I couldn't keep my eyes off the tight acrobat's costume Vivian Edwards was wearing- seriously, this is unexpectedly risqué, and is to be counted in the film's credit column.
Swain is Ambrose, a big man with a wee stuck-on moustache, Conklin is the Walrus, a skinny chap with a big stuck-on moustache. Such is my daisy-like freshness in this field, I don't think I've seen either of them before. Hopefully I'll look back on that statement with incredulity over the next few months as I discover the high and lows of their respective filmographies. Neither of them seem exactly hilarious individually, but together on screen they are watchable- the last few minutes of the film have a particular resonance as they engage in a bittersweet sort of fight, the Walrus' hotel burning down behind them.
The DVD I've got of this is very dark and the intertitles at times are unreadable- this doesn't help an already confusing film become more coherent. At no times is 'When Ambrose Dared The Walrus' a drag though- once the story settles down and you grab the gist of what's happening, the time passes quickly, and if there are no moments of outright hilarity here, there are eyecatching ideas. As it were.
The Walrus runs a hotel, Ambrose and his perky acrobatic assstant are paying guests. The narrative concerns a fire insurance on the property, and the last chunk of the film is taken up with the Walrus trying to make his last payment before the hotel burns down. They certainly did things differently back then, especially at Keystone- the pace is remarkable, bewilderingly so watching now when you're left floundering trying to work out who is who, and who the girls are, and what their relationships are etc. Best not to worry. It really doesn't drag at all, and I'd be happy to watch the two of them in another film. I get the feeling that the more you see of them, the more appealing they are going to be. Especially if Vivian Edwards is in there somewhere as well.
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