Water Bugs

Sailor-suited Billy Dooley gets shanghaied aboard a schooner -- good thing he's dressed for the occasion -- and gets involved with skipper's daughter Vera Steadman, then with either leading or suppressing a mutiny. If he's not certain which side he's on, why should I be? It's another of the late-silent shorts that the Christies made to be co-branded with Paramount. Billy Dooley had been a stage dancer before he made this series, and his agility and ability to assume a stupid expression were an asset for the Christies' style of get-from-one-gag-to-the-next style of film scripting. They surrounded him with competent comedians, including Billy Engle -- you can never have too many Billies in a comedy -- and Bud Ross, then ran him through standard but well-performed gags. The result was invariably enjoyable, at least the first time you saw the movie.

The copy I saw had an audio track added for sound effects (pattering feet, clucking chickens) and an annoying voice-over which gave all the characters stupid names.