The First Auto

This movie is a nostalgic look back at another time. Both for us, here and now -- and for the audience it was originally made for in 1927. Just because both 1927 -- when the film was made -- and 1896-1906 -- the time-frame of the story -- are both behind us, we tend to jumble them together as being early 20th-Century, or "the past". Well -- 1896 was already the deep past for these filmmakers. They were looking backwards just as much as George Lucas was when he made "American Graffiti."

This is a patchwork of a film -- part comedy (including some old vaudeville routines. William Demerest and his clown companion are present for no other reason except comic relief. In vaudeville, the clowns in front of the curtain were there to mask the noise and movement of scenery and costume changes taking place on the stage behind the curtain.) Such clowning was obviously not necessary for the movies, but it's still there -- and we get to see what people were laughing at before stand-up monologue comedy was the only game in town.

The film is part melodrama as we see how a horse in the late 1890's could be the friend and companion of the pre-industrial era, and how the death of a man's horse could bring a man to tears. "A horse is loyal. A horse remembers! A horse knows what gratitude is!" -- words spoken by the father/livery owner who is then called a "Brute" (an animal) by his son.

With it's pre-talkie talking-and-scored soundtrack, it sometimes plays like a rough experiment in early film sound technologies (which exactly parallels the story of the first automobiles -- and how quickly they displaced the horse-centered life.) Within 3 years, silent pictures were as gone from the landscape as horse-drawn buggies. The equally experimental "special effects" fire in the engine of a moving race car isn't exactly the parting of the Red Sea -- but we still get the idea.

It also has the air of a headliner news-reel -- when surprise! Barney Oldfield, playing himself, races around the horse track so that all of America (at least those who went to the movies) could see him do what he was famous for -- speed racing!

At it's heart, however, this is a story. It is about family and about learning what matters (sometimes called family values), and of generations -- a father with both feet firmly planted in the pre-automobile age, and his son who is racing after the biggest technology of the time. They loose each other, almost loose everything else, and then find each other and move into the automobile age together -- where the father opens a car dealership and goes to the car races while the son spends his days at the horse shows. -- and "gosh, what's the world coming to next?" as a bi-plane soars overhead.

This is not a "great" movie -- but it is great fun, and a great window back both to 1927 and it's time of plenty before the stock market crashed us into the Depression; and to the 1927 recollection of 1896, when the lights of technology were just beginning to turn on. It is a wonderful piece of film history, now preserved for my great- and great-great grandchildren. --Thanks to all those doing film preservation -- we love it.

This film about the displacement of the horse by the automobile was made by Warner Brothers as a morality tale on the perils of resisting progress - like talking pictures such as this early experiment in sound technology. Not only are there synchronized sound effects and music in this film. There are actually a few words of dialogue such as the father speaking the son's name - "Bob", and the word "Go". Nothing more complex than that was possible at the time.

The beginning is light and breezy - you have a man, Hank Armstrong, with a champion race horse - 'Sloe Eyes - and a successful livery business. His son, Bob, courts a local girl and at the same time dreams of building horseless carriages. He has competition for the girl's hand - a fellow that does not like to fight fair - and he enters importantly into the plot near the end of the film. In time, father and son come to a parting of the ways when the father sees Bob's boosting of and participation in the auto business as betrayal.

There are a few interesting things to note in this film. One is William Demarest as comic relief throughout the movie. Another is Barney Oldfield playing himself. Finally there is the bizarre fact that the fellow who plays Bob died in an automobile accident at the age of 27 during the time this film was being made. If the ending seems a bit incomplete or unsatisfactory because of his absence, this is the reason.

Only thirty years after the emergence of the automobile this is a historic classic. Son Bob's love for his father, who is not able to adjust to the coming of the auto, makes for good storytelling and lends itself well to silent film. The use of some sound effects and a few words makes the story even more interesting. The high point for me was seeing Barney Oldfield playing himself. One of the great racing drivers of all time he seems a thousand years away from the young, slim and clean driver popular today. I truly enjoyed this film.

It's 1895 Maple City. Hank Armstrong loves horses. He owns horse, races them, and often wins. On the other hand, his son Bob is much more interested in the new invention of horseless carriage. This causes a rift in their relationship as the whole world switches and Hank loses his business. Bob moves to nearby Detroit and joins the car business.

The story is not that dramatic. It feels as inevitable as the spread of the automobile. It's a little like Hank. I also wonder if this was financed by Ford. Early real racer Barney Oldfield has a minor role. I've never heard of the name but it's interesting to learn something. The old car racing is quite compelling. It has a recklessness about it although I would definitely get rid of the fake flames. The effect looks bad. This is an easy story and probably more compelling for people who lived through the era.

Warner Brothers Studio was continuing to perfect its sound-on-disc film format, a technology that showed immense promise throughout the first half of 1927. The company's sixth feature film to use the Vitaphone system was June 1927's "The First Auto." What was revolutionary about this picture was the advancement of both the music and the special effects accompanying the motion picture. Not only had the sophistication of the sounds been increased since Vitaphone's feature film debut in 1926's "Don Juan," but the soundtrack actually contained a few brief words.

Besides having a more complex soundtrack, "The First Auto" also serves as an historical record showcasing some of the very earliest horseless carriages under their own power. The movie's plot describes a successful race horse owner, Hank Armstrong (Russell Simpson), disparaging the advanced technology of automobiles. He wins a bet against one of the car's owners, proving his contention that cars will never replace horses in speed or in power. By the early 1900s, however, Hank's son, Bob Armstrong (Charles Emmett Mack), and all his pals have gasoline engine fever, and are foaming at the mouth to get their hands on them. Bob becomes a race car driver, and an exciting conclusion makes no doubt that automobiles are here to stay.

Not that they were any safer than horse carriages. In real life, actors appearing in "The First Auto" were killed in two separate accidents. Extra and script girl Helen Howard died when her and two other cast members were in a car that collided with another vehicle in downtown Los Angeles. The driver, William Demarest, who played the village funnyman and was Uncle Charlie in 'My Three Sons,' suffered cuts and bruises in the overturned car while extra Loretta Rush cracked her skull. After filming was over, Charles Emmett Mack died in an auto accident. His part as Bob was a major role for Mack, killed at the age of 26.