Summary
In the dizzying heights of urban labor, Jimmy Aubrey’s protagonist finds himself suspended on a scaffold, a precarious perch where the mundane task of house painting meets the sudden intrusion of romantic distraction. A flirtatious encounter with his sweetheart leads to a plummet into unconsciousness, triggering a subterranean journey into the psyche’s theater of anxieties and aspirations. Within this delirium, Jimmy is reimagined as a vital courier navigating a landscape of geopolitical peril, tasked with delivering a cryptic code through hostile territory. General Bimbo, portrayed with blustering intensity by Vernon Dent, is dispatched by the President to intercept this perceived threat, while the President’s daughter—the dream-double of Jimmy’s real-world love—becomes a clandestine ally. What follows is a kinetic sequence of evasion and capture, where Jimmy utilizes a repertoire of clever ruses to baffle his pursuers. From the claustrophobic terror of a bear cage to a surrealist escape involving 'liquid fire' that dissolves iron bars, the narrative spirals through increasingly absurd obstacles. The climax, involving a high-speed collision with a mail stand and a literal fall through a roof, culminates in a devastating irony: Jimmy is not the hero of his own mission, but a mere decoy for a message already delivered. This existential slapstick concludes as the dream dissolves, returning the protagonist to the warmth of reality and the arms of the woman who inadvertently sparked his subconscious odyssey.
Synopsis
Jimmy, seated on a scaffold, is painting the house. His sweetheart attracts his attention below and Jimmy accidentally falls and is rendered unconscious. In his delirium he sees himself a messenger bearing an important code message through an enemy country. The president commissions the general, Bimbo, to capture Jimmy. The President's daughter, who is none other than Jimmy's reel sweetheart, overhears. Bimbo marches out the army and succeeds in capturing Jimmy. Jimmy escapes from his clutches several times through clever ruses, but is finally searched. The code is not found on him. He accidentally seeks refuge in a bear cage, and is scared into the hands of Bimbo again. Jimmy causes such a hubbub in the palace, leaping to chandeliers and causing Bimbo such annoyance end trouble that he is placed into a barred cell. He is given some "liquid fire" to drink, which burns his mouth, but which enables him to melt the bars of his cell end, with the aid of the girl, he escapes. He is pieced in a beg, but even this does not keep him in custody. Finally he is placed on a mail stand for a passing train to pick him up. Instead he is knocked high into the air, falling down through the roof, where lives the official to whom Jimmy is to give the message. He presents his message, but learns much to his disgust, that the real message has already been delivered, and that Jimmy was given a fake message, merely acting as a decoy all along. He faints, and in so doing, revives in his sweetheart's arms by the building he was painting, and they realize it was only a dream.
Review Excerpt
"The silent era of cinema was an alchemical forge where the base metal of vaudeville was transmuted into the gold of visual storytelling. In the 1920 short Forward March, we witness a fascinating intersection of physical comedy and proto-surrealism. Jimmy Aubrey, a performer whose kinetic energy often rivaled the greats of his time, presents a narrative that functions as both a slapstick romp and a psychological exploration of the 'little man' archetype. Much like the themes explored in The Fall ..."
