I hadn't seen much at of the work of the very famous silent-era comedian Mabel Normand, and I eventually decided to check out this one-reeler, having read it had been honored with an induction into the US National Film Registry. In only a few shots, Mabel establishes herself as expressive and captivating with natural comic timing, and her film itself, for such an early piece from just when film comedy was establishing itself as a form, covers a surprising amount of comic ground and had me laughing out loud a number of times.
The gag premise -- of Mabel jealous because she thinks her fiancé's sister is a mistress -- is a sound one, and unlike some other Sennett shorts of the era, this one doesn't seem just to stop at it. Instead, an impressive number of complications ensue for a film that runs only 10-15 minutes, and I especially laughed at Mabel's boss coming on to her brother, who is ineptly disguised a woman with a veil drawn tightly across his face.
A very young Charley Chase, future star of his own great series of comedy shorts, makes an appearance and amusing starts a fight with Mabel while she is still dressed as a man. The farcelike quality of the comedy meshes with his sense of humor; maybe he had something to do with the reportedly rather freewheeling production process as well.
I won't say this as a bad film at all to single out from the early Sennett output; it's genuinely funny and does a lot with the resources it has.
The gag premise -- of Mabel jealous because she thinks her fiancé's sister is a mistress -- is a sound one, and unlike some other Sennett shorts of the era, this one doesn't seem just to stop at it. Instead, an impressive number of complications ensue for a film that runs only 10-15 minutes, and I especially laughed at Mabel's boss coming on to her brother, who is ineptly disguised a woman with a veil drawn tightly across his face.
A very young Charley Chase, future star of his own great series of comedy shorts, makes an appearance and amusing starts a fight with Mabel while she is still dressed as a man. The farcelike quality of the comedy meshes with his sense of humor; maybe he had something to do with the reportedly rather freewheeling production process as well.
I won't say this as a bad film at all to single out from the early Sennett output; it's genuinely funny and does a lot with the resources it has.