User Reviews

Perky Anne Cornwall, one of the few female comedy stars of the silent era, takes the lead as hungry young reporter Anne in this Christie Comedy, which features that company's distinctive 'stick figure' inter-titles. She takes on the unenviable task of getting a snapshot of camera-shy Senator Hangnail (Jack Duffy, later to appear as Leg of Mutton in 1933's Alice in Wonderland) on behalf of her editor (William Blaisdell). Some of the neanderthals on staff immediately take the hump about a woman trying to do a man's job, and set out to make her job even harder than it was already. Meanwhile, a male chauvinist pig of another sort (Jimmie Harrison) is trying to convince Anne to hang up her typewriter and join him in holy matrimony. Our ever confident proto-feminist heroine is determined, however, and will go to any lengths to get the necessary snapshots. Though Hold Still is far from being a classic, it's still a kick in the pants to see a woman be the aggressor in a slapstick comedy.

Anne Cornwall is angling for a photography job at the paper. She's promised it if she gets a pic of a senator. The men in the building call the politician's staff telling them that a woman with a bomb is one her way. I'll stop there and just say this had some funny scenes especially of Anne's determination. But some of the enjoyment is gone when her fiancée threatens to not marry her if she accepts her job offer. So guess what happens at the end. Other than that, Hold Still was quite a funny short I watched on the "American Slapstick 2" DVD set.