865

Some individual gags are funny but the fundamental premise is not only ridiculous, it's completely unsympathetic. Why should a man who's about to be married have to go out of his way to protect some stranger's cheating wife? Coupled with the slow pace the rewards fail to outweigh the drawbacks of the film.

It has its clever charms: the gags about being confounded by clothes and accessories, the stagey re-enactment, a 3rd act twist I should have seen coming. But the film often gets mired in tiresome bits of business, and ends up being far too long. And the premise is so easily unraveled. There is no reason for the protagonist to let himself be bullied by the insane douchebag. It just doesn't make sense. Clair did wonderful things with his sound pictures, but this is the weakest I've seen by him.

#927

An enjoyable if slight silent comedy. It does take a long while to gain momentum, which does not help it at all, and its premise has significant plot holes even for a comedy, but it does have charm to it as well occasionally drifting into abstract territory (like the stagey reenactment of a previous scene) with some inspiration. Worth a watch but definitely not the best film from this period.

# 997

932