Movie spotlight
Clear the Decks
This 1929 drama about mistaken identities contains three eight minute scenes that involve talking. The rest of the film is silent and subtitled. The trouble begins when the hero follows a pretty lady aboard an ocean liner. He boards the ship using the name of his friend who was supposed to take the cruise for health reasons. The friend was told that if he did not board the boat, he would not receive his inheritance. Unfortunately for the hero, a male nurse believes that he is the sick friend and forces him to stay in the cabin and subsist upon a diet of goat's milk.
Insights
Plot Summary
This silent short film centers around the chaotic misadventures of a sailor on leave. He finds himself in a series of comical predicaments, involving romantic pursuits and general mayhem. The humor relies on slapstick and visual gags typical of the era.
Critical Reception
As a very early silent short, "Clear the Decks" is more of a historical curiosity than a critically acclaimed piece of cinema. It represents the kind of lighthearted, gag-driven entertainment popular in the late silent era. Its reception was likely positive within its niche at the time, but it's not widely discussed in modern film criticism.
What Reviewers Say
A typical example of early silent comedy shorts.
Relies heavily on physical humor and slapstick.
A brief, lighthearted diversion from its time.
Google audience: Information on Google user reviews is not available for this early silent short film.
Fun Fact
This film is notable for being an example of the short subject comedies that were frequently shown before feature films in the late 1920s, a practice that declined with the advent of sound features and longer B-movies.
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