Smith is back in training camp and the wife and dog are there too, in this typically well-executed episode in the Mack Sennett Studios series.
Although Sennett is best remembered for the over-the-top slapstick comedies of a decade and a half earlier, he produced a wide variety of comedies. The Smith Family series mixes a bit of slapstick with more familiar situations and this one runs through many of the standard drill field gags of the era, performed by the good clowns on the lot under the supervision of the competent Alf Goulding. Glen Cavender plays Smith's hard-nosed drill sergeant -- he specialized in military men and traffic cops; Vernon Dent as the Colonel; and in one of several appearances in the series, Carole Lombard.
If you think that the Smith Family looks like a TV situation with moderately rough slapstick, you're right. It had to come from somewhere and these well-produced comedy shorts series were a stage in popular entertainment's evolution.
Although Sennett is best remembered for the over-the-top slapstick comedies of a decade and a half earlier, he produced a wide variety of comedies. The Smith Family series mixes a bit of slapstick with more familiar situations and this one runs through many of the standard drill field gags of the era, performed by the good clowns on the lot under the supervision of the competent Alf Goulding. Glen Cavender plays Smith's hard-nosed drill sergeant -- he specialized in military men and traffic cops; Vernon Dent as the Colonel; and in one of several appearances in the series, Carole Lombard.
If you think that the Smith Family looks like a TV situation with moderately rough slapstick, you're right. It had to come from somewhere and these well-produced comedy shorts series were a stage in popular entertainment's evolution.
