Artist's Muddles

A very late comedy short for Mack Sennett starring the inimitable Andy Clyde, with Vernon Dent as second banana, just before Sennett's studio imploded in large part due to forces beyond his control. It's long on action and gags and short on logic.

Dent is an artist who picks up Andy Clyde on the road and is incidentally saved by him. Under the direction of long-time Sennett regular Harry Edwards, the short is full of strongly timed gag shots, but little subtlety -- although Clyde was a brilliant comic performer who somehow managed to flourish quietly for a quarter of a century in Jules White's employ at Columbia, he never seemed to rise much above a utility player at Sennett, even when he was the nominal lead.

The best role in this movie belongs to Luis Alberni, remembered these days for playing excitable Italians in Preston Sturges' stock company. Here he plays a maniac who who destroys Dent's works of art while convinced that Clyde is the genius who made them. The result is a decent if not great comedy.

This short from Educational Pictures is interesting because it pairs Andy Clyde with Vernon Dent. Just a few years later, both would leave for Columbia where they made a ton of shorts together and separately.

When the story begins, 'Sunshine' (Andy Clyde) is hitching a ride. Little does he know that that driver (Dent) is suicidal and planning on ending it all in the car! Fortunately, Sunshine talks him into not killing himself...and soon you learn that the man's frustration with a painting and a pain in the neck client have driven him to suicide...and soon Andy understands why.

Luis Alberni plays the obnoxious client...and he plays him with all the subtlety as a stripper at a Baptist Church picnic! In other words, we grossly overacts...which is NOT unusual for Alberni. Some of it is funny, some is not...but at least you can't say the film doesn't have a lot of energy!