Changing of the Guard

In Great Britain, on New Year's Eve, perky little Sybil Jason (as Sybil) listens to her grandfather Halliwell Hobbes (as the Colonel) recall the last days of his military "Highlander" regiment. Flashbacks show the events, which end with a retirement party. Later, young Jason imagines herself participating in adventures of her own, including a "Changing of the Guard" at Buckingham Palace. Sybil also sings and tap-dances. The dark-haired young girl was Warner Bros. answer to Shirley Temple; not as successful, she later worked with her rival at Fox. This short film was notably photographed in Technicolor, which is its main strength.

**** Changing of the Guard (6/6/36) Bobby Connolly ~ Sybil Jason, Halliwell Hobbes, Sidney Bracey, Kirby Grant

Changing of the Guard (1936)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

On New Year's Eve a young girl (Sybil Jason) asks her grandfather (Halliwell Hobbes) about the picture of him in a military outfit. The elderly man then tells her about his days in the military before the young girl dreams about being at Buckingham Palace. This Warner short isn't going to win any awards and it's certainly poorly written but there's no question that the only reason this thing was made was to show off the new Technicolor. The new color process is certainly the highlight here as you can't help but wonder what those people who saw this in 1936 must have thought. There's no question the quality isn't the greatest by today's standards nor by the standards of where the process would be at in just a few years. The actual story I found to be rather weak, uninvolved and at times boring. We've seen this type of thing before in countless films and this one here really doesn't do much with it. I'm sure fans of Jason will want to check this out as she does a dance towards the end of the movie but I must admit that I wasn't bowled over by it.

The Vitaphone shorts were originally intended to be experimental and tested out the new Warner Brothers sound system before they ultimately released "The Jazz Singer". Following the release of the film, they continued to make Vitaphone films...even after sound became the norm. So, it's very fitting that Vitaphone also tested out a new innovation in their shorts as well--Three Color Technicolor. While there were earlier color systems (such as Cinecolor and Two Color Technicolor), they weren't true color but were made with a more primitive system where a blue-green and an orange-red strip overlapped the black and white strip. The colors, not surprisingly, tended to look very orange and green! With three strip, three different color strips overlapped the black & white strip...and resulted in vivid color. The only problems were that the films needed A LOT of lighting to make the picture look good and not too dark. And, the colors in the earlier versions of this system tended to look very over-saturated--with colors so intense it almost looked better than real life!

Technically "Changing of the Guard" is a good film. The acting and singing and costumes are all very nice. So why did I hate this short so much? Well, a lot of it is due to Hollywood's infatuation with colonialism in the 1930s and 40s. Again and again, films like "Gunga Din", "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" and "Wee Willie Winkie" espoused the notion that imperialism is mega-cool and questioning the morality of it in any way was ridiculous. The locals were simply stupid and sub- human and needed subjugation!! And in this one, the Boer War was simply to subjugate the naughty Boers (the Dutch settlers in South Africa). Never mind the many atrocities the British committed...and none of this is show in the short. It's all rah, rah, rah for the wonderful Brits. Yuck. But what also bothered me was the super-adorable Sybil Jason (ironically, born in South Africa). Because Miss Jason is dead, I don't feel so bad saying that the child she often portrayed on the screen was TOO perfect, TOO cute...almost to the point where you wondered if some mad scientist created her and she was secretly the embodiment of all that is evil!! I find her cutesy routine and amazingly adult screen presence ultra-creepy...much, much more than the more believable sort of characters played by Shirley Temple...not that she was all that human either! Too perfect...too talented...too strange. Overall, I didn't like the film BUT still give it a 4 for technical prowess. It is certainly a lovely looking picture.

It may seem odd to describe this film as tedious, considering it's only a short, but I found The Changing of the Guard extremely slow and static. It may be of interest to historians as an early example of Technicolor, but the photography is unimaginative. Sybil Jason fans will probably enjoy her dance number. Jason was present when I saw this screened, and I believe she said the choreography was by Busby Berkeley, though his name doesn't appear in the credits.

The story begins with Sybil visiting her grandfather on New Year's Eve. As it gets late, Sybil falls asleep and dreams her dance number. Okay, so the film was probably made just to showcase Warners' child star, but there's still no excuse for the weak dialogue and plodding direction. You'd think if the studio was going to lay out the money for Technicolor they'd want something that was a little more lively.

How strange to find a Technicolor short from 1936, especially one telling a story. The reds are gorgeous from the Colonel's formal dress to the flowers that contain reds and pinks and are surrounded with nice greens. The maroon of the grandfather's robe is quite amazing as I find that this is a difficult color to find in early movies and they do it so well here. The blues from dark to light are scrumptious and the cornflower blue of Sybil's bathrobe and even the blue of her eyes stand out quite amazingly.

Sybil Jason is quite delightful in this short. She rarely got to stand out in a leading role and here she gets to sing of "The Changing of the Guard" and does it wonderfully. She also gets to tap dance with a regiment of beautiful guards. I'm pretty sure that Buckingham Palace never got to see such a delightful sight as these dancing ladies. And lets not forget the bagpipe regiment, the singing of "Annie Laurie" and "Auld Lang Syne".

A delightful short and one that I would recommend to anyone interested in early Technicolor.