All Wet (1924 film)

{{Infobox film

| name = All Wet

| caption =

| image = All Wet (1924).webm

| director = Leo McCarey

| producer = Hal Roach

| starring = Charley Chase

| cinematography = Len Powers

| studio = Hal Roach Studios

| distributor = Pathé Exchange

| released = {{film date|1924|11|23|ref1=}}

| runtime = 10 minutes

| country = United States

| language = Silent film
English intertitles

}}

All Wet is a 1924 American film starring Charley Chase and featuring William Gillespie, 'Tonnage' Martin Wolfkeil and Jack Gavin.{{cite web|url=https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/A/AllWet1924.html|title=All Wet|website=Silent Era|access-date=19 February 2024}} It also featured an uncredited appearance of the future star Janet Gaynor in one of her very first roles.{{cite book | editor-last=Commire | editor-first=Anne |editor-link=Anne Commire | title=Women in World History |volume=6 | publisher=Yorkin Publications | series=Gale virtual reference library | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-7876-4068-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3kQOAQAAMAAJ | access-date=February 19, 2024 | page=120}}

Plot

Jimmie Jump

is a boarder who receives an urgent telegram telling him to pick up a large shipment from the train station at exactly 2:30 p.m. the following Wednesday. On the appointed day, Jimmie has great difficulty getting to the station in his Ford Model T: enroute, the vehicle becomes stuck in mud, is sunk in a lake, then torn apart by a tow truck. To add insult to injury, Jimmie is cited for illegal parking. Ironically, he discovers that his errand was performed on the wrong day.Hooper and Poague, 1980 in Leo McCarey Filmography section, p. 297: Plot summary.

Cast

Charley Chase as Jimmie Jump
William Gillespie as the other driver
'Tonnage' Martin Wolfkeil as the garage mechanic
Jack Gavin as the piano mover
Gale Henry (uncredited)
Janet Gaynor (uncredited)
Martha Sleeper (uncredited)
Olive Borden (uncredited){{cite book | last=Vogel | first=Michelle | title=Olive Borden: The Life and Films of Hollywood's "Joy Girl" | publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-7864-5836-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aHSKSzyw8TEC | access-date=February 19, 2024 | page=155}}

Production

The cars stuck in the mud scenes were filmed on Carson Street in Culver City, California. The following homes on Carson Street are visible during the film: 8858, 8860, 8862, 8868 and 8885.{{Cite web |last=Now |first=Chris Bungo Studios Filming Locations Then and |title=Chris Bungo Studios Filming Locations Then and Now |url=https://ChrisBungoStudios.com |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Chris Bungo Studios Filming Locations Then and Now |language=en-US}}

Reception

In a contemporary review of the film, Thomas C. Kennedy wrote, "When it comes to comedy of the clean-cut, theatrically effective sort, there is no surer hand in the realm of short subject specialists than Charles Parrott."{{cite book | last=Ward | first=Richard Lewis | title=When the Cock Crows: A History of the Pathé Exchange | publisher=Southern Illinois University Press | year=2016 | isbn=978-0-8093-3497-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-BFQDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 | access-date=February 19, 2024 | page=82}}

Legacy

The main gag of the car stuck in the watery ditch was remade by Chase in the 1933 talkie short Fallen Arches.{{cite book | last=S.D. | first=Trav |author-link=Trav S.D. | title=Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies, From Nickelodeons to Youtube | publisher=BookBaby | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-62933-051-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDgcCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT176 | access-date=February 19, 2024 | page=176}} In his book, Hooked on Hollywood: Discoveries from a Lifetime of Film Fandom, critic Leonard Maltin wrote that this "hilarious" scene triumphed over the remake partly because "the reality of a talking world couldn't accommodate bizarre or surreal sight gags".{{cite book | last=Maltin | first=Leonard |author-link=Leonard Maltin | title=Hooked on Hollywood: Discoveries from a Lifetime of Film Fandom | publisher=GoodKnight Books | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-7322735-0-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q95dDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT131 | access-date=February 19, 2024 | page=131}}

Footnotes

Sources

Hooper, Gary and Poague, Leland. 1980. Leo McCarey Filmography, in The Hollywood Professionals: Wilder and McCarey, Volume 7. The Tanvity Press, A. S. Barnes and Company, Inc, San Diego, California. pp. 295–314 {{ISBN|0-498-02181-5}}
Poague, Leland. 1980. The Hollywood Professionals: Wilder and McCarey, Volume 7. The Tanvity Press, A. S. Barnes and Company, Inc, San Diego, California. {{ISBN|0498-02181-5}}