IT'S THE OLD ARMY GAME (1926)

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:26 pm

The version I have is an excellent print from a showing in Oregon. It
runs 105 minutes (not the 70 or 77 minutes mentioned on IMDb) and
boasts a nice, live piano performance by Keith Taylor. This film was
considered to be lost for many decades but exists in a very nice print.

This film is basically a forerunner of the hilarious 1934 film, IT'S A
GIFT, but is based on a play entitled "The Comic Supplement." As with
most W.C. Fields material, the story here is a mish-mash from several
sources and his own stage routines.

Fields started filing a couple of his stage routines in 1915 as shorts
but was not successful, In 1924 he landed a small but effective role in
Marion Davies' JANICE MEREDITH. He finally landed a starring role in a
feature film the following year in SALLY OF THE SAWDUST, a version of
his stage hit "Poppy." He appeared fairly regularly through the end of
his silent films in 1928.

Here Fields plays a small-town druggist who is much put upon by his
family (a sister and nephew), a local spinster, and the town at large.
His only good relationship is with Brooks, who works in his store. As
with most Fields films, his only close relationships is with a grown
daughter or young lady.

In a subplot, a real estate sharpie (William Gaxton) comes to town and
falls for Brooks. He talks Fields into letting him use his store to
sell New York City lots (not Florida, as mentioned elsewhere). Of
course Gaxton is hauled away by the law and Fields feels compelled to
pay back the money to all the "investors" who have been bilked.

As with IT'S A GIFT, we have scenes on the back porch where Fields is
trying to sleep, the nagging and odious family (Mary Foy, Mickey
Bennett), and a prolonged picnic scene on the grounds of a private
estate. This version also has Fields hassling with NYC traffic (the
wrong way on a one way street) as he ventures to right the wrongs of
Gaxton.

Of course Gaxton is freed and the investors all become rich, so when
Fields returns to town and sees the crowds, he's afraid they are out to
get him. This leads to a chase scene where Fields ends up in jail.

Heavy on the sentimental melodrama, IT'S THE OLD ARMY GAME is not
really a comedy, but a film with comic scenes. Fields never really
became a comedian until the talkies, where his films were trimmed of
melodrama and his famous rasping voice finally gave him a personality.
His decades-long stage career was spent mainly as a silent juggler.

Yet Fields is certainly impressive here (as he was in SALLY OF THE
SAWDUST) but the meandering storyline doesn't help much. Louise Brooks
is just stunning here as the small-town girl. Gaxton and Foy are OK.
Bennett is a little brat, and Blanche Ring is funny as the fluttery
spinster who pines for Fields. Also funny is one of Fields favorites,
Elise Cavanna as the near-sighted woman who wants a 2-cent stamp.

Richard M Roberts · Post by **Richard M Roberts** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 10:29 pm

drednm wrote:The version I have is an excellent print from a showing in Oregon. It
runs 105 minutes (not the 70 or 77 minutes mentioned on IMDb) and
boasts a nice, live piano performance by Keith Taylor. This film was
considered to be lost for many decades but exists in a very nice print

.

105 minutes! That's about 12 frames a second. Thats a slide presentation of the film.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

misspickford9 · Post by **misspickford9** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:08 am

I liked the picnic bit but really the rest of the film was blah. Louise was pretty cute in it though. OH and the part where he wanted to beat the kid and throw him over the ledge...after hearing a screaming kid that day I could totally relate.

Jim Roots · Post by **Jim Roots** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:07 am

Richard M Roberts wrote:
drednm wrote:The version I have is an excellent print from a showing in Oregon. It
runs 105 minutes (not the 70 or 77 minutes mentioned on IMDb) and
boasts a nice, live piano performance by Keith Taylor. This film was
considered to be lost for many decades but exists in a very nice print
.

105 minutes! That's about 12 frames a second. Thats a slide presentation of the film.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Richard, thanks for starting my day with a big laugh!

Jim

Chris Snowden · Post by **Chris Snowden** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:16 am

drednm wrote:The version I have is an excellent print from a showing in Oregon. It
runs 105 minutes (not the 70 or 77 minutes mentioned on IMDb) and
boasts a nice, live piano performance by Keith Taylor.

