A funny and stylistically interesting feature from the Sennett studio directed by wunderkind Richard Jones. Although his comedies generally featured human-looking comics for Sennett and Roach, as opposed to the grotesques made popular at Keystone, in this one he combines the two styles: the Allies look and act like normal people, but the Germans are in the full grotesque makeup of the earlier films, acting with the exaggerated mannerisms one expects from the Sennett studio. The entire Sennett company is on view here and the jokes are crude, take advantage of the propaganda of the era -- there is a joke about German soldiers capturing a Belgian convent -- and funny.
If you don't know this style of comedy, you may be taken aback by it. If, however, you like this sort of thing -- and I do -- you will have a lot of fun.
If you don't know this style of comedy, you may be taken aback by it. If, however, you like this sort of thing -- and I do -- you will have a lot of fun.