The Lion's Roar

Mack Sennet's first sound film is a hilarious little short. The first half has Johnny Burke trying to propose to Daphne Burke on the telephone while construction workers, boat whistles and a saxophonist across the alley -- played by Vernon Dent -- makes it impossible to hear himself think. The second half, takes place in the country with similar results -- plus he goes hunting rabbits and runs into a lion.

My guess is that this plot was heavily influenced by the novelty of sound movies. "The Lion's Roar" is a very, very early all talking short film....one of the first not made by Vitaphone. Because of the newness of sound in movies, the filmmakers really go overboard in this one and exaggerate sound to a ridiculous level.

The film opens in the big city and Clarence (Johnny Burke) is overwhelmed with all the noise. Frankly, no city is THAT loud and you can't help but wonder if audiences in the day believed cities were that loud! Anyway, to get away from the noise, he heads out to the country...and, not surprisingly, it's very loud and annoying in its own way. To top it off, there's a lion loose!!!

So is it worth seeing? Not particularly...though it's not bad either. My feeling is that it's a decent time-passer for lovers of old films and not much more.