Watching Ben Turpin's eyes go crazy in She Said No (1927)

Is She Said No worth watching today? Honestly, only if you have ten minutes to spare and you really like old-school slapstick where people fall over for no reason. 🤨

If you're looking for a deep plot or some kind of emotional journey, you're gonna hate this one. It's basically just a few people running around and looking confused.

Addie McPhail is the girl in the title, and boy, does she mean it. She spends the whole movie looking like she's about five seconds away from calling the cops on everyone involved.

Then there's Ben Turpin. If you don't know him, his whole thing was his crossed eyes. It’s kind of amazing he built a whole career on that, but it works here in a weird way.

The movie starts out with this frantic energy that never really stops. It reminds me a bit of the pacing in A Rare Bird, where everyone is just constantly moving.

There is this one scene where Ben Turpin tries to look suave, but with his eyes doing that thing, he just looks like he's trying to see his own nose. It’s funny, but also kind of disturbing if you think about it too long.

I noticed that the sets look incredibly thin. Like, if someone leaned too hard on a wall, the whole movie would probably collapse. 🏚️

It lacks the polish of something like A Tailor-Made Man, but it has more spirit than some of the drier stuff from that era.

Edwin Argus is also in this, and he mostly just stands there looking like a large, confused bird. I don't really get what his character is supposed to be doing, but he fills the space.

The title cards are actually pretty snarky. One of them made me laugh out loud because it was so mean to Ben Turpin's character for no reason.

There's a lot of grabbing and pulling. Silent comedies loved a good chase, and this one has plenty of that. It’s not as wild as Arizona Sweepstakes, but it tries its best.

I found myself wondering if the actors actually liked each other. Addie McPhail has this look of genuine annoyance that feels a little too real to be acting sometimes.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of She Said No (1928) through its definitive frames.

Maybe she was just tired of Ben Turpin accidentally bumping into her. I would be, too, if a guy with those eyes was chasing me around a garden.

The whole thing feels very unplanned. Like they just showed up at a house and started filming until they ran out of daylight or ideas.

If you've seen The Life of Reilly, you'll recognize that specific type of low-budget chaos. It’s charming if you're in the right mood, and annoying if you're not.

I like how short it is. It doesn't overstay its welcome. It just does its gags and then leaves you alone.

There's a moment with a hat that goes on about thirty seconds too long. I think they were trying to milk the joke, but it just became a movie about a man struggling with headwear.

It’s definitely not as dramatic as The Eternal Strife. It doesn't want to be. It just wants you to giggle at a man falling into a bush.

One thing that bugged me was the lighting in the outdoor scenes. It’s so bright you can barely see the actors' expressions sometimes. ☀️

But then Turpin does a double-take and you remember why people paid to see this in 1927. He has a way of making his whole body look like it's made of rubber.

It's not a masterpiece. It's barely even a movie in the modern sense. It’s more like a visual joke that someone forgot to finish writing.

I'd put it on the same level as It's a Great Life—fun for a bit, but you probably won't remember it by tomorrow morning.

The ending is very abrupt. Like, super abrupt. One second they're arguing, and the next, it’s just the 'The End' card.

I kinda wish more movies did that. Just stop when you're done. No need for a twenty-minute epilogue about feelings.

So yeah, watch it if you like Turpin. Skip it if you need a story that actually makes sense. It’s just a silly little relic from a time when crossed eyes were the height of comedy. 🤡