Captain Applejack

"Captain Applejack" (1931) with John Halliday, Mary Brian, Louise Closser Hale, Kay Strozzi, Alec B. Francis, Claud Allister, Julia Swayne Gordon, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Otto Hoffman, and William B. Davidson is the perfect example of how tastes change over a one hundred year period. This began as a play in 1921 which ran again in Chicago in 1923, the same year it was turned into a silent film called "Strangers of the Night" (Otto Hoffman played the same character he played later in the '31 version); then this film was made. By 1931 the story was already very much old hat. This film was directed by Hobart Henley, and the sound effects of wind and rain are ceaseless and by the end annoying and very fake. The film is a mystery/crime/comedy/Old Dark House drama. How do you combine all of these? 1920's stage could easily do this, and it was very popular. With films like "Frankenstein", "Dracula", "The Old Dark House", etc., etc., etc., the genre developed well over-and-above what "Captain Applejack" seemed to be. It is loads of fun in its own way, but only to a crowd that enjoys what was being done in 1931 and before in theater transferred to the movies. To a modern crowd this film will be laughable! It's supposed to be in some respects: it's made to be smiled at the whole way through. The audience is supposed to smile WITH it. But this will be now laughed AT.

Halliday, playing Ambrose Applejohn, is bored with all, and so has put up his old family mansion for sale. Seems that several are aware that somewhere in the old place a vast treasure is hidden that was put there centuries before by an earlier ancestor pirate called Captain Applejack. These several come in all shapes, sizes, sexes, and job descriptions, from Russian something-like-a-countess to a cop. Strozzi's accent, by the way, is over-the-top just-plain-awful!! Not that her acting is any better. The former Broadway actress (1912-1936) only made one other film. She had been in a play in 1929 with Halliday, so their combo may have been because of the acquaintance.

This is pure camp which I had seen once before years ago in an inferior print. The one I watched last night was the Warner Archive Collection release, and its sound is very, very antiquated and now truly scratchy and bad. It's a Vitaphone sound release, and almost sounds as though it's still sound-on-disc! Discs worn out!

If you watch this as if it were a play being shown in a theater in 1929/30 you'll enjoy it a lot and for what it is. If you watch it from the viewpoint of a filmic endeavor of 2021 you'll turn it off within five minutes. I've now seen it twice all the way through. It was fun. But this kind of fun only needs to be experienced once or twice before it wears itself thin to the falling-through point. When you fall through you could hurt yourself, but only pride-wise...

A little bit of research on the Broadway Database website confirms that the play Captain Applejack ran for 195 performances in the 1921-1922. It's the kind of fluff that people went to the theater to see back in the day, but wouldn't have any great audience today.

Watching it this morning two things struck me. It reminded a whole lot of George M. Cohan's Seven Keys To Baldpate which also takes place on a windswept stormy night with a group of strange characters intruding on someone's privacy. Further research shows that the producer on Broadway was Sam Harris, Cohan's producing partner who probably thought he had another similar show on his hands.

I also thought how perfect Leslie Howard or Ronald Colman would have been for the part. The film would be more well known today had either of them done it, though John Halliday does a fine job in the lead. He plays a comfortable squire with an estate in Cornwall who yearns for a more exciting life and expresses same to ward Mary Brian. Before long he's besieged by visitors who are giving him all kinds of stories and he discovers the family fortune may have had its foundation in stolen pirate loot.

Captain Applejack is a most dated item, fortunate indeed to have been preserved in both a silent and sound film. I doubt you'll see it revived on Broadway any time soon.

This film, I suppose, is a comedy. Because of that, the cast was apparently informed to really overdo it--with some of the broadest acting I have ever seen. It was originally a stage production and in this case, it looks like they must have filmed it as it was done on stage--loud and over-emoted. CAPTAIN APPLEJACK begins with Ambrose home on a stormy night in his mansion. He is dying for some adventure in his life, and almost immediately it begins! People start coming in and out of his house at an alarming rate and he is deeply involved in all sorts of silly intrigue. It's like your typical "old dark house" film so common in this era but on steroids--with everything coming rapidly and with no letup.

The first thing I noticed is how much Kay Strozzi sucked in this film! This probably sounds very harsh, but when this actress came storming into the home of Ambrose Applejohn, I was just bowled over by how terrible her accents were. She didn't know if she was supposed to be French, Russian or just an idiot. Kids in high school productions usually have better accents than hers! And, to top it off, within the first ten minutes of the film, three different women fainted--talk about a load of malarkey! These factors combined with the style of the production (with people walking on and off camera much like they'd do it in a play) made me realize early on that I was in for a very long ride, indeed.

After several actors came in and out of the set, in came "Ivan" (Arthur Edmund Carewe) to prove that Strozzi was not the only actor who could produce a crappy and unconvincing Russian accent! I think, honestly, that any of the Ritz Brothers could have done this job better. He was lousy, but fortunately he didn't stick around for long. As for leading man John Halliday, he also overdid it quite a bit. In 1931, perhaps people thought this was all a funny farce. Today, it mostly just seemed tedious.

I cannot recommend this film to anyone--even people who like bad films, as this one wasn't bad enough to be funny--it was just plain bad. There is nothing really positive I can say about the movie other than it was blessedly short!

By the way, at about 32 minutes into the film, note the breast grabbing scene--something you might just see in a Pre-Code film but you'd never have seen once this Production Code was strengthened and adopted in 1934. Quite a shocker, eh?

Rich, old guy ambrose is used to his routine. During a terrble storm, madame valeska asks for refuge from the weather, and from a dangerous spy who is chasing after her. But when ambrose goes to call the po-po, he falls under valeska's spell, and decides not to call the coppers. Even when more interlopers show up! Clairvoyants and general riff raff suddenly appear, but they are really there to look for hidden treasure. They all seem to come and go, without being questioned. Will ambrose put a stop to these burglars? A sixty three minute shortie from associated artists. Directed by hobart henley. Story by walter hackett. This has the feel that it started as a play.....the sound quality is pretty bad, and the fact that there is a storm raging in the background for most of the film doesn't help. It's all just okay. A bit tedious. It was probably more interesting back in the day, but it's pretty dated at this point.

THE STORY & GENRE -- Aristocratic home holds secret pirate's treasure which brings forth crooks. Not genre.

THE VERDICT -- Brisk and zany comedy, grade bumped up a notch for love of the ward (Mary Brian). Also some pre-code naughtiness. 6.5.

FREE ONLINE -- Yes, foreign websites from a TCM broadcast, 63 minutes.