Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies

The offbeat title is perhaps a tip-off as to the nature of this uneven Mack Sennett-produced short feature. It is a mixed bag, with some material that works and other gags that do not come off at all. The story concerns an eccentric inventor and his futuristic ideas, and while it is sometimes interesting, there are also other parts of it that are barely watchable. In one sense, it is a little ahead of its time in that some of the inventions are quite creative, but at other times it is seriously dated because of its unfortunate use of stereotypes. Billy Bevan does a gag with a bunch of cars that is logistically impressive, but somewhat pointless. The gags come one after the other, but too often without a lot of purpose or timing. It might be worth seeing once if you enjoy these old-fashioned silent comedies, but there are many other such films that most viewers will find more entertaining than this one.

Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies (1925)

*** (out of 4)

Another winner from Mack Sennett has an inventor (Andy Clyde) and his side kick (Billy Bevan) working on an experiment that would have cars run off radio waves. They finally get the thing to work but this upsets an oil magnet in town who comes to the shop one night to cause trouble only to find out it's haunted (by it's really just people dressed up). SUPER-HOOPER-DYNE LIZZIES isn't the greatest movie that Sennett turned out but it's certainly one with a lot of imagination and plenty of laughs as well. Both parts of the film actually work quite well with the first portion dealing with the rivalry between the oil man and the inventors. There are some really funny moments here including the sequence where cars start running on their own all over town and this leads to a wide range of stunts. There's one pretty wild one where a horse and carriage are crossing the road and a car slams into the bad end of the carriage. I'm not sure who trained the horse but his timing was perfect. The second half turns into a horror spoof as a wide range of "monsters" show up to scare a few people and this too offers up plenty of laughs. Both Clyde and Bevan are good in their roles and manage to help keep the film moving at a very fast pace.

Of the silent comedies without an "A-List" comic in it, this is one of the better examples of the loony style of the slapstick era.

I've seen it many times, due to knowing a collector, but it's been years, so I'm a bit sketchy on the details, but the idea is that a guy comes up with the idea to get rid of expensive gasoline by using radio waves to power the country's cars. [A little background; "Super Heterodyne" was an early name for the technology of transmitting radio signals, hence the title of this spoof]

Everything seems to be going well, as cars all over town are hooked up with special radio antennas that communicate with the central transmitter. Then, all HECK breaks loose when lightning strikes the transmitter, giving WAY too much power to hundreds of cars, all at once!

The predictable yet hilarious physical comedy that ensues provides an excellent look at the kind of comedy movie audiences worldwide were enjoying in 1925!

It is awful hard to find silent movies presented properly with LIVE musical accompaniment by theatre organ, piano, or orchestra these days, but the experience, should you find a show, is WELL worth it!