When Ambrose Dared Walrus

This is (in my opinion) one of the best Keystone comedies. The first half starts out slow, but the second half with the big fire is great. Chester Conklin is great at playing Walrus. Other cast members are Mack Swain as Ambrose and Vivian Edwards as Ambrose's wife. Cameo appearances are made by Josef Swickard, Louise Fazenda, and Frank "Fatty" Alexander.

This one features a VERY bad print....and the intertitle cards are so dark they are difficult to read. Additionally, TWO different musical accompaniments are on this YouTube copy...so I suggest you turn the volume off to enjoy it. But considering the film is well over 100 years old, allowances should be made and at least this Mack Swain/Chester Conklin comedy from Keystone Pictures still exists.

In this story, Mack Swain plays Ambrose (a character he often played in comedy shorts) and Chester Conklin plays the oddly named Droppington*.

Ambrose and his wife are acrobats. While they are working on their act in their hotel room, the owner, Droppington, receives the fire insurance policy on the complex. Droppington stops by Ambrose's apartment and begins paying attention to Ambrose's wife...and both Ambrose and Droppington's wife are furious. However, unlike in most slapstick films from Keystone, this does not result in much punching, kicking or even shooting a gun wildly...at least for a Keystone film. However, a big problem does occur...Droppington loses the money needed to pay for the policy and he considers killing himself. What's next? See the film.

The problem with this film, like many Keystone films, is that it could have used more intertitle cards to explain what was happening. As it is, it's a bit confusing at times and it helps to read the IMDB summary first. The latter part of the comedy works better, since it's mostly a lot of action and less plot. Overall, it's very watchable and is better than most of the Ambrose comedies I've seen.

*I have no idea if Conklin's character actually is named Droppington or Walrus...IMDB is not clear about this. The hotel is definitely named The Walrus.