Watching Off the Deck (1926) was a weirdly fun time

If you have twenty minutes and want to see a man fight with a piece of rope, you should watch this today. People who love old-school slapstick like Buster Keaton will probably find it okay, but if you hate repetitive physical gags, you will want to skip it.

Billy Dooley has this very specific look. He is tall and lanky and wears his sailor hat so far back on his head it is a miracle it stays on. He looks like he is made of rubber bands.

The movie doesn't have much of a plot, which is fine for 1926. He is just a sailor who is bad at being a sailor. Most of the scenes are just him trying to do a job and failing spectacularly.

There is a bit early on where he is trying to impress Vera Steadman. She is great in this, mostly because she has to react to him being an absolute idiot. Her face says 'why am I here' but in a funny way. 😂

One thing I noticed is how cheap the ship looks. It is clearly a set, and the water looks like it might just be a big tank in a studio. But that adds to the charm, I think.

The pacing is a bit weird. It starts fast, then there is this long middle part where nothing really happens. Then it ends with a bunch of people falling over. It feels like they had five good jokes and had to stretch them out to fill the reel.

I found myself wondering if Jimmy Hertz was actually having fun. He is in the background of a few shots looking very serious. Maybe he was just tired that day.

It reminds me a bit of All Abroad but maybe not quite as polished. If you have seen a lot of these sailor comedies, you know the drill. Man meets girl, man trips over bucket, man gets yelled at by captain.

The stunts are actually kind of dangerous looking. At one point Billy takes a fall that looks like it really hurt his back. There were no stunt doubles doing the hard stuff back then. You just had to land on the wood and hope for the best.

The Rope Scene

There is this one moment with a coil of rope that goes on for way too long. He just keeps getting his feet tangled. It is funny for the first thirty seconds, then it gets boring, then it becomes funny again because of how committed he is to the bit.

I think the writers, Frank Roland Conklin and Royce Alton, probably just sat in a room and said 'what else can he trip over?' It is not deep writing. But it works for what it is.

The print I saw was a bit grainy. Some of the expressions are hard to see because of the film damage. But you can still feel the energy of the performers.

If you like this kind of stuff, you might also like Detectives from the same era. It has that same 'trying too hard to be funny' vibe that I actually kind of enjoy when I am tired.

William Blaisdell plays the authority figure. He has a great mustache. He spend most of his screen time looking like he wants to explode. 😠

I noticed a small detail in the background. There is a dog that wanders into the shot for like two seconds and then disappears. I don't think it was supposed to be there. I love little mistakes like that in old movies.

Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it better than sitting in silence? Yes. It's the kind of movie you put on when you want to turn your brain off and just watch someone fall down a lot.

The ending is very abrupt. It just... stops. No real big finale, just everyone in the water and then the 'The End' card pops up. It feels like they ran out of film and just gave up.

I’ve seen better from this time, like The Little Dutch Girl which has a bit more heart. But for a pure comedy short, Off the Deck does the job. It’s silly, it’s loud (even though it’s silent), and it doesn’t ask much from you.

Final thought: Billy Dooley’s legs are way too long for his own good. Watching him try to navigate a narrow deck is like watching a giraffe on ice. 🦒