Sally of the Sawdust (1925, D.W. Griffith)
"Sally of the Sawdust" is a pleasant film with some historical significance. It is a good example of late-career Griffith, it is one of W.C. Fields's first major roles, and it is one of Alfred Lunt's few films.
The story is of the relationship between juggler and carney "Professor" Eustance McGargle (Fields), and Sally (Carol Dempster), an orphan whom he informally adopts. Sally matures into a dancer and an assistant to McGargle in his acts. She loves McGargle as if he were her father, although she disapproves of his shell games and his 3-card Monte.
Eventually, McGargle becomes convinced that Sally should be reunited with her grandparents Judge Foster (Erville Alderson) and Mrs. Foster (Effie Shannon). Through a number of contrivances, Sally is thrust into contact with the Fosters without any knowing the other's true identity. While Mrs. Foster basically seems kindly, Judge Foster is a flinty curmudgeon with a particular grudge against show people -- he threw Sally's mother out of the house when she insisted on marrying a performer. Sally also catches the eye of wealthy scion Peyton Lennox (Lunt), whose father (Charles Hammond) conspires with the Judge to find a way to keep McGargle & Co. out of circulation.
There is an aspect to Griffith's films that have always annoyed me: Griffith never trusted the wits of his audience and he interspersed his films with pontificating title cards that could very well have been eliminated. "Sally of the Sawdust" is not nearly as littered with these as are Griffith's earlier works. And, one does have to take the bad with the good. Over all, "Sally of the Sawdust" lives up to Griffith's reputation as the founding father of American cinematic technique. The film's climax is yet another classic, requisite Griffith chase sequence, as McGargle strives to rescue Sally from being sent to an Institution for Wayward Girls. Granted, the stakes in this chase aren't as high as in "Intolerance" (in which the hero's sweetheart races to save him from the gallows), but the sequence comes off well.
The film belongs to Fields, who delivers an understated prototype of his later film persona. We get several chances to enjoy Fields's genuine talent as a juggler -- I especially liked his entrance in which he pretends to accidentally drop a ball. A member of the audience jumps to catch the ball before it bounces away, but Fields stomps on it, tips his hat and catches the ball on the rebound. I think that self-deprecating physical humor is very difficult to do well. Fields's performance is tour-de-force, right up there with the best of Chaplin and Keaton. Fields also has a number of scenes involving a Ford Model "T" that would have had the audience rolling in the aisles in 1925 (by the late '20's the Model "T" had developed into a humor target similar to the Yugo in the '80's).
Alfred Lunt was a very popular stage performer, and this film catches him in his prime. It's been said that a stage actor's most important asset is his voice, while a film actor's most important asset is his face. Lunt's face is certainly adequately handsome for the romantic lead, but being denied the use of his voice in a silent film must have seemed a handicap. Perhaps this is why he made only a handful of films, and only 1 talkie. Overall, his contribution to "Sally of the Sawdust" is minimal.
The truly weak part of "Sally" is Carol Dempster's performance. Sally is supposed to be a girl on the verge of womanhood, say 15 or 16 years old. At 23, Dempster, looking a little like Susan Sarandon, seems too old and too worldly to be believed (Lilian Gish could have pulled off this role). Dempster's dancing is unconvincing, and the majority of her dramatic moments are way over the top. I see a sincere effort on Dempster's part, but depth and subtlety are lacking. Dempster was Griffith's protogee after Gish left his company. Comparing Dempster to Gish is a bit like comparing Cheri Oteri to Gilda Radner.
I'd recommend "Sally of the Sawdust" to silent film fans. It's not, however, one of those seminal silent films like "Metropolis", "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", or "Battleship Potemkin" that serious film buffs must sit down and consume, like Brussell sprouts, because it's good for them.
"Sally" is available on DVD from Image that features a reasonably crisp, sepia-tinted transfer, and an adequate but less than spectacular piano accompiament based on the original cue sheets.
Essay copyright (C) 2000 David M. Arnold. All rights reserved.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews