In some of Larry Semon's comedies, he seemed to be positioning himself as a somewhat Chaplinesque little man, to the extent of making his character the subordinate of a large bully resembling Eric Campbell, the burly and memorable foil in Chaplin's short comedies for Mutual. In these Eric Campbell roles, Larry Semon cast Oliver Hardy with a bushy pair of eyebrows and a moustache resembling the ones Campbell wore in 'The Adventurer'. Hardy sprouts that face-fungus here, as he does in a few other Semon films, including 'The Bakery'.
Does everybody here know what a McGuffin is? In the movies, a McGuffin (term popularised but not invented by Alfred Hitchcock) is some prop or device which we don't give a damn about, but which is so important to the characters that they're willing to spend the whole movie trying to obtain it from one another. The concept existed in films long before Hitchcock put a name to it: in fact, silent-serial queen Pearl White used the term 'the weenie' to describe whatever physical object or piece of information triggered the cloak-and-dagger work in her own serials.
Well, here in 'The Bell Hop', we have an early appearance of the McGuffin in all but name. A foreign dignitary has checked into the hotel where Semon is bell-hop and Oliver Hardy is desk clerk. The dignitary has some extremely important papers -- the McGuffin -- which are duly locked in the hotel's safe. But enemy spies bribe Hardy to give them access to the papers. Some very jaded intertitles make blasé comments about 'the usual spies' and 'the usual papers', thus establishing that McGuffins were already well-established (although not by name) as early as 1921.
For me, the most pleasant aspect of 'The Bell Hop' was a sprightly performance by Norma Nichols as a hotel maid, extremely sexy in a maid's uniform which should have had a shorter skirt. She very quickly reveals herself to Semon and the audience (no spoilers here) as an undercover detective, and she offers to split with Semon the reward for capturing the spies. But surely a professional law-enforcement officer (as Nichols is playing here) can't claim a reward.
PARTIAL SPOILERS. An unbilled child actor gives an interesting performance as a golden-haired little girl, although I think that the child performer is actually a boy in a girl's role (and clothes). There's an unfunny gag with a pram and a tram. Semon and Nichols put the girl into her pram, and wheel her outside where the pram's wheels get caught on the rails for the tram line. And here comes the tram! So far, so potentially effective ... except that we can see the tram line's angled tracks at the bottom of the frame ... so we know that the tram will make a sharp turn at the last possible moment and veer hard a-port. Sure enough.
Semon's character is introduced with an unfunny and disgusting gag in which a live newt runs across his face while Semon has his mouth open. Ugh! Semon -- a comedian who almost never did female impersonation -- is much more impressive here in a later sequence in which he disguises himself as a charlady to get into the spies' room. Shall I do you now, sir?
The production design of this film is extremely impressive, featuring a luxury hotel with a lobby so large and populous that a traffic cop has to direct the flow of people. I was also very impressed with another sequence featuring an unusual cinematic effect. When Semon spills water on a sleeping man, we see the inset image of a thought balloon over the man's head, showing him having a dream in which he's bathing in the ocean, while the actor playing the sleeping man makes swimming movements. Very effective AND funny! I'll rate 'The Bell Hop' 7 out of 10, which is surely as high as any Larry Semon comedy can aspire to rise.
Does everybody here know what a McGuffin is? In the movies, a McGuffin (term popularised but not invented by Alfred Hitchcock) is some prop or device which we don't give a damn about, but which is so important to the characters that they're willing to spend the whole movie trying to obtain it from one another. The concept existed in films long before Hitchcock put a name to it: in fact, silent-serial queen Pearl White used the term 'the weenie' to describe whatever physical object or piece of information triggered the cloak-and-dagger work in her own serials.
Well, here in 'The Bell Hop', we have an early appearance of the McGuffin in all but name. A foreign dignitary has checked into the hotel where Semon is bell-hop and Oliver Hardy is desk clerk. The dignitary has some extremely important papers -- the McGuffin -- which are duly locked in the hotel's safe. But enemy spies bribe Hardy to give them access to the papers. Some very jaded intertitles make blasé comments about 'the usual spies' and 'the usual papers', thus establishing that McGuffins were already well-established (although not by name) as early as 1921.
For me, the most pleasant aspect of 'The Bell Hop' was a sprightly performance by Norma Nichols as a hotel maid, extremely sexy in a maid's uniform which should have had a shorter skirt. She very quickly reveals herself to Semon and the audience (no spoilers here) as an undercover detective, and she offers to split with Semon the reward for capturing the spies. But surely a professional law-enforcement officer (as Nichols is playing here) can't claim a reward.
PARTIAL SPOILERS. An unbilled child actor gives an interesting performance as a golden-haired little girl, although I think that the child performer is actually a boy in a girl's role (and clothes). There's an unfunny gag with a pram and a tram. Semon and Nichols put the girl into her pram, and wheel her outside where the pram's wheels get caught on the rails for the tram line. And here comes the tram! So far, so potentially effective ... except that we can see the tram line's angled tracks at the bottom of the frame ... so we know that the tram will make a sharp turn at the last possible moment and veer hard a-port. Sure enough.
Semon's character is introduced with an unfunny and disgusting gag in which a live newt runs across his face while Semon has his mouth open. Ugh! Semon -- a comedian who almost never did female impersonation -- is much more impressive here in a later sequence in which he disguises himself as a charlady to get into the spies' room. Shall I do you now, sir?
The production design of this film is extremely impressive, featuring a luxury hotel with a lobby so large and populous that a traffic cop has to direct the flow of people. I was also very impressed with another sequence featuring an unusual cinematic effect. When Semon spills water on a sleeping man, we see the inset image of a thought balloon over the man's head, showing him having a dream in which he's bathing in the ocean, while the actor playing the sleeping man makes swimming movements. Very effective AND funny! I'll rate 'The Bell Hop' 7 out of 10, which is surely as high as any Larry Semon comedy can aspire to rise.
