[MOVIE]
Scen.: Stan Laurel, Frank Terry, Hal Yates. F.: Glen R. Carrier. M.: Richard Currier. Int.: Clyde Cook (Claudia), Katherine Grant (Billie), James Finlayson (padre di Billie), Laura De Cardi (tenente Penelope), Martha Sleeper (la maggiordoma), Lyle Tayo (il testimone), James T. Kelly (il ministro), Sue ‘Bugs’ O’Neill (l’invitata al matrimonio), Jack Ackroyd (un pilota), Helen Gilmore (la lavavetri). Prod.: Hal Roach per Hal Roach Studios. 35mm. L.: 450 m. D.: 23’ a 20 f/s. Bn.
Set “100 years from now – when men have become more like women and women more like men,” this two-reel Hal Roach comedy presents a vision of 2026 full of personal airplanes, stylish masculine women, and hyperactive effeminate men. The “blushing groom” Claudia (comic lead Clyde Cook) marries the sleek Billie (Katherine Grant) in a wedding approved by the local eugenics council (!). Trouble looms when Claudia’s ex, Lieutenant Penelope (Laura De Cardi), tries to win him back, but Billie and an interfering father-in-law (James Finlayson) defend Claudia’s honor. The arrival of a stork carrying a papier-mâché baby with Cook’s adult head brings peace. The film plays with contemporary concerns about “the leaning of the modern woman to the masculine” (“Exhibitor’s Trade Review” from 9 January 1926) and features the latest mode garconne fashions, including looks sported by contemporary lesbians such as Radclyffe Hall and Jane Heap. Edward G. Johnson, in his review for “Motion Picture News” published on 23 January 1926, called it “a clever idea that is not so fantastic as it may seem”.
Laura Horak
Restored in 2015 by San Francisco Silent Film Festival in collaboration with Carleton University and New York University, from a black and white 16mm print made in 1944 and preserved by New York University (William K. Everson Collection).
