Tweet Los Angeles, CA: WHAT HAPPENED TO JONES (1926) - 2/1

Los Angeles, CA
Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre: The Silent Treatment Series

Wednesday February 1st, 2012 - WHAT HAPPENED TO JONES? (1926)
8:00 PM, $12/ members free

NOTE: admission to this show is half-price for all who come in drag!

A silent double bill full of delightful drag, animated androgeny and mirthful misunderstandings! Our short subject before the feature is Charlie Chaplin’s 1915 romp A Woman, “an irresistible drag tour de force that leaves us wishing Charlie had used the bit more often” (Bright Lights Film Journal) — and then it’s onto What Happened To Jones?, the uproarious farce starring Reginald Denny, one of the late-era silent screen’s most debonair leading men. Denny stars as a young man who, on the night before his wedding, plays a poker game with friends, only to have the party raided by the police. Escaping to a Turkish bath, Jones disguises himself as a woman — only to have the whole affair snowball into one big anarchic abashment of apparel. Full of giddy genderplay and witty chitchat, What Happened To Jones? is a welcome whiff of filmic froth!

What Happened To Jones? Dir. William A. Seiter, 1926, 35mm, 75 min. (Print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive)

A Woman (starring Charlie Chaplin) Dir. Charles Chaplin, 1915, 35mm, 27 min. (Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive and Film Preservation Associates)

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Saw this last year at Capitolfest. Not only is it a hoot (although the scenes in drag are actually only in the first third of the picture), UCLA's print of the film is quite lovely, with all of the appropriate tints and tones.

Saw this last year at Capitolfest. Not only is it a hoot (although the scenes in drag are actually only in the first third of the picture), UCLA's print of the film is quite lovely, with all of the appropriate tints and tones.

We ran this at slapsticon 2005 and it is indeed a lovely print, especially so considering it was blown up from a 16mm show at Home print.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

I attended the showing of What Happened to Jones at the Silent Movie Theater last night. It's a charming bauble featuring an excellent performance by Reginald Denny, witty intertitles, and Marion Nixon...who was a tiny little thing, wasn't she? This was a Universal Jewel production, and I can only surmise that the bar on Universal's top-of-the-line product was set lower than was that of other studios. The cast was wonderful and the writing was top-rate, but I saw nothing in the production itself that was extraordinary--outside of that weird insistence on dressing every flat surface on the set with clashing patterns, which by 1926 was unusual. The house was nearly full and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely, so I'd call the showing a success. This would make a good Cinecon title, I'd be happy to see it again. Bring on more Reginald Denny.

The film was preceded by an Essanay Chaplin short (the title of which escapes me) wherein the star dresses as a woman. Beyond noticing that he was a kinda cute woman I reacted as I usually do to Chaplin.

[silentfilm]

That would be Chaplin's A Woman (1915). Sorry, I don't have a postcard of him in women's clothing...

I'd sure love to see What Happened to Jones at Cinecon!

I attended the showing of What Happened to Jones at the Silent Movie Theater last night. [big snip] The house was nearly full and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely, so I'd call the showing a success. This would make a good Cinecon title, I'd be happy to see it again. Bring on more Reginald Denny.

I obviously agree with the last statement and also agree that What Happened to Jones is well worth showing and I would watch it again. However I would hope that some other Denny titles get some showings. WHTJ has played at San Francisco SFF as well as Slapsticon and Capitolfest and perhaps this is self-perpetuating and causing other titles to be overlooked. In particular, I can't remember hearing of any festival showings for I'll Show You the Town (from which my avatar comes) or That's My Daddy, both of which I think are even better (especially ISYTT).