tonyvmonte-54973

Having seen many of the other more classic Audrey Hepburn movies, I finally got to watch the entirety of this one just now with my mom and aunt. I don't think any of us really laughed at any of the scenes, but I do remember maybe chuckling at some good sight gags and smiling at some lines. William Holden is the drunken screenwriter and Ms. Hepburn is his new secretary. They're working under a short deadline as Holden has been procrastinating for several days, maybe even weeks. As he talks his plot for her to type in, we see them and a few surprise movie star cameos in the imagined movie. I was bemused much of the time but it was more blah than amusing to me. So I'd only recommend Paris When It Sizzles if you're a completist of either stars.

This may be a Century Kids comedy, one of many Our Gang-inspired kid comedies made during that successful Hal Roach series run during the '20s. One of the kids is a little toddler named Arthur Trimble who later in the decade starred in the title role of the Buster Brown series. Anyway, I noticed many of the gags involves accidental black grease going on white peoples' faces. Since there seems no harm intended, it's excusable and I was amused enough. (Though I admit the white paint on the black boy's lips did give me pause.) When the leading kid character starts running his father's train, the music score stopped and the appropriate sound effects were playing. I'll just now say this was quite entertaining considering some of the location shots that may no longer exist now since this film is now a little more than a hundred years old. So on that note, if you find this on YouTube as I did, I say give Speed Boys a look.

The appearance of kid actor Coy Watson Jr. As a newsboy was the reason I decided to watch this film. He would, as an adult, film many of the "Erskine Johnson's Hollywood Reel" episodes featuring many movie stars in home movie-like footage for in-between shorts before and after various TV shows. I saw many of those on AMC (American Movie Classics). In this one, well, lots of things happen but the most amusing, if not completely hilarious, thing in this short is a firefighter chase after a moving house with various twists and turns, the kind one expects in these silent movies. One shouldn't be surprised Mack Sennett was responsible for this one, so on that note, Galloping Bungalows is worth a look for anyone interested in these sorts of things.