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Cult Review
Archivist John
Senior Editor
Is this worth watching today? Only if you have a soft spot for black-and-white chaos or want to see a very tiny Billy Barty.
Historians will dig it, but anyone expecting a real plot will probably turn it off after five minutes. It is basically just kids running around and making terrible decisions.
The first thing I noticed is how high the teacher's desk is. It looks like a fortress meant to keep the children at bay.
Georgia O'Dell plays the teacher with this look of genuine exhaustion. I don't think she was acting half the time.
The kids are led by the usual gang, but Billy Barty steals every single frame he is in. He is so small and yet he has the energy of a caffeinated hurricane.
There is a sequence involving a fence that goes on way too long. I counted at least three times where it felt like the scene should have ended.
The film quality is pretty grainy, which actually makes the outdoor scenes feel more real. You can almost smell the dust on the road.
I liked the part where they all try to look innocent while obviously hiding something behind their backs. It is the most relatable thing in the whole movie.
The pacing is very jittery, typical for 1928, I guess. One moment they are walking, the next they are sprinting like the world is ending.
It doesn't have the polish of something like The Mystery Man. It feels much more like they just grabbed a camera and told the kids to go nuts.
The writing—if you can call it that—is basically just a series of pranks. Some of them are actually pretty mean!
I found myself wondering if Al Thompson was actually having fun or just trying not to get hit by a stray prop. He has this wide-eyed look the entire time.
The way they use animals in these old shorts always makes me a little nervous. That goat looked like it had seen things.
If you've seen The Big Adventure, you know this kind of vibe. But this one feels a bit more unhinged and less scripted.
The ending is very abrupt. It just sort of stops while everyone is still moving.
I guess they ran out of film or the kids finally got too tired to keep filming. It is not a masterpiece, but it's a weird little window into the past.
Watch it if you're bored. Skip it if you hate slapstick where people just fall over for no reason. 🎥
IMDb —
1920
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