Re: "The last roundup" for silent comedians?
Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:36 pm
Mea culpa! I blame misinformation re: TruColor on everyone but myself :)
I have a culpa or two of my own to apologize for. I looked at RANGE WARFARE courtesy of archive.org and Richard is quite right; if the cast listings are correct (and they seem to be for the other players) it's another Edward Boland here, a very tall, athletic looking guy in his late twenties or early thirties who capably enacts a long fistfight with the star, pro-football veteran Reb Russell. (Actually, I've spent 54 minutes in worse ways, the picture has some charm and doesn't take itself seriously--I have to like a film where a friendship is sealed with the line, "Well, Tommy, I guess you'll do to take along...even if you are a cow thievin' son o' sin!") And as Richard points out, it's very unlikely Boland the comic is in HIT THE SADDLE either. The Three Mesquiteers series didn't commence until the fall of 1936, and Boland died early in 1935.
A couple of odd comedy connections in the cast: Ed Porter, who plays a corrupt financier, was Charley Chase's boss and prospective father-in-law in FIGHTING FLUID. Does anyone know much about him? He's a good actor with a great sepulchral voice, presumably from the theatre but seems to have worked little in films. The leading lady is Lucille Lund, who worked with Chase and the Stooges a little later on at Columbia.