Cours, ma fille

New starlet Carole Lombard, just nineteen in 1928, made about two dozen comedy shorts for producer Mack Sennett in the late 1920's. In most of these films her roles are quite small, but she has the lead in RUN, GIRL, RUN a charming and rather fascinating spoof of women's collegiate athletics during the 1920's.

Tiny character actress Daphne Pollard is the coach for the college's team of girl athletes, and she has her hands full given most of the girls spend more time chasing boys than training or taking sports seriously. With her job on the line, Pollard vows to watch over her best runner Lombard who alas appears the most boy crazy of the bunch.

RUN GIRL RUN is one of the better Sennett comedies of the late 1920's and it's nice to see a silent comedy short where the girls dominate it and the guys are the ones in bit parts. Teenaged Carole doesn't get many gags to handle but obviously, she already had a flair for comedy and had star potential. The delightful Miss Pollard hams it up expertly and gives an excellent performance. Madalynne Field as the lone fat girl on the team manages to deftly play up the caricature with good humor and appeal and is a very good sport and clearly had the makings of a good comedienne. (Field and Lombard became best friends and Madelynne became Carole's personal assistant when her career petered out.)

This little comedy short doesn't have much of a plot but it is funny and rather racy for its era (Carole sneaks back in the dorm on a ladder but is unaware she has entered the male dean's room and is undressed down to her slip when Pollard barges in, same dean is said to "keep an eye on the girls" and is then shown peeping through a keyhole). The screen titles are often quite amusing (Carole's track team hasn't won "since the Dead Sea turned sick" and coquette Carole "once ran a mile in almost nothing and was nearly expelled because of it"). This movie was a very popular title on the Super 8mm home movie market back in the 1970's but hasn't been seen much since but you can still find it online or on dvd if you look for it.

"Run, Girl, Run" is a satirical short comedy featuring Carole Lombard as the star of a women's college track team, whose coach is desperately trying to keep the women's minds on a big meet. Norma (Lombard) and her coach are quite a contrast, and have an interesting battle of wills. It's anything but subtle, and it might stretch things a bit a couple of times, but it has several funny gags, and Lombard (billed as 'Carol', without the 'e') gives a good performance.

Daphne Pollard plays a character similar to the one she played in THE CAMPUS VAMP--a short and rather manly young lady who has a lot of spunk, but not much else. Carole Lombard, who was also in THE CAMPUS VAMP, plays a star athlete who has very little interest in working hard and is a bit selfish--such as losing a race because she took time in the middle of the race to powder her nose. Despite her being a bit of a jerk, everything, naturally, works out in the end.

This college comedy is very broad in its comedy--not just the powder puff gag, but also featuring a very overweight Madalynne Field. Miss Field is obviously NOT a real athlete and I think the purpose of having her in the film is laugh at a fat girl--not the most noble of story ideas. Still, the short is reasonably interesting despite the quality of the humor and selfishness of Lombard's character. A decent time-passer.

Run, Girl, Run (1928)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent Mack Sennett produced short has Carole Lombard playing a great track runner but she just can't keep her mind on the sport. A tough but dingy coach (Daphne Pollard) and the Dean (Lionel Belmore) try to keep her focused but without much success. RUN, GIRL, RUN isn't the greatest comedy you're ever going to see but there are enough laughs to make it worth watching plus you've got a 20-year-old Lombard years before she'd become famous. I think it's Lombard fans who are going to enjoy this the most. Fans of hers will know that she appeared in several Sennett shorts but this one here allows her to be the main attraction. For the most part I thought she was good in the role even though she basically just had to look pretty and flirt with boys. Pollard was also quite good in the film as she got most of the comedy bits with the coach who is obviously really dumb. The majority of the laughs are some rather mean-spirited ones against an overweight girl on the track team. Obviously there are a lot of fat jokes, which was pretty normal during this era. Those looking for a laugh-a-minute type of film will want to stick to Chaplin or Keaton. This here is certainly far from perfect but it gives us a chance to see the legend Lombard.

This little two-reeler manages to insult overweight people and African-Americans before the first reel is over! One of the "gags" concerns Daphne Pollard, as the track team coach, hunting for Carole down in "Cupid's Alley", the local make-out spot. She approaches one car with dark windows and flings the door open to reveal a black man, seen earlier as a handyman, sitting in the car with half a dozen live chickens. He does a huge "I'm caught" double take. Ouch. The film's only interest is that Carole Lombard is in it. She and Daphne Pollard make quite an unusual team--coming from complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Sadly, by the time this film was made, the Sennett Studio had pretty much run out of steam.