Riley the Cop

Ford was long accused of racism in his films, particularly in his westerns. I have seen several of his silent films (courtesy of AMC's recent festival of Ford films) and would argue that while Ford held stereotypical views of ethnicity and race, he was not a racist. Consider that early in "Riley the Cop" there is a group of children playing on Riley's beat that includes two black children who seem to be on equal footing with the others. Riley visits a young black woman who works as a cook in a house, where he takes a break from his beat and seems unconcerned about the cook's race. The bootblack is a stereotype, but hardly an unusual occupation for blacks in a city.

Riley himself is the stereotypical Irish cop, found in abundance in these early films, such as "The Shamrock Handicap." Since Ford was himself Irish, he seems to be having fun with the ethnicity, and extends a good-natured poke at German and French police officers to suggest a universal brotherhood among policemen. Given that just a dozen years before this film was made, the Germans were the mortal enemies of the Allies in the Great War, everyone here seems to be getting along pretty well.

A light comedy with an endearing performance at its center, Riley the Cop is an amusing little film, the last surviving silent film in John Ford's filmography (Strong Boy is lost). Well, it's got a dedicated soundtrack with music and a few sound effects (like Howard Hawks' Fazil), but that's stretching the definition of a talkie. At only 70 minutes long, it's a quick globe trotting affair that takes its likeable main character on a whirlwind tour, ending in love and a nice feeling of narrative completeness.

The titular character Riley (J. Farrell MacDonald) is an Irish cop in New York who's spent twenty years on the job and never made a single arrest. He likes to play with the local kids, get free meals from the local housewives, and just gently push people along who aren't doing things quite legally without having to exert himself too much. His rival on the force is Krausmeyer (Harry Schultz) with whom Riley has a back and forth where Riley manages to keep getting Krausmeyer in trouble with their captain.

On Riley's beat is a young man, David (David Rollins) who is in love with the young and beautiful Mary (Nancy Drexel). He works in a bakery, but he has big dreams of marrying his beloved (who loves him back) and spending time in Europe with her. He doesn't have the money for it, though, and she actually heads to Europe with the son of the man who owns the bakery, sending back loving postcards to her beau back home. David saves up some money and heads off to Germany to meet up with her. There's trouble in the bakery, though, and someone's stolen $5,000. The police captain sends Riley to Germany to pick up David and bring him back for trial (the real world rules on extradition don't come up in this light comedy, for some reason).

The fun of the film is really in Riley himself. He's just such a good-natured man, and his conflict is in navigating this strange new world. David ends up being the most helpful prisoner ever, as well, adding another little layer of comedy to the happenings. Riley, with the help of the local German authorities, quickly finds David, first demanding that David's chains be removed from him. Then, with nothing to do until the train leaves town, he takes David to a beer garden where David keeps insisting to Riley that they can't miss the train and that anywhere Riley goes David will follow. Riley, though, instantly falls in love with the beer girl Lena (Louise Fazenda), and she falls for him. They pledge to go back to America together, but Riley delays so long that he and David miss their train, forcing them to go by plane (which Riley has never ridden before), accidentally leaving Lena behind.

They end up in Paris, discovering that their boat to America leaving La Havre doesn't leave until the next day, so they have a day in Paris. Given the royal treatment by the Parisian police (sure, why not?), Riley drives off for a while night of watching nightclub girls dance with David left on the street corner demanding that Riley make it back in time to take him back to America as his prisoner. When he wakes up the next day (with a tiny hat on his head he never really notices), he's in a hotel room with two beautiful women with no memory of what's happened. The final ten minutes of the film are the seeming unraveling of his wild night, Lena tracking him down, Riley taking David back, and a pair of weddings as well as a secret connection to Riley's rival back home.

It's really quite amusing. It may not be Keaton levels of hilarity, but Riley the Cop is a solidly amusing and often quite funny little film from Ford outside of his wheelhouse. Winningly performed, especially by MacDonald in the titular role, there's a fair amount of joy to be had from it.

FOR SOME YEARS we have known of the work of Mr. J. Farrell McDonald, character actor supreme. His roles, though often 'small' or rather brief, were often important, even pivotal to the story. The parts he played were in such disparate roles in a wide variety of films.

AS A BRIEF sampling of his credits we offer (for your approval of course),the following: as 'The Coach'*in THE SPIRIT OF NOTRE DAME (Universal, 1931; as 'Sourpuss' Smithers in Frank Capra's MEET JOHN DOE (Frank Capra Productions/Warner Brothers, 1941); as the unidentified owner of the tree that George Bailey did the 'Tiger Woods' job on in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Liberty Films/RKO Radio Pictures, 1946) and even as the old prosecutor, Pop Shannon, in SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN (National Comics-Superman, Inc./Lippert Pictures, 1951).

IT WAS QUITE by accident that we stumbled onto this little gem of a silent movie (that's right, Schultz! It's a Silent!) We had bought a copy of THE PHANTOM EXPRESS (Majestic Pictures/Capitol Fikm Exchange, 1932) on Ebay and received a DVD copy of RILEY THE COP as an unexpectedly pleasureful bonus!

FOR ANYONE WHO thinks that the Silent Film Form is inferior and not worthwhile watching should view some of the really great Films of the Silent Screen. In addition to the Snub Pollard, Tons of Funs, Laurel & Hardy and Mickey McGuire Shorts; most of us are familiar with the great shorts and feature films of such luminaries as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Harry Langdon. But we must remember that the Silent Film Format was not just laden with mirth; for it was a most fertile field of drama, melodrama, horror, biopics and historical works.

AS A BRIEF example of non-comedy material, we only need to list a small number of examples. DeMille's KING OF KINGS, D.W. Griffith's BIRTH OF A NATION, THE BIG PARADE, Fritz Lang,s METROPOLIS, Sergei Eisenstein's BATTLESHIP POTEMPKIB and the Douglas Fairbanks starring vehicles; such as: THE MARK OF ZORRO, THE 3 MUSKETEERS, THE IRON MASK, and ROBIN HOOD, are all fine examples of a varied menu of drama, shock and adventure.

ALL THE PREVIOUSLY mentioned movies don't include the extensive work of Lon Chaney; such as such a thrillers list as: THE HUBCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME*, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, TELL IT TO THE MARINES**, HE WHO GETS SLAPPED, WEST OF ZANZIBAR, London AFTER MIDNIGHT & THE UNHOLY THREE.

WHILE NOT BEING nearly a well-known or heralded as the others, RILEY THE CUP still has much to offer even the most casual viewer. Iy's at once Drama, Comedy, Farce and an excellent barometer of American Pop Culture in the late 1920's. It has a fine set of production; although it probably did have certain budgetary constraints. It was certainly no "Summer Blockbuster."

ADDITIONALLY, IT IS b fine example of an embryonic look at the development of the style of its Director, Sean Feeney.* Also known as the much more "Irish" (Gaelic) name of Sean O'Ferna, all of the elements that would one day make up what we would come to expect in such works as THE INFORMER, DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK, MY DARLING CLEMENTIBE, THE FUGITIVE, THE LONG GRAY LINE, THE QUIET MAN and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (many others).

IT HAS SO much to offer; comedy, drama, ethnic humor and contemporary commentary (Prohibition was the subject of at least one referential remark.) It also an excellent sociological study in the changing role of the local Beat Cop in American life and culture.

Get this: Get it! Buy it. See the Damn thing!!!!

NOTE: * Didja guess who we mean? That's right, Schultz! It' 'Pappy' (Himself), John Ford.

From the archives of 20th Century Fox, cable station AMC found this silent gem to show during its salute to John Ford and film preservation in general. There is not much to the story in this comedy, but that doesn't matter. The cop on the beat, Aloyishus Riley, uses his twenty years experience to stay out of trouble while practicing an early version of community policing. Then he is sent to Germany (or the Fox lot version of Germany) to pick up a neighborhood youth accused of embezzling money from the bakery the youth works at. In Europe, everyone looks at Riley's big feet and immediately pegs him as a cop. Returning the fugitive back to the US, it is the youth, not Riley who wants to get back, so the lad can see his girlfriend on the boat back to the States. "Riley the Cop" is a fine example of film making. John Ford is at his mellow best here as a director. After seeing this silent movie, you have to wonder what other gems are hidden in the Fox film vaults.