Not Wanted

After five years as the best of the Chaplin imitators, Billy West struck out with his own comedy character, a middle-class man in a nice suit and a fedora -- but with the mustache. These movies involved him in cartoonish situations in which he executed some extended gags very nicely -- in this one he does the one in which the water pump only works when he's not ready for it and another in which he can't catch a fish with some expensive gear, while the boy next to him catches whoppers with a stick and a bent pin -- and gradually moved behind the camera.

In this one, he's on his way to do some fishing and gets involved with a girl whose father wants her to marry someone and a baby. Only the first reel of this two-reel comedy is still around. Ben Model has graciously posted it to Youtube along with one of his typically witty scores. It's not an amazingly good comedy, but it does have well-performed gags and some very funny title cards and is well worth the time of anyone who enjoys silent comedies.

In the 1910s, Charlie Chaplin was the most famous movie comic in the world. And, as the old saying goes, with success comes imitation...and several comics copied Chaplin. Not just his style...but his look and his act. In fact, sometimes they didn't even acknowledge that it was NOT Chaplin! The most famous of these faux Chaplins was Billy West...who made a bunch of these pictures. However, here in "Not Wanted" he looks nothing like Chaplin...but a heck of a lot like Charley Chase. Coincidental? I really can't say.

The plot to "Not Wanted" isn't really clear...perhaps if the film I saw wasn't missing the second reel I could tell you. Unfortunately with silent comedies, fragmentary films is not at all unusual due to the effects of time on nitrate film stock. Mostly Billy wanders about in the hills (it's probably supposed to be the Ozarks) and it's filled with stereotypes. The worst involves a Hatfield/McCoy type beating his girl with an actual whip..which isn't the least bit funny. Whatis funny is the fishing sequence where Billy the city dude tries to show a local kid how to fish.

Because the film is heavily truncated, I'll pass on giving this one a score. My advice is that if you are a casual silent viewer, skip this one...at least until reel #2 surfaces.