The Dumb-Bell

Series: Snub Pollard

Director: Charles Parrott

Producer: Hal Roach

Titles:

Photography:

Editor:

Stars: Snub Pollard, Marie Mosquini

Company: Pathé Exchange

Released: 16 July 1922

Length: 1 reel

Production No.: H-111

Filming dates: April 14-15, 1922

Rating: 3/10

The Dumb-Bell

Available on DVD:

Six doctors are summoned to the house of an elderly man (SNUB POLLARD). When he orders his breakfast, the doctors intervene by taste-testing the food before it is served, leaving Snub with practically nothing. The doctors leave and Snub heads over to the curtain rail and pulls one of the curtain rings down, which turns out to be a donut. Thinking that nobody is looking, Snub then retrieves two boiled eggs from under some lamp shades but Doctor Sammy Brooks catches him and warns that it is against the rules to eat when you are hungry. Snub discovers all of the doctors munching on their food behind a curtain and becomes enraged, launching into an attack on them all before wandering onto a movie set and getting berated by the film director.
Chaos then ensues on the film set as the director becomes impatient and the leading lady storms out. Two studio execs (CHARLES STEVENSON and WILLIAM GILLESPIE) arrive on the set and want to fire the director. When neither of them have the balls to do it, they offer Snub a promotion is he will do it for them. Snub pretends to the execs that he has given the order for the director to be removed, so Snub is then given the bullhorn and takes to the set as the new director. In the first scene Snub directs his leading lady how to stab a man from behind whilst he sits at the table. But after they repeatedly fail to perform the scene to his satisfaction, Snub explodes into a rage and everybody quickly departs the set.

Favourite bit
Snub disguising a donut as a curtain ring.

Trivia
• Copyrighted July 20, 1922.
• Some sources suggest that the actor seen in the top hat is Charley Chase, but this is disputed. He is listed here as Sam Lufkin.
• The version of the film released on the "Becoming Charley Chase" DVD uses re-created (and incorrect) intertitle cards and a fake title card; whereas the version released by Looser Than Loose retains the original cards. The BCC DVD is also missing a chunk of footage too. After Sammy Brooks has berated Snub for eating, he leaves the room. Then Roy Brooks walks in and leaves. At this point the BCC DVD cuts to Snub getting told off by a film director. The LTL footage continues after Roy Brooks leaves the room as Snub puts a chair up to a curtain, looks around and then pulls a chord to expose the doctors behind the curtain all eating food. Snub snaps his cane on the table in anger and begins shouting at the doctors, throwing stuff around. Somebody falls out of a window, followed by one of the men diving onto the ground. This section of footage absent from the BCC DVD is between 4:05 - 4:50 on the LTL version, meaning 45 seconds of footage is missing. The picture quality on both DVD versions is about the same.

My opinion
• The first half of the film bears absolutely no connection whatsoever to the second of the film. Typical crap Snub Pollard nonsense.

	Snub Pollard Elderly patient/New director
	Marie Mosquini Mary, the leading actress
	Charles Stevenson Julius Goldsmith
	William Gillespie Abe Silverstein
	Sam Lufkin Actor in top hat
	Noah Young Director
	George Rowe Cameraman
	Ed Brandenburg Film crew member
	Sammy Brooks Short doctor
	Wallace Howe Doctor
	Roy Brooks Doctor
	Jack O'Brien Doctor
	William B. Davidson [?]
	UNIDENTIFIED Doctor #1
	UNIDENTIFIED Doctor #2
	UNIDENTIFIED Female crew member #1
	UNIDENTIFIED Female crew member #2
	UNIDENTIFIED Male crew member #1
	UNIDENTIFIED Male crew member #2
	UNIDENTIFIED Maid
	UNIDENTIFIED Butler
	UNIDENTIFIED Actor who is repeatedly stabbed