'Wandering Papas' is the barely-relevant title of this comedy starring Clyde Cook. A former vaudeville performer (as 'the Kangaroo Boy'), Cook's dazzling acrobatic abilities could have made him the equal of Lupino Lane, Al St John and even (as an acrobat, at least) the great Buster Keaton. In 'Wandering Papas', annoyingly, he's given no chance to display those talents apart from a brief sequence in which he hops about like a rabbit. At the climax, there's an unfunny 'impossible' gag when Cook runs in midair (held aloft by a piano wire). Most of the slapstick on offer here could have been performed by Cook's fellow Australians, Snub Pollard or Billy Bevan, without relying on Cook's athletic virtuosity. At several points in 'Wandering Papas', Cook seems to be imitating Chaplin rather than developing his own character.
During his brief career as the star of comedy shorts, Cook usually -- as he does here -- wore an over-sized brush moustache which I find annoying to look at rather than funny, due to its extreme and intentional asymmetry.
The location is a work camp in the wilderness 'where men are men and women are scarce'. The only woman hereabouts is pretty actress Sue O'Neill. Astoundingly, a title card introduces her as Sue "Bugs" O'Neil. Was this some sort of in-joke? There's nothing "bugs" about her performance here. Elsewhere, the local dog is oddly cried Rosemary.
Sue is the daughter of the Mad Hermit, who can't remember what he's mad about. Clyde (Cook by name, and cook by nature) is the chef for the labourers, who are tired of beans and want him to stravage up some gourmet cuisine. The leader of the work gang is played by Oliver Hardy, who's quite good here ... yet not very funny because he's given so little material. But he has one moment of impressively subtle acting during the breakfast sequence, as he mutely pleads for cook Cook to give him an extra portion of flapjacks. When one explodes in his face, Hardy's deadpan 'take' is priceless.
SPOILERS COMING. Much of the (fairly indifferent) comedy occurs at the climax, when Cook and the hermit are trapped in a cabin that's teetering off a cliff. Say, didn't Chaplin and Mack Swain do this scene a year earlier, in 'The Gold Rush'? Director Stan Laurel stages the sequence well, with an intriguing angle shot of Cook sliding downhill away from the camera ... but, well, Chaplin should have sued. When the hermit eventually falls, he plunges into deep water that simply wasn't there in the previous overhead shots.
Clyde Cook kindly granted me an interview about a year before his death; I deeply wanted to like this movie, but it's not very funny. The same talents and the same budget could easily have made a much funnier film than 'Wandering Papas'. Good job Stan Laurel gave up directing to concentrate on gag construction and performing. I'll rate this one barely 3 out of 10 ... and one point is solely for Hardy's reaction to that exploding flapjack.
During his brief career as the star of comedy shorts, Cook usually -- as he does here -- wore an over-sized brush moustache which I find annoying to look at rather than funny, due to its extreme and intentional asymmetry.
The location is a work camp in the wilderness 'where men are men and women are scarce'. The only woman hereabouts is pretty actress Sue O'Neill. Astoundingly, a title card introduces her as Sue "Bugs" O'Neil. Was this some sort of in-joke? There's nothing "bugs" about her performance here. Elsewhere, the local dog is oddly cried Rosemary.
Sue is the daughter of the Mad Hermit, who can't remember what he's mad about. Clyde (Cook by name, and cook by nature) is the chef for the labourers, who are tired of beans and want him to stravage up some gourmet cuisine. The leader of the work gang is played by Oliver Hardy, who's quite good here ... yet not very funny because he's given so little material. But he has one moment of impressively subtle acting during the breakfast sequence, as he mutely pleads for cook Cook to give him an extra portion of flapjacks. When one explodes in his face, Hardy's deadpan 'take' is priceless.
SPOILERS COMING. Much of the (fairly indifferent) comedy occurs at the climax, when Cook and the hermit are trapped in a cabin that's teetering off a cliff. Say, didn't Chaplin and Mack Swain do this scene a year earlier, in 'The Gold Rush'? Director Stan Laurel stages the sequence well, with an intriguing angle shot of Cook sliding downhill away from the camera ... but, well, Chaplin should have sued. When the hermit eventually falls, he plunges into deep water that simply wasn't there in the previous overhead shots.
Clyde Cook kindly granted me an interview about a year before his death; I deeply wanted to like this movie, but it's not very funny. The same talents and the same budget could easily have made a much funnier film than 'Wandering Papas'. Good job Stan Laurel gave up directing to concentrate on gag construction and performing. I'll rate this one barely 3 out of 10 ... and one point is solely for Hardy's reaction to that exploding flapjack.