Black Oxfords

It's always good to see sophisticated humor -- and the broad, low humor of this Mack Sennett short is a lot of fun to watch, too, as the audience wonders how Marceline Day will raise the money for the rent and prisoners play a baseball game against the guards.

There are some typical Sennett touches as director Del Lord offers the audience some good automobile gags -- he started at Keystone as a stunt driver and specialized in auto gags in his movies. The cast offers some of Sennett's up and coming comedians, including Andy Clyde and the usual assortment of barnyard gags -- including two escaped prisoners in a cow suit being pursued by an amorous bull -- and some wild stunt-flying gags.

It's not a great comedy, but there are a few good laughs in almost any Sennett production.

A gormless hero, freshly escaped from jail, dons a pair of BLACK OXFORDS and wins a horse race through the lamest cheating ever attempted in motion pictures. Will he nonetheless pay the mortgage, win the girl, and be pardoned for the crime he did not commit?

Since this is Sennett at its most average, its a pretty good spot to see how its comedy had evolved by 1924. This is not a crude Keystone, by any means. The gags now are more involved, visual and frequently quite creative. The influence coming from Felix the Cat and other silent animation is notable -- first in that animation is actually used here and there to complete a gag and second in that much of the humor comes from visual outrageousness. When this works -- mostly in the prison baseball game in the first reel -- the result is quite wonderful. But, in this film, it mostly does not work. There is a fake cow milking scene in the middle which would totally work in a Tex Avery opus, but just doesn't work in the reality imposed by live action film.

Once can see why, by 1935, this sort of comedy was long gone. But one can see why it would return by the 40s, wilder than ever, over at the Warner Brothers and MGM cartoon factories.

Sid Smith and Vernon Dent star in this bizarre little Mack Sennett comedy. Sid's family is in trouble--their mortgage is due and they are threatening to take the home. As for Sid, he can't help since he's in prison! However, he and Vernon make a very STRANGE escape (including them dressing up as a cow!) and soon arrive in town--where they are welcomed by Sid's family who doesn't know they've been in prison. However, when they learn about the big horse race, Sid decides to enter and a completely ridiculous (REALLY ridiculous) horse race ensues. And, not surprisingly Sid somehow saves the day.

The first portion of the film is best. It's got some nice laughs. However, the horse race scene is just dumb--even for a Sennett comedy. Overall, it's the sort of silent comedy that fans should see but that won't at all impress other folks. Watchable and silly.

Black Oxfords (1924)

** (out of 4)

Disappointing comedy from Mack Sennett has a mother and daughter getting threatened by a banker that if they don't pay their mortgage then they'll be tossed out of the house. The son (Sid Smith) would be more than happy to help but he's locked up in prison but his friend (Vernon Dent) finds a way for them to escape. This is a pretty uneven short from start to finish and sadly it really doesn't have any laughs that really work. I think the biggest problem is that there's simply not too much life in the film and every time they do try to do something funny it usually ends up falling flat on its face. This includes a rather long sequence where the men get dressed up in a cow outfit and a farmer comes in to milk a cow. This scene just doesn't have any comic timing to it and by the time it's over you're looking at your watch. The flatness pretty much runs throughout the film and even the cast can't do much to help. Both Smith and Dent appear to be giving it their all but they can get zero laughs. Anna Dodge plays a supporting part but she can't do much with the material either. BLACK OXFORDS is just way too flat for anyone to watch unless they're die-hard fans of Sennett.