The Village Sleuth

Breezy Charles Ray film has him as a country boy who dreams of being a detective. So he leaves the farm and gets a job at a health resort where he keeps finding "clues" but they don't add up to anything ... yet.

The resort is full of odd people and eventually the clues lead him to a crook disguised among the residents.

Winifred Westover co-stars as a chorus girl named Pinky. Ray was a major box office star from the mid-1910s through the end of the silent era. He specialized in this sort of innocent character who faces the perils of the city and wins the day but not always the girl.

Most of his silent films are lost so it's always nice to see a new Charles Ray film released on disk.

Farm boy Charles Ray has read so many detective stories he imagines himself one himself. He tries for a job as house detective at Doctor Donald MacDonald's sanatorium, but winds up the janitor. This doesn't stop him from trying to be a detective. He makes friends with guest Winnie Westover, and discovers a series of mysterious clues. But of what? It's only when the husband of one of the patients disappears, and Miss Westover is accused of his murder, that Ray begins to figure out what they means.

It's one of the dozens of features that Ray made for Thomas Ince after he shot to fame in THE COWARD. Once again, he portrays a country bumpkin. Once again, he's held in low esteem. Once again, he redeems himself.

I didn't expect much from this one, but I was pleasantly surprised by the gawky good humor in the script by Agnes Christine Johnston, as well as the handsome Lasky Lighting of the opening segment by cameraman Chester Lyons. The copy of the movie was in excellent shape, and this good little programmer is well enhanced by David Drazin's score.