Heavy on the sentimental melodrama, IT'S THE OLD ARMY GAME is not
really a comedy, but a film with comic scenes. Fields never really
became a comedian until the talkies, where his films were trimmed of
melodrama and his famous rasping voice finally gave him a personality.

I've only seen this at 24 frames per second, and at that speed it's a very pleasant comedy, in my opinion. It does have a plot, but I don't recall much in the film that I'd consider sentimental melodrama. And while his voice added an extra dimension to his personality, that personality is really already there in these Paramount silents.

This film has one of my favorite intertitles, and it's great only because it fits him perfectly. It's in a scene at the drugstore where Fields is about to sell bootleg hooch to a customer, before realizing the guy's an undercover Prohibition officer. The title is something like: "Sir, would you have me break the law of this great country to satisfy your depraved taste?"

azjazzman · Post by **azjazzman** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:33 am

Chris Snowden wrote: This film has one of my favorite intertitles, and it's great only because it fits him perfectly. It's in a scene at the drugstore where Fields is about to sell bootleg hooch to a customer, before realizing the guy's an undercover Prohibition officer. The title is something like: "Sir, would you have me break the law of this great country to satisfy your depraved taste?"

I think Fields liked it too - because he uses that same line in "The Pharmacist", one of his Mack Sennett talkie shorts.

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:50 am

The melodrama comes with the land scandal, which goes on way too long and is pretty much skipped over in It's a Gift. In the silent version Fields goes to great lengths to replay the people supposedly cheated and sustains depressive remorse; the land scandal also dominates the love story between Brooks and Gaxton.

I don't think Fields ever really hit his persona/stride in silents. Yes the basic personality is there but it's not honed until he speaks and the films become more comedic.

That said, Fields is 100% on target in his scenes with the brat and in his entreaties to the noisy vegetable man (hatchet in hand), but his emotional tie to Brooks (an employee rather than the usual daughter) goes nowhere. Also, he really needs the shrewish wife (rather than a sister) to complete his ultimate view of home life (which was apparently shaped by his own interminable marriage).

Part of this is simply the logical evolution of Fields' comic persona, but part of it is based on his having a voice and whittling away the melodrama from the stories and routines he filmed over and over.

Post by **Mike Gebert** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:00 am

I think it's pretty much impossible for us to watch Fields in silents without projecting his sound persona onto his performances, which probably makes him seem more distinctive than he really is. That said, Running Wild is a pretty darn good comedy, sufficiently different in silent-action ways from The Man on the Flying Trapeze (which it's nearly identical to for its first half) that he was clearly a capable comedian toward the top of the second tier.

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:20 am

I agree.... but why the mustache? It wasn't even attached to his face but hung from his nostrils?

I liked Running Wild also as well as Sally of the Sawdust, which Fields remade as Poppy with Rochelle Hudson.[/b]

misspickford9 · Post by **misspickford9** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:32 am

Mike Gebert wrote:I think it's pretty much impossible for us to watch Fields in silents without projecting his sound persona onto his performances, which probably makes him seem more distinctive than he really is. That said, Running Wild is a pretty darn good comedy, sufficiently different in silent-action ways from The Man on the Flying Trapeze (which it's nearly identical to for its first half) that he was clearly a capable comedian toward the top of the second tier.

While I am indeed aware of who WC Fields was...vaguely...I've never seen a film of his or knew much of him beyond the name before I seen this movie. So maybe it makes me more objective, maybe not. I thought he had his funny moments but it wasnt a great film...or even really a good film. If it were 1920 something I think really the only reason to see it would be Louise Brooks' legs.

Post by **Mike Gebert** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:06 pm

Well, I was talking about Running Wild, I haven't seen It's the Old Army Game.

The sound sorta-remake, It's a Gift, is one of the ten greatest movies of all time.

colbyco82 · Post by **colbyco82** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:37 pm

Would love to see this film on DVD, maybe with other Fields silents like Running Wild and So's Your Old Man, however I know that is an unlikely dream until Paramount gets an "archive" program of its own.

Is my understanding correct that his other silent work (The Potters and 3 films with Chester Conklin) at Parmount is lost?

Jim Reid · Post by **Jim Reid** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:08 pm

Isn't one of the problems that due to their lack of interest, Paramount no longer has materials on most of it's silents? It would have to aquire those from whatever archive has them. It would make it quite a bit more expensive to do a program like the Warner Archive.

