously implausible story line. The action builds up nicely as it goes along, and Gloria Swanson and Wallace Beery also make it well worth watching.

The story features Beery as a dishonest guardian who is managing the affairs of a young woman (Swanson) and a young man, in such a way that he brings profit to himself. Beery is very entertaining in the role, with just the right degree of exaggeration in his mannerisms and expressions to maximize the amusing effect without pushing it too far. He was very well-suited to playing this kind of slapstick villain.

The movie maintains a good tone and pace most of the time, keeping up the energy level while not taking itself too seriously. The climactic chase sequence is amusing, and it is filmed in such a way so as to let itself get away with some very zany developments. Overall, it's a good example of the better kind of the Mack Sennett-style manic short comedies.