Sally of the Sawdust

(1925) dir. D.W. Griffith
viewed: 12/19/08

Of my foray into silent film, I have only watched just one D.W. Griffith film, his notorious epic The Birth of a Nation (1915).  As for Sally of the Sawdust, it’s not among his better-known films, in fact, it still lacks its own Wikipedia page (for what that tells you).  I guess I liked the name.

While nothing as reaching as The Birth of a Nation or Intolerance (1916), Sally of the Sawdust is a more sort of popular tale of the times.  When Sally’s mother falls in love with a circus performer, her father disowns her.  Five years later, Sally is orphaned, left in the care of Professor Eustance McGargle, the fantastic W.C. Fields, manager of the circus, character extroirdinaire, who is not above running the classic “shell game”, which he amusingly refers to as not gambling, but an old army game of skill.

McGargle raises Sally among the sawdust, the acrobats, the elephants, lions, and other ilk, a tomboyish gal who loves the man she calls her “pop”.  Sally is played by Carol Dempster, who I thought was quite hilarious as Sally, imbuing her with spunk and whimsy, frisky and gangly, with a great physical humor, whether dancing, climbing walls, or just gesticulating with an extended finger.  She’s a great character, one who I can imagine many a friend loving and enjoying her feisty goodness.

When the circus peters out, McGargle and Sally ride the rails back to Connecticut, where McGargle intends to see what Sally’s true family is like.  McGargle has informed them of their daughter’s death, but not of Sally’s birth or existence.

Sally’s grandfather, the austere judge, still loaths “show people” and even when hosting a fair to raise money for homeless orphans, disdains those who he sees as worse than vagrants.  Well, the story turns on some typical comic melodrama, and while the story doesn’t particularly sound all that inventive, the film is actually quite a lark.  Fields and Dempster are a lot of fun, good-hearted and dedicated to one another, they make for a lot of entertainment.

I actually really enjoyed this film.  I don’t know why it’s not more well-known, frankly.  It’s a heck of a fun ride.