Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Paste and Paper - 1923


Country: United States
Language: English
Director: George Jeske
Stars: James Parrott, Jobyna Ralston and George Rowe
Release Date: 14 January 1923 (USA)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
Well executed but unexceptional one-reeler about a couple of incompetent paperhangers. James Parrott, brother of Charley Chase, was an equally skilled man behind the camera, later writing and directing some of Roach's best two-reelers, before he died too young, but while the gags here are well done, he never really developed much of a personality in these pieces and they are not, somehow, quite as sharp as the stuff he was co-starring in with Sid Saylor two or three years before. The extended gag with the plank of wood seesawing is typical.
Of course it's also a pleasure to look at Jobyna Ralston as the girl in these pieces. She was James' co-star before she replaced Mildred Davis as Harold Lloyd's better half on the screen -- although Miss Davis married her co-star.  

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