A naive country boy desperately tries to rescue his silly sweetheart from the affections of a shyster lawyer.
Unseen for decades, THE BOOB is a wonderful surprise, a delightful silent comedy Western, full of the right mixture of good humor & pathos. At barely an hour in length and with the support of an excellent new piano score by Arthur Barrow, it will inevitably invite favorable comparison with Harold Lloyd's masterpiece, THE KID BROTHER (1927).
Scots actor George K. Arthur, a popular MGM comic star at the end of the silent era, wins immediate sympathy with his sad face and diminutive stature. All decked out in cowboy duds he looks ridiculous, and the audience instinctively knows he'll have to endure much humiliation before the final fade-out.
Character actor Charles Murray is hilarious as the boozy bowlegged old buckaroo who grubstakes Arthur - just watching his droll facial expressions is a joy. Special mention should be made of the uncredited African American lad playing the part of Ham Bunn, who, with his trusty mutt Benzine, faithfully shadows Arthur to keep him out of trouble.
Pretty Gertrude Olmstead plays Arthur's fickle girlfriend; Antonio D'Algy is all hair oil and suavity as the sinister lawyer. A very young Joan Crawford is rather incongruously cast as the undercover leader of a team of agents tracking dangerous bootleggers. Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Edythe Chapman as the impoverished old lady befriended by Arthur.
In a very funny sequence that has little connection with the rest of the film, soda jerk Hank Mann receives tips on etiquette from his enormous sweetheart, an unbilled Babe London, while dining at a swanky speakeasy.
The film enjoys all the customary MGM spit & polish.
Unseen for decades, THE BOOB is a wonderful surprise, a delightful silent comedy Western, full of the right mixture of good humor & pathos. At barely an hour in length and with the support of an excellent new piano score by Arthur Barrow, it will inevitably invite favorable comparison with Harold Lloyd's masterpiece, THE KID BROTHER (1927).
Scots actor George K. Arthur, a popular MGM comic star at the end of the silent era, wins immediate sympathy with his sad face and diminutive stature. All decked out in cowboy duds he looks ridiculous, and the audience instinctively knows he'll have to endure much humiliation before the final fade-out.
Character actor Charles Murray is hilarious as the boozy bowlegged old buckaroo who grubstakes Arthur - just watching his droll facial expressions is a joy. Special mention should be made of the uncredited African American lad playing the part of Ham Bunn, who, with his trusty mutt Benzine, faithfully shadows Arthur to keep him out of trouble.
Pretty Gertrude Olmstead plays Arthur's fickle girlfriend; Antonio D'Algy is all hair oil and suavity as the sinister lawyer. A very young Joan Crawford is rather incongruously cast as the undercover leader of a team of agents tracking dangerous bootleggers. Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Edythe Chapman as the impoverished old lady befriended by Arthur.
In a very funny sequence that has little connection with the rest of the film, soda jerk Hank Mann receives tips on etiquette from his enormous sweetheart, an unbilled Babe London, while dining at a swanky speakeasy.
The film enjoys all the customary MGM spit & polish.