Post by **Danny Burk** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:04 pm

colbyco82 wrote:Would love to see this film on DVD, maybe with other Fields silents like Running Wild and So's Your Old Man, however I know that is an unlikely dream until Paramount gets an "archive" program of its own.

Is my understanding correct that his other silent work (The Potters and 3 films with Chester Conklin) at Parmount is lost?

Yes, most of the silents are lost. POOL SHARKS, JANICE MEREDITH, and SALLY OF THE SAWDUST survive, in addition to the others that you list above.

Harold Aherne · Post by **Harold Aherne** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:19 pm

All right, correct (or drop-kick) me if I'm wrong:

From what I recall reading, in the late 60s and early 70s the AFI gradually acquired all the silent nitrate that Paramount had left and it eventually was donated to LOC as the AFI/Paramount collection. Most of it appears to be there today, and here's the acquisition data I found on the LOC site for two of the Fields titles:

It's the Old Army Game:
Received: 6/82 from LC video lab; viewing copy; gift; AFI/Paramount Collection.
Received: 3/70; ref print and dupe neg; gift; AFI/Paramount Collection

Running Wild:
Received: 12/14/75 from LC lab; ref print and dupe neg; gift; AFI/Paramount Collection.
Received: 3/22/74; arch pos; gift, ATM 34; AFI/Paramount Collection.

I couldn't find a listing for So's Your Old Man, but per Greta's site on Alice Joyce they do have a 16mm viewing copy.

At the time, at least, there had to be *somebody* at Paramount who approved the donations to the AFI and LOC and was aware of where the material went. Since Paramount presumably owns the copyright on both pictures, I wonder what kind of negotiations, if any, would be needed. Does WB have to negotiate to get access to the MGM nitrate at GEH? (a semi-rhetorical, semi-genuine question).

What I am curious about is the steps needed to access material that was not donated by a studio but acquired from private collectors or elsewhere. I would dearly love to see Pied Piper Malone (1924), which survives at Gosfilmofond...and believe it or not, a small South Carolina town where the filming took place did manage to acquire a DVD transfer from them several years ago for a public screening (I'd link to the article posted on AMS but can't find it). If Paramount decided to release "Thomas Meighan: the ultimate collector's set" (well...at least be kind enough to permit me my dreams!) and wanted to acquire the film, what might they need to do?

-Harold

Post by **silentfilm** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:42 pm

Here's the alt.movies.silent post about Pied Piper Malone...
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.movi ... n&ie=UTF-8

Post by **Danny Burk** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:24 pm

Harold Aherne wrote:I couldn't find a listing for So's Your Old Man, but per Greta's site on Alice Joyce they do have a 16mm viewing copy. -Harold

AFAIK, that 16mm print is all there is. (Well, I hope and presume that it has been copied.) I saw it at the Chicago Cinecon (1983?) and the comment was made that it was the only surviving print, struck long ago (c. 1940s-50s). It was superb quality and must have been seldom projected, and it's a very good film too. (Very close to the remake, YOU'RE TELLING ME, except that he invents puncture-proof tires in the latter rather than unbreakable glass.)

Chris Snowden · Post by **Chris Snowden** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:08 pm

Harold Aherne wrote:What I am curious about is the steps needed to access material that was not donated by a studio but acquired from private collectors or elsewhere. I would dearly love to see Pied Piper Malone (1924), which survives at Gosfilmofond...and believe it or not, a small South Carolina town where the filming took place did manage to acquire a DVD transfer from them several years ago for a public screening (I'd link to the article posted on AMS but can't find it). If Paramount decided to release "Thomas Meighan: the ultimate collector's set" (well...at least be kind enough to permit me my dreams!) and wanted to acquire the film, what might they need to do?

Dealing with Gosfilmofond is interesting. The good news is that there's no snooty elitism, the bureaucratic machinery actually moves faster than it does at the LOC, and you don't need to have a friend there to get access to something. Money talks and they're open for business. The bad news (at least eight or ten years ago when I last dealt with them) is that there's only one or two people in the office who can help you, they're usually not available, and the phone/fax service is spotty. If you do get a video copy of something, it'll probably be transferred at hyperspeed, and you may discover (as I did) that their silent comedies had all the gags carefully edited out of them by Soviet censors eighty years ago.

They have a handy database of what's in their collection, but I've heard they're reluctant to discuss anything they may have acquired via the Red Army in 1945, and that it's best not to ask for anything German. Whether that's a tall tale or just another of Gosfilmofond's idiosyncrasies, I don't know.

Derek B. · Post by **Derek B.** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:31 pm

Danny Burk wrote:
Harold Aherne wrote:I couldn't find a listing for So's Your Old Man, but per Greta's site on Alice Joyce they do have a 16mm viewing copy. -Harold
AFAIK, that 16mm print is all there is. (Well, I hope and presume that it has been copied.) I saw it at the Chicago Cinecon (1983?) and the comment was made that it was the only surviving print, struck long ago (c. 1940s-50s). It was superb quality and must have been seldom projected, and it's a very good film too. (Very close to the remake, YOU'RE TELLING ME, except that he invents puncture-proof tires in the latter rather than unbreakable glass.)

So's Your Old Man exists in 35 mm at LOC (though I suppose it could be blown up from 16 mm), having played at PFA in 2003 and at The San Francisco Silent Film Festival this summer. I really enjoyed it both times.

JB Kaufman · Post by **JB Kaufman** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:38 am

Yes, the LoC 35mm print of So's Your Old Man was shown this summer at the SFSFF, and also last fall at Pordenone. It's a terrific print and a terrific film.

Post by **Danny Burk** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:08 am

Good to know that it survives in 35mm - it must have been located after 1983.

StefanieTieste · Post by **StefanieTieste** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 9:00 am

Having seen 'Running wild' at the opening night in Pordenone last fall, we went to see all W.C. Fields screenings that week and had great fun:

W.C. Fields muto/Silent W.C. Fields
- POOL SHARKS (Gaumont Casino Star Comedies, US 1915)
- JANICE MEREDITH (dir. E. Mason Hopper, US 1924)
- SALLY OF THE SAWDUST (dir. D.W. Griffith, US 1925)
- IT’S THE OLD ARMY GAME (Famous Players-Lasky Corp., US 1926)
- SO’S YOUR OLD MAN (Famous Players-Lasky Corp., US 1926)
- RUNNING WILD (Paramount Famous Lasky Corp., US 1927)
- THE GOLF SPECIALIST (Radio Pictures, US 1930)
(http://www.cinetecadelfriuli.org/gcm/ed ... e2008.html)

I had not watched any films by Fields before but by now I have seen all the talkies available on DVD and I must say, the silents remain my favourites - it was a feast when we could get 'Running wild' on VHS (even if it is "Running too fast" in this case).

It's a terrific print and a terrific film.

I totally agree with you, JB. By the way - see you again this year? I'm in the Collegium...

Richard M Roberts · Post by **Richard M Roberts** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 1:05 pm

I had not watched any films by Fields before but by now I have seen all the talkies available on DVD and I must say, the silents remain my favourites - it was a feast when we could get 'Running wild' on VHS (even if it is "Running too fast" in this case).

it wasn't "running too fast", it was run at the speed it was designed and meant to be run, and with Gaylord Carter playing a terrific score.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

StefanieTieste · Post by **StefanieTieste** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 6:59 am

it was run at the speed it was designed and meant to be run

Well, the runtime of the VHS is 68 min, at the Giornate it was shown with 22 fps = 80 min. This speed suited me more, but this might be a matter of opinion.

But I totally agree with the score and I just love cinema organs...

Richard M Roberts · Post by **Richard M Roberts** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 11:57 am

StefanieTieste wrote:
it was run at the speed it was designed and meant to be run
Well, the runtime of the VHS is 68 min, at the Giornate it was shown with 22 fps = 80 min. This speed suited me more, but this might be a matter of opinion.

I'm afraid it is. A 1927 seven-reel comedy would have indeed been run at 24 fps when originally shown in theaters, so 68 minutes is correct. Gaylord Carter, who was of course, an accompianist at the time and might have actually played for the film in it's original release, was a stickler for correct running speeds, and rallied against these so-called "natural speeds" which were nothing but slow killers of comedy timing and historically as well as esthetically incorrect. Though not as bad as a hundred-plus minute IT'S THE OLD ARMY GAME, an eighty-minute RUNNING WILD should probably be called MOSEYING WILD.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

IT'S THE OLD ARMY GAME (1926)

IT'S THE OLD ARMY GAME (1926)

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