"He Did and He Didn't" is an American live action short film from 1916 and as this one had its 100th anniversary last year, it is of course a silent black-and-white film. This one features some of the great names in the cast from back in the day, namely Fatty Arbuckle (who is also the director), Mabel Normand and Al St. John. This one originally ran for 20 minutes, but the version I saw was a couple minutes longer, so I guess they just reduced the fps overall. It's nothing uncommon for silent (short) films. Anyway, this one here has a major problem: intertitles, or I could maybe say the lack thereof. And when there is one, it usually only includes 2 or 3 words, if at all. I don't think that's acceptable and the consequence is that it is virtually impossible to understand what is happening here in terms of the plot, no matter how good the actors may be or how hard they try. And they sure try very hard here. There is a good deal of overacting in this little movie, but that's nothing too common for the black-and-white silent film genre either. I generally was really unimpressed by the performances I sadly have to say. Even Normand, a personal favorite of mine left me cold this time. Admittedly, she did not have as much to work with here, in terms of both quantity and quality. Anyway, I also like Arbuckle a lot more than I did here usually. So yeah this was not a good watch and 4 stars out of 10 is still very much on the generous side. Not recommended.
Review of He Did and He Didn't
