Do-Re-Mi-Boom!

The credits on this Keystone are pretty much of a mess. The only player of whom I am sure is Sennett's utility comedian, Chester Conklin, who tries to court a pretty piano teacher by stealing a hurdy-gurdy and singing to her -- badly, we may assume from the acting. Meanwhile, the Italian whose machine he has stolen, plants a bomb on him, which Chester subsequently puts inside a piano, to be triggered when a particular note is played. You've seen this routine played between Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny. In walks the piano teacher, so Chester steals the piano and proceeds to ride it down a hill.

It's not a great comedy, but the editing is fine, switching between three or four locations quickly and easily, telling the story well enough visually. Unhappily, it's not a particularly funny movie, with only the final ride down the hill on a piano run decently.

Sennett had a lot of trouble keeping his top talent. He didn't struggle too hard to keep them, convinced they could always be replaced. At this moment, his top players were Roscoe Arbuckle and Mabel Normand, who were doing a fine series of comedies, but even Mabel would leave shortly for greener fields at Goldwyn and Arbuckle would flee to New York, where he could control his own product and then leave for a contract with Paramount.

In the meantime, Sennett's comedies were still popular, despite the fact that this sort of anarchic comedy was reaching its limits. The competition had figured out what he was doing and the drain would continue. His strength remained in his editing department, which would continue to be the best in Hollywood until sound came in and they moved on to greener pastures.

A Cheater Conklin production, and a very good one. It is characterized by the rapid action that generally characterizes the Keystone product. The comedy man falls in love with a young woman whose lover is a singer. He tries to rival the efforts of the songster and gets into serious trouble. - The Moving Picture World, May 15, 1915

Do-Re-Mi-Boom! (1915)

** (out of 4)

Keystone comedy has Chester Conklin playing a woman who notices a beautiful woman playing piano so he will stop at nothing to impress her even if it means putting a bomb in her piano. Yes, here's another Keystone film that's short on brains but loud on action. While going through the Keystone films it's pretty funny just to think about what they thought was funny. It's clear that the writers felt that everyone in the world was a madman ready to fight or kill at the drop of a hat and the studio really did deliver some rather wild characters. This film here really isn't all that funny and in fact I don't think I laughed a single time. What keeps the film watchable is the performance by Conklin as well as the story itself, which is just so weird that you can't help but keep watching and wondering what's going to happen next. The highlight of the film would probably be towards the end when the bomb strapped piano gets put outside and Conklin goes riding it down the street. As I said, the actor appears to be having a good time here and he's certainly not at a loss for energy.