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6.1/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.1/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Trouble Brewing remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
In the vast, often bewildering, landscape of early 20th-century cinema, few figures carved out a niche quite as distinctively chaotic as Larry Semon. His 1924 silent comedy, Trouble Brewing, stands as a vibrant, if not entirely refined, testament to his particular brand of slapstick genius and his audacious willingness to lampoon the pressing social issues of his day. This film isn't merely a series of gags; it's a boisterous, often anarchic, commentary on the futility and inherent contradictions of Prohibition, filtered through the lens of a "dry agent" whose earnestness is perpetually undermined by his own bumbling incompetence and the sheer, unmanageable nature of his mission. It's a cinematic concoction, brimming with effervescent energy, that still manages to fizz with a certain charm, despite its age and the sometimes-uneven pacing characteristic of the era.
Larry Semon, both behind the camera as a writer (alongside James D. Davis) and in front of it as the central protagonist, imbues