Back in the Roaring Twenties, producer Hal Roach got the bright idea of creating a female Laurel and Hardy team. He decided to pair petite Marion Byron with Amazonian (by comparison) Anita Garvin. Certainly they made a visually arresting coupling, and they were excellent comic actors as well. Both ladies had a gift for mugging that was first-rate.
Garvin and Byron made three films together. The best known of these was the last, "A Pair of Tights," which is a minor masterpiece. "Going Ga- Ga" is a good film, but not up to the standard of the later work. There is excellent support from Max Davidson and a good cameo from Edgar Kennedy, but the plot is all over the place. The gags are plentiful, but there are just too many of them. They don't build to a crescendo, they just run on.
The film is missing its ending. (Like many surviving silents, the sole existing print was found in a European archive. The version I saw at MOMA was a preservation print, not a restoration.) Maybe a strong ending would have helped.
But the leading ladies are terrific. One wishes they had made more films together. After "A Pair of Tights" Marion Byron left the Roach studio.
Still, this film is recommended. It's just not as tight as "A Pair of Tights."
Garvin and Byron made three films together. The best known of these was the last, "A Pair of Tights," which is a minor masterpiece. "Going Ga- Ga" is a good film, but not up to the standard of the later work. There is excellent support from Max Davidson and a good cameo from Edgar Kennedy, but the plot is all over the place. The gags are plentiful, but there are just too many of them. They don't build to a crescendo, they just run on.
The film is missing its ending. (Like many surviving silents, the sole existing print was found in a European archive. The version I saw at MOMA was a preservation print, not a restoration.) Maybe a strong ending would have helped.
But the leading ladies are terrific. One wishes they had made more films together. After "A Pair of Tights" Marion Byron left the Roach studio.
Still, this film is recommended. It's just not as tight as "A Pair of Tights."
