Sunday, October 9, 2011

Jason goes to the Niles Film Museum for a night of action films

First, a word of warning, if you're planning to go to the Comedy Shorts Night next Saturday, be aware that a large tour group has already bought out nearly half the theater, and Comedy Shorts are always popular. So buy early. Tickets are available via the Paypal link on this page.

Now, to last night's movies.

LEATHER PUSHERS: ROUND 2 (1922): Reginald Denny in an episode of a boxing serial he did. Helpfully, his manager gets the entire audience up to speed. He was a college student and athlete, when his father fell on hard times and he quit college and took up boxing to raise money. But it hasn't quite worked out, as he has a bit of a feud with his former manager. Plus, he's trying to impress/afford his fiancee, although she doesn't like such brutish behavior. And now he's got a fight with the champ. Nice, fast paced action.

SWORD POINTS (1928): Lupino Lane...I really should watch more of Lupino Lane. Very funny, kind of surreal, very physical comedy. In this parody of the Three Musketeers, Lane is a swordsman who crosses some enemies of the king (including his brother Wallace Lupino. Some hectic hi-jinks in a wine cellar, and a discovery that the inn is full of secret passages move the comedy along, but it's always powered by Lupino Lane's amazing physical comedy. Hilarious.

Then after a brief intermission, our feature.

LET'S GO (1923): Richard Talmadge (no relation to the Talmadge sisters) stars and does all his own stunts (the title cards make that very clear) in this story of the some of a cement salesman sent to a small town to track down why the mayor hasn't paid for the paving supplies. Even getting there involves stunts escaping from the cops (who want him for speeding). He climbs and jumps off buildings, cars, trains, etc. And that's just to get the story started. Once he gets to town there's even more chasing and high jump stunts, as we discover the mayor is corrupt, and the kindly sheriff is in danger of losing his job. Of course, Talmadge will save the day (with yet more stunts) and set everything right. And lest you think this movie is nothing but stunts, there's plenty of comedy (especially with the bloodhounds) and a nice romance (with the sheriff's daughter). Lots of fun.

Total Running Time (estimated): 150 minutes
My Total Minutes: 249,940

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