Rare silent film starring comic icon W.C. Fields showing in 35mm with live score on April 6th
He was a performer who could be recognized by just the nasal twang of his voice. But prior to reaching iconic fame in talking pictures, W.C. Fields starred in a popular series of silent feature films for Paramount Pictures in the 1920s.
Rediscover ‘It’s the Old Army Game’ (1926) in a screening at Somerville Theatre on Sunday, April 6 at 2 pm.
The film also marks an early screen appearance for Louise Brooks, who would soon go on to major roles that made her a silent era icon.
Live musical scoring will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based performer who specializes in music for silent film presentations. In the tradition of theatre organists of the 1920s, Rapsis improvises each film’s score on the spot, making up the music as the movie is screened. Rapsis uses a digital synthesizer to create the texture of a full orchestra.
The film will be shown via a 35mm print on loan from the Library of Congress.
ABOUT THE FILM
In ‘It’s the Old Army Game,’ Fields plays Elmer Prettywillie, a misanthropic small-town pharmacist kept awake by clamorous garbage collectors, a nosy woman seeking a 2-cent stamp, and crying infants.
Things get complicated, however, when the boyfriend of his lovely shop assistant (Louise Brooks) turns out to be a con man who gets Prettywillie involved in a phony real estate scheme.
Fields is then forced to travel to New York City to pursue the con man, recover the swindled money, and clear his name.
Along the way, comic highlights include a disastrous car trip through Manhattan and an ill-timed family picnic on the front lawn of an exclusive mansion.
Parts of the story of ‘It’s the Old Army Game’ were reused in the later Fields talkies ‘The Pharmacist’ (1933) and ‘It’s a Gift’ (1934).
The film was shot mainly at Paramount’s studios in Astoria, Queens during a time when Fields was appearing on stage as a Broadway headliner in New York City.
A few outdoor scenes were filmed on location in Manhattan, and also in Ocala and Palm Beach, Fla. The outdoor picnic sequence was shot on the lawn of El Mirasol, a Palm Beach mansion owned by Wall Street investment banker Edward T. Stotesbury.
The film’s plot is rooted in a Florida land speculation boom that flourished in the late 1920s.
‘It’s the Old Army Game’ is based on the revue ‘The Comic Supplement’ by Joseph P. McEvoy and Fields, and includes several skits from Fields’ stage plays. The “army game” in the title is in reference to a shell game, a confidence trick which Fields’ character observes being played.
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