There's so much talking in some of these Keystone shorts- do lip-readers ever have a go at transcribing the dialogue? Whatever your thoughts about Mabel, this is pretty shoddy stuff. It has a certain reputation (in as much as any pre-1920 non-Chaplin film has any reputation at all these days) due to the spontaneous manner in which it was filmed and the advantageous use it made of the draining of a lake, but to be frank the lake scenes aren't any funnier than anything else in it.
And I don't like Sterling much. He over-acts and seems to be known for it, but I hate all the playing to the camera, the exaggerated protestations. He's a pantomime character, and this sort of schtick is almost unwatchable now- the look he had is a distinctive one but he's one of the most irritating silent comedians I've come across so far. Maybe he'll grow on me; it's not impossible.
Two rivals for Mabel's affections then, engaging in a tit-for-tat throwing contest, which somehow ends in an elopement to the lake with the Kops in attendance. There aren't really any saving graces to this one.
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