Andy's Stump Speech

Currently, among the silent films you can view online from the National Film Preservation Foundation is "Andy's Stump Speech". Whether or not it's worth your time watching it probably depends on you. If you love silents and have seen quite a few, this film is for you. But, for the average person who has never seen a silent, it's not exactly a great introduction, as it probably won't do a lot to convince them that silents are well worth seeing (which they are, believe me!). Why do I think this way? Well, there are simply a lot of comedy shorts that are better made and have MANY more laughs. Still, for me, it was worth it.

Andy Gump was a character from the comic strip "The Gumps" which debuted in 1917 and ran into the 1950s. Sidney Smith's strip was way before my time, but apparently Smith had Andy supposedly run for president starting in 1924 and it continued until the strip's demise! Interestingly, the film makers did get the look of Andy right--complete with an almost absent lower jaw and balding head. Whether or not the character ACTED like Andy is certainly something I cannot say.

The film begins with Andy out taking a dip in the pond--leading to rather comical difficulties when goats ate his clothing! This delays Andy from leaving the pond to go make a stump speech in a neighboring town--leading to a crazy chase scene. I loved how it ended--but you'll need to see that for yourself. Suffice to say, it had some lovely moments--but, sadly, it also had some stupid ones--such as the very poor use of a stunt double who clearly was NOT Joe Murphy (who played Gump). Also, the who bees in his pants angle seemed pretty lame--as was his enormous size at the end of the film (he went from normal to HUGE back and forth for no discernible reason). But, it is also fun and worth a peek.

Andy's Stump Speech (1924)

*** (out of 4)

Live action adaptation of the Sidney Smith cartoon has Joe Murphy playing Andy Gump, a man running for President who can't seem to get a break when it comes time for him to travel and make his first big speech. This is the first film in the series that I've ever seen so I really wasn't sure what to expect but it turned out to be pretty funny and it certainly made me want to track down some of the others. This here was lost for decades but was thankfully recovered in a New Zealand vault. I thought the film was rather routine in regards to its actual story but where it set itself apart was when the various bad things started happening. There's a really good joke early on because Andy is naked in a lake and can't get out because some goats have eaten his clothes. This is followed by a wonderful scene where there's a trick done so that we, the viewer, don't see any nudity. There's also a great little gag involving Andy and his family being hit by a train and many more funny bits follow. I thought Murphy was extremely good in the role as his awkward looks allowed him to have some very funny moments including one where he's trying to shave. There's a very funny bee sequence and I won't ruin what happens at the speech but it too was quite funny. ANDY'S STUMP SPEECH is certainly a nice little gem that was thankfully found.

Norman Taurog directs one of the series of Andy Gump movies starring Joe Murphy as Andy and Fay Tincher as Min. Given these two slapstick professionals, it's a great comedy on form. Certainly Joe puts a lot of oomph into his pratfalls and Miss Tincher is appropriately dogged -- although all too often her acting consists of putting her hands on her hips, hunching her shoulders and glaring -- well Min did enough of that in Sidney Smith's long-running comic strip.

Unfortunately, this looks like little more than three comic strips pasted together, as if a movie is nothing more than a cartoon strip with movements. The print that is available online at the National Film Foundation's site, while in gorgeous condition and accompanied by a fine score by Mike Mortilla, is run too slow. It times in at just under 27 minutes on the site and you can see how they do some of the pratfalls -- probably it should run about twenty-two minutes.

Still, it does cover one of Andy's running gags -- he ran for office every couple of years from 1922 through at least 1958 in the funny papers. It's worth a look.