Starring: Harry Carey, Molly Malone, LM Wells, Vester Pegg, William Steele, Gertrude Astor
Writer: George Hively
Cinematography: John W Brown, George F Reynolds
Music: SILENT (contemporary score by Donald Sosin)
B&W, 53m. 1.33:1 presentation.
Released on December 24, 1917 by Universal Film Manufacturing Company.
My experience: YouTube
For his fourth feature film (and second in this series, the other two -- The Secret Man and A Marked Man being lost), John Ford stretched his wings a little bit. Still safely ensconced in the western genre in which he cut his teeth, he added a little bit of comedy to the mix in Bucking Broadway, which is an odd mix of classic western and Keystone cop-style comedy. Does it work? To a certain extent, it does ... but the switch from one to the other halfway through comes across as a bit abrupt.
Harry Carey returns as Cheyenne Harry, although it's doubtful that this iteration of Cheyenne Harry is the same as the one we saw in Straight Shooting. Perhaps Ford and Carey created the Cheyenne Harry multiverse almost a century before the word was even invented? At any rate, Carey's character this time is again in love with Molly Malone's character, this time called Helen. He has gotten her father Ben's (LM Wells) blessing for her hand in marriage, and things seem to be going smoothly ... up until an oily big city player named Eugene Thornton (Vester Pegg) shows up and woos the fair Helen, absconding with her to New York, not unwillingly it must be said. Cheyenne Harry follows, and with the help of kindly pickpocket Gladys (Gertrude Astor) attempts to win back his love. Add a bunch of marauding cowboys to the mix and then things really go off the rails ...
I need to state firstly that I actually quite liked this movie. I wouldn't call it any great shakes in the masterpiece department, but there are a few nice cinematic touches courtesy of the master, and it kept me entertained. There is one shot about seven minutes in that quite impressed me for its depth of field, especially considering this was 1917 and Ford wasn't to work with Gregg Toland for another 23 years. In it, there are two characters on horses in the foreground on top of a high hill. Behind them down in the valley you can see a herd of cows being herded, and off in the distance on top of a mountain there are a two other horses meandering atop another hilly plateau. It's a wonderful use of what came to be known as the 1.33:1 Academy ratio, making exquisite use of the full frame.
Even in these early films, Ford uses inserts wonderfully to help develop character. There are multiple closeups of Harry's hands fidgeting as he asks Ben for his daughter's hand in marriage, and later there's a beautiful shot of Ben's hand on top of the two lovers', effectively giving his consent without saying a word. Well, of course he didn't say a word; this is a silent film. But I digress!
I must draw attention to some nice juxtaposition as well, where Ford balances comedy and drama to near perfection, keeping the audience on edge and in suspense the whole time. Harry is trying on a wedding suit at the tailor's, being interrupted in the altogether by a local spinster. These scenes are interspersed with scenes of the slick city dude gradually winning Helen over with his overbearing propositions. The audience is in the position of laughing at the outrageous antics at the clothing store, while simultaneously being made aware that plots are being put in place to undermine the raison d'etre for the hilarity. I don't know the last time I've been so uncomfortable laughing.
Another thing I noticed is that all the scenes in the first half of the film, out west in Wyoming, look very authentic, even the interiors. When Harry gets to New York to try to win back the woman he loves, I noticed that the set looks just like what it is: a set. It's almost as if Ford intentionally made his NYC hotel room look like a two-dimensional stage set; is he making a comment on the inauthenticity of big city life? The final scene, when Harry's cowboy friends run roughshod over Eugene Thornton and his city slickin' friends in the hotel ballroom is a tad absurd and over the top, to be honest, but funny nonetheless.
One of the things that grated on me was the fact that Helen seemed to have no autonomy whatever. She seemed to exist solely to do what others -- specifically the men in her life -- told her to do. Granted, this is a silent film from before women were even able to vote in the United States, but I found it frustrating nonetheless. I actually much preferred the character of Gladys, portrayed by Gertrude Astor. She is her own person and actually has her own agenda rather than mindlessly following others. Perhaps Harry should have taken a chance on her ... but that would probably not have pleased the censors at that time.
Bucking Broadway has its moments for sure. Is it a perfect film? Not on your life. That's not to say it doesn't have its charms. It can be over the top in its comedy and quaint and old fashioned in its values, but the same can be said for much of Ford's work. It's an interesting development in the career of Ford, who would always have a knack for over the top comedy. In future films, he would be able to integrate it into his films a bit more fluidly.
5 equus ex machina out of 10.
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