Roaming the Emerald Isle with Will Rogers

Roaming the Emerald Isle with Will Rogers (1927)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Will Rogers sets off on a worldwide vacation back in 1927 and in order to pay for the trip he signed a deal with Pathe to make various documentaries. This one here takes a look at Ireland and comes off pretty poor. The camera-work is horrible and Rogers' jokes are really out of style and bad. I'm really not sure what this short was meant to do but it has very little merit.

You can catch this short on Turner Classic Movies from time to time. Warner might eventually issue this on DVD but there are no plans at this time.

In 1927, Will Rogers went on a holiday tour of Europe. To offset the cost of his trip, he signed a deal with the Pathe film company to star in a series of travelogues: director Carl Stearns Clancy would follow Rogers across Europe with a camera, and would record Rogers's antics en route. The films (roughly 10 minutes each) were shot silent, but were later re-released with post-dubbed narration. Will Rogers's voice is not heard. Among the places visited by Rogers in this series were Paris, London, Berlin, Switzerland, Bavaria and Holland.

"Roaming the Emerald Isle with Will Rogers" is the Irish instalment in this series. Rogers visits the home of the late Richard Croker and meets Croker's widow. (Richard Croker, born in Ireland, emigrated to America and became active in New York City machine politics, ultimately becoming the leader of Tammany Hall. In retirement, he returned to his native Ireland.) Also shown here are the Vale of Glendalough, the lakes of Killarney, Ross Castle, and a brief visit with the Earl of Killarney.

In the title cards, Rogers comments on his own part-Irish ancestry and tosses off a few faux-folksy witticisms such as: "If I was England, I would give Ireland home rule but reserve the motion-picture rights for what follows."

The film is interesting for its documentary value and for a glimpse of Rogers, although his humour has badly dated.