The Best Man

For some reason, the ever careless Billy Bevan is THE BEST MAN at Vernon Dent's wedding. This allows Bevan to lose the wedding ring, strip off Dent's clothes, destroy a car, and douse multiple people with water.

It's always nice to find a Sennett short that lives up to the studio's reputation as a no hold barred dispenser of slapstick and actually succeed at being consistently funny. This one manages the task by an accumulation of quite funny gags, which, atypically for cinema, ends up creating slapstick comedy during the wedding ceremony itself. (The off color gag during the ceremony is crude but priceless). A second part features Bevan demolishing a wedding reception, and then having his elderly car fall apart in amusing fashion. The gags, though they end up in the usual Sennett places, are quite inventive.

This one is obscure, because Bevan is a second-level comic, and was a bit player after sound came in. But it's a good reminder that not every great silent comedy came from Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd. There was a lot of hilarity elsewhere.

The Best Man (1928)

*** (out of 4)

Funny two-reeler has a groom (Vernon Dent) and bride (Alma Bennett) waiting at the church to be married but the best man (Billy Bevan) is late getting there. Once he does everyone wishes he had just stayed away as he causes one problem after another and this runs into the reception and the following morning. THE BEST MAN is one of the better Mack Sennett produced shorts I've seen from this era thanks in large part to a pretty wild script and a great cast. The formula is pretty simple as you know Bevan is simply going to show up and ruin everything he touches but I thought there was quite a bit of imagination on display here and especially at the wedding. There were all sorts of accidents that happened but one of the best deals with a missing ring and the bottom of a woman's shoe. Even funnier is that night when Bevan puts his friend to bed, seemingly forgetting that he's now married. Both Bevan and Dent are extremely good in their roles and they really do come across like best friends. Andy Clyde has a small supporting role and Carol Lombard has a very small part if you can catch her. At twenty-minutes the film really goes by pretty quickly because there's just so much going on and at such a fast pace.

Considering that enjoyed this comedy even more than a similarly themed Laurel and Hardy short ("That's My Pal"), it MUST be a pretty nifty little comedy.

The film begins with a bunch of folks at the church for a wedding. However, they can't start as the Best Man is late--a shade of things to come. Eventually, Billy Bevan arrives and pretty much ruins the wedding. Later, Bevan also pretty much ruins the reception. And, he manages to screw up the wedding night and soon the bride and groom (Vernon Dent) are at each other's throats. Then, the next day, when he drives them to the train, he manages to make things even worse. I could tell you all the awful things Bevan does to these poor folks, but it's best you just see for yourself. And, prepare for a few giggles, as the film is quite funny.

Once other thing you might want to see the film for is its historical value. It might just be the world's first movie to show television! At the reception, there is a TV there and you get a brief glimpse of a jazz band playing--which is pretty amazing since the first demonstration of this new device occurred only two years earlier and TV sets would not be sold in any numbers until after WWII.

Best Man Billy Bevan nearly wrecks his friend's wedding when he walks through tar on the way to the church. Enjoyable enough comedy that might have been better in the hands of a more prominent screen comic.