Absolutely manic Larry Semon short. What I know about Larry Semon: he made a notoriously indulgent and bloated 'Wizard of Oz'. What I can surmise about Larry Semon fom this: for a while at least he must have been massively popular. It's not wholly apparent why that would be from watching 'The Sawmill'. An exceedingly ugly and charmless man (well that's how he seems here- I'm just saying what I see...) he seems to be a cross between Pee-Wee Herman and Harry Langdon, an excitable fool who wins through. And