A Gaumont Casino Star Short Subject.
A couple of rambunctious POOL SHARKS, rivals for the same sweetie's affections, battle it out at the billiard table.
With pure slapstick (and very little plot) this short film is notable chiefly as W.C. Fields' cinematic debut. Filmed in 1915, the same year the 35-year old vaudevillian switched to the Ziegfeld Follies, it is a valuable picture of what Fields' stage persona must have been like at the time. Wearing the filthy little fake mustache he sported for years, we only get to see a few scant seconds of his legendary juggling skills. Of his talents at the pool table we see virtually nothing - special camera effects are used to show the antics of the balls.
W.C. would need talking pictures to adequately highlight his unique personality. A silent Fields is a queer creature indeed. Still, this is a humorous little film, the tiny nut out of which a mighty oak of movie magic would eventually grow.
A couple of rambunctious POOL SHARKS, rivals for the same sweetie's affections, battle it out at the billiard table.
With pure slapstick (and very little plot) this short film is notable chiefly as W.C. Fields' cinematic debut. Filmed in 1915, the same year the 35-year old vaudevillian switched to the Ziegfeld Follies, it is a valuable picture of what Fields' stage persona must have been like at the time. Wearing the filthy little fake mustache he sported for years, we only get to see a few scant seconds of his legendary juggling skills. Of his talents at the pool table we see virtually nothing - special camera effects are used to show the antics of the balls.
W.C. would need talking pictures to adequately highlight his unique personality. A silent Fields is a queer creature indeed. Still, this is a humorous little film, the tiny nut out of which a mighty oak of movie magic would eventually grow.