You should probly only watch
In the Bag if you have a high tolerance for grain and guys in oversized suits running around for no reason. It is a movie for people who like to dig through digital archives just to see what survives.
If you hate movies where literally nothing of consequence happens for ten minutes, you will
definitely hate this. But there is something about Jerry Shields and his frantic energy that kept me watching. 💼
He has this very specific way of moving. It is like his knees are made of springs and he is constantly about to trip over his own feet. It reminds me a bit of the physicality in
Hot Water but much less polished.
I spent most of the runtime wondering what was actually in the bag. The movie never tells you. It is just a prop that exists to make Jerry look like an idiot while he tries to cross a busy street.
There is a moment about four minutes in where a stray dog just wanders into the shot and stays there. Nobody acknowledges the dog. It just sits on the sidewalk looking confused while Jerry does a pratfall over a curb.
I honestly think the dog gave the best performance. It felt more
real than the rest of the staged chaos. 🐕
The film quality is pretty rough, honestly. There is this one vertical scratch that stays on the right side of the frame for the entire second half. It started to look like a ghost or a very thin tree following the characters around.
I kept waiting for a plot to kick in. Maybe a chase? Or a romance like in
Wanted a Wife? But no. It is just Jerry and the bag.
He tries to hide the bag under a park bench at one point. Then he immediately forgets where he put it. The
desperation on his face when he realizes he lost it is actually kind of sad.
His acting is all in the eyes and the way he yanks on his own collar. It is very loud acting for a silent film. You can almost hear him shouting even though there is no sound.
I noticed the background extras were mostly just people who happened to be on the street that day. You can see a man in a bowler hat stop and stare at the camera for a solid five seconds. He looks like he thinks he is witnessing a crime instead of a film shoot.
It is much shorter than
The Lost Paradise, which is a blessing because the gag wears thin after about six minutes. There is only so much bag-related humor a person can take in one sitting.
There is a weird cut near the end where the lighting suddenly changes. It goes from bright afternoon to what looks like a very dark, cloudy morning in a single frame. They clearly ran out of time or money. Or both.
I liked the hat he was wearing, though. It was way too small for his head and it stayed on through three different tumbles. That is the real movie magic right there.
If you have seen
Double Danger, you know how these low-budget shorts usually go. They are messy and they end abruptly without a real punchline.
This one just... stops. Jerry gets the bag back, looks at the camera, and then we get a 'The End' card. No explanation. No payoff.
It feels like a fragment of a memory someone had after a long night. It is not exactly 'good' in the traditional sense. But it is
fascinating as a little slice of time that was never meant to be analyzed this much.
I wonder what Jerry Shields did after this. He seems like a guy who would have been great at selling vacuum cleaners or something else that requires a lot of hand gestures.
Anyway, if you find yourself with ten minutes to kill and a desire to see a 100-year-old bag, give it a go. It is better than staring at a wall, I guess. 🎥
