Cleaning Up

This isn't a terrible comedy short, but it just looks like it was made too late and with too little energy. Chester Conklin and Mack Swain were both successful silent film comedians who often played supporting parts in the films of many more notable comedians, such as Charlie Chaplin, Billy Bevan, Ben Turpin, and others. While Conklin did star in a reasonable number or shorts as well, they were not nearly as successful as first-tier comedians' films. Now, in the beginning of the sound era, the two guys are given a chance to co-star in a film--a unique opportunity indeed. The problem, though, is that the style of the film is almost 100% silent slapstick and doesn't really translate all that well to sound. In fact, because the stars are both now older, their pacing seems slow and uninspired. Sure, there are a few good laughs here and there, but I can't help but thinking the film would be better without sound! Plus, the final chase scene seems like a tribute to past Keystone chase scenes--not a real bona-fide chase scene--because the chase is so short, uninspiring and has the contrived addition of dynamite! I really wish the guys had been given better material and we'll never know if they could have made it as sound comedians, as Swain died only five years later and Conklin appeared in only bit roles through the rest of his career.

Chester Conklin and Mack Swain were two stalwart comedians at Mack Sennett's Keystone studio. Swain was a huge, porridge-faced man who starred in a series of Keystone shorts as Ambrose, a dignified blowhard who was often put upon by Conklin as an annoying little man with a walrus moustache. After leaving Keystone, Swain was engaged for a supporting role in a comedy starring Raymond Griffith, but was fired by Griffith for the unpardonable sin of being funnier than the starring comedian. Mack Swain remains best known as Chaplin's prospector partner in 'The Gold Rush', and Swain parlayed this fine performance into a series of impressive supporting roles in dramatic films of the late silent era. He had substantial talent as an actor, and might have had a fine career in character roles despite his girth and his unpleasant appearance. Sadly, Mack Swain died early in the sound era, and his talking-film career is negligible. It's a shame that Swain never had a chance to portray Boss Tweed, the role he was born to play: in the last reel of 'The Gold Rush', wearing finery and a neatly-trimmed beard, Swain looks remarkably like Tweed.

During Mack Swain's stint at Keystone, he was occasionally imposed upon by boss Mack Sennett due to the fact that, of all Sennett's actors, Swain was the one who lived nearest the studio.

Chester Conklin had a long and impressive comedy career, but never became a star. Even in the low-budget Keystone shorts, Conklin almost invariably laboured as second banana. Although Conklin and Swain worked together frequently at Keystone, they were never a team in the sense of equal partners: Conklin's Walrus character was always secondary to Swain's Ambrose, and usually his rival.

After the collapse of Keystone and the arrival of talking pictures, producer Mack Sennett accepted a sinecure as supervisor of comedy shorts at Paramount, although it's unclear how much actual input he had. This Paramount short 'Cleaning Up' (which does not list Sennett in its credits) has all the earmarks of a Keystone one-reeler, but the addition of sound (along with the visible aging of Conklin and Swain) weakens the humour.

The funniest thing here is the visual contrast of enormous Swain and runty Conklin. Yet, once again, they aren't truly a team: Swain's role is quite secondary to Conklin's. This sound short has the feel of a silent film, with two of the best gags delivered in the form of title cards. Our heroes are introduced with a long title card announcing that they're "making a clean-up in the Street". Of course, they're street sweepers. Later, after a police commissioner named Elmer Bronson (wearing stovepipe hat and spats) employs them as constables, another title card notes their transition 'From White-Wings to Blue Birds'.

The toughest neighbourhood in town is Clancy Street: I wonder if this is the same Clancy Street where the Bowery Boys later loitered. Constables Conklin and Swain are sent to Clancy Street to arrest a criminal named Burke (or maybe he's Bert; the sound recording is *really* bad). Burke is played by Gibson Gowland, oddly without the Orphan Annie hairdo he sported in 'Greed' and several other films. No attempt is made to explain why the crime lord in this very Yank film has a Geordie accent.

This movie would have worked better as a silent. We hear Swain being beaten up offscreen: it's meant to be funny, but his moans and the thuddings sound painfully real. Later, we hear Swain desperately pleading for Conklin's help while the latter flees the crooks: the sound is distressing rather than funny.

The climax of this short is a Keystone-style chase, with Chester and Mack aboard a dynamite cart pulled by a runaway horse, and Gowland dragged behind. This sequence features the worst under-cranking I've ever seen in any film, made even more unnatural by some very shonky overdubbing: yet another reason why this movie would have worked better as a silent.

The comedians' physical appearance doesn't help. Conklin wears lots of eyeliner and a bottle-brush moustache that should have stayed in silent movies. A close-up of Swain, in a sequence when his character has been beaten unconscious, is painful to watch.

I was intrigued by a few exterior shots in the streets of Los Angeles, where pedestrians -- who seem to be actual pedestrians, not extras -- frantically jump out of the way of various hurtling vehicles.

I well and truly love old-time slapstick, but 'Cleaning Up' isn't funny. Purely out of my deep admiration for Conklin's and Swain's achievements at Keystone, and for Gowland's very impressive career, I'll rate this movie 4 out of 10.