A Fall to Arms Review: Louise Fazenda is a treasure in this messy boarding house comedy

If you have about twenty minutes and want to see someone get hit with a mop, this is totally worth your time today.

It is mostly for people who love the old school slapstick where the humor is basically just people being incredibly mean to each other for no reason.

If you need a deep story or characters that actually grow, you are going to hate this one.

Louise Fazenda is the star here and she plays this maid who looks like she has not slept since the late nineteenth century.

She is constantly scrubbing something, and the boarding house she works in looks genuinely sticky.

I found myself wondering if the floors were actually dirty or if that was just the lighting in the 1920s prints.

There is this one guy at the table who eats his soup like it is a competitive sport.

His mustache is doing a lot of heavy lifting in those scenes. 🥣

The movie really leans into how awful the other guests are to her.

They treat her like a piece of furniture that they also happen to dislike.

It makes the eventual 'oil money' twist feel very satisfying, even if it happens way too fast.

One minute she is covered in soot, and the next she is basically a queen.

Max Davidson shows up and he is, as usual, the best thing on screen.

He has this way of shrugging his shoulders that makes me laugh every single time. 😂

I think he might be the only person in the movie who actually knows how to act with his whole body.

The pacing is a bit weird because it feels like three different shorts stitched together with some string.

The middle part where they are just arguing about the rooms goes on for way too long.

I actually checked my watch during a scene involving a suitcase that just wouldn't close.

It reminded me a little bit of the physical comedy in One Week, but maybe not as clever with the physics.

There is a lot of shoving.

People in this movie don't walk; they just sort of collide into each other until someone falls over.

The scene where she finds out she is rich is funny because her reaction is so muted.

She just kind of blinks, like she is trying to remember if she left the stove on.

I love that about Fazenda—she doesn't do the big, wide-eyed silent movie stare all the time.

She just looks tired. 😴

Spec O'Donnell is in this too, and he has that face that you just want to poke with a stick.

He plays the annoying kid role perfectly, mostly because he looks like he's about to cause a fire at any second.

The boarding house set itself is weirdly detailed.

There are these tiny little cracks in the walls and peeling wallpaper that make it feel realer than the acting.

It feels like a place that actually smells like boiled cabbage and old shoes.

Some of the jokes are pretty dated, obviously.

There is a bit about a hat that I didn't really get, but everyone on screen was losing their minds over it.

I guess hats were big comedy back then. 🎩

The transition to her being rich is where the movie gets a little bit messy and loses its edge.

Once she has the power, she isn't as interesting as when she was the underdog.

It is almost like the writers didn't know what to do with a happy character.

They much prefered her when she was being yelled at by Mary Foy.

Speaking of Foy, she is terrifying in this.

She has this glare that could probably peel paint off a car.

I noticed that in The Gorilla some of these same actors have the same energy, but here it feels more personal.

It is a very small-scale movie, which I actually liked.

It doesn't try to be a big epic like some other films from that year.

It just wants to show you a lady getting a win over some jerks.

The ending feels like they ran out of film and just decided to stop shooting.

It doesn't really wrap up, it just... ends.

Which is fine, I guess, because I don't think we needed a big speech about the morality of wealth.

If you like this, you should probably check out She Couldn't Say No for more of that era's vibe.

There is a weird moment with a cat near the end that I still don't understand.

The cat looks genuinely confused to be there, which makes two of us.

Is it a great movie? No, not really.

But it is a real movie with real people who look like they actually lived in those dusty rooms.

I'll take that over a polished, boring studio piece any day of the week.

Just watch it for Max Davidson’s beard and Louise’s 'I'm done with this' face.

It is a decent little slice of history that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Also, the way she handles that mop is honestly impressive. 🧹