Series: Paul Parrott Director: James Davis Producer: Hal Roach Titles: H.M. Walker Photography: Editor: Stars: James Parrott, Jobyna Ralston Company: Path Exchange Released: 22 November 1925 Length: 1 reel Production No.: C-61 Filming dates: July 25 - August 1, 1922 retakes August 24-25, 1922 Rating: 1/10

Whistling Lions

Available on DVD:

At the Second Annual Athletic Meet, "The Fat Men's Race" is open to anybody ~ under a ton and a half... The entries are 'Hippo' (Loback) and 'Rhino' (Parrott) who get on the scales to be weighed. Rhino is assisted by extra padding and a third leg supplied by Wallace Howe on the scales in an attempt to boost his weight. The judge spots his attempts to cheat and orders Rhino to carry extra weight in order to qualify for the race so he is stuffed with filled sacks. Hippo is equally as sneaky, who gets the judge to place banana skins on his opponents' shoes so that he will skid. The girl (Ralston) fires the staring gun and Hippo races off into the lead. Rhino, far behind in second place stops by an ostrich farm and acquisitions one of the animals to use as a horse. He soon catches up to Hippo as they race back to the finish line where Rhino wins. With the ostrich stuffed inside his suit it isn't long before it bursts through and carries Rhino and the girl up into the sky (because ostrich's can fly, apparently) and off to a distant land where he is mobbed by a group of Arabs when he lands. He finds himself in the presence of a Sheik (Brooks), whom he disrespects and is sentenced to be fed to the lions. But Rhino manages to escape as the girl is captured and brought before the Sheik. She rejects his advances and overpowers him and also flees and is reunited with Rhino but they are soon captured again. The Sheik offers them a chance of freedom if Rhino can defeat a lion. A guy dressed in a lion's costume (Rowe) quietly tells him not to worry and that he will pretend to be the lion, but Rhino wrestles with a real lion instead, not realising. After a struggle with the animal, Rhino wakes up in bed next to the guy in the costume and realises it was all a dream. What a crock.

Favourite bit Wrestling a real lion takes some balls..... and a degree of stupidity!

Trivia • Copyrighted March 15, 1926. • The release of the film was held back for 3 years after its completion. • Some sources refer to the film as Whispering Lions. • The guy who helps Marvin Loback looks very much like either Dell Henderson or Oscar Apfel. • There are some potentially fatal moments captured in this film. It might seem harmless to most people, but James Parrott was really messing about with that ostrich when it got the watch lodged in its throat/neck. You should never mess with an ostrich - they are a lot more dangerous than most people think. Later, Parrott's character is seen again (in long shot, most likely a stunt double) fighting with a real lion. Just no. Just silly. My opinion • The utter crap that passed as 'comedy' back in 1925 is offered in abundance here. How on earth did anybody ever find this material amusing is beyond imagination. No wonder it took three years to be released!

	James Parrott Rhino
	Jobyna Ralston The girl
	George Rowe Man in lion outfit
	Eddie Baker Lion keeper
	Sammy Brooks The Sheik
	Wallace Howe Rhino's pal
	Marvin Loback Hippo
	Chet Brandenburg Ostrich keeper
	UNIDENTIFIED [?]

CREDITS (click image to enlarge)	INTERTITLES (click image to enlarge)

SHOT ON LOCATION (click any image to enlarge)

This page was last updated on: 22 November 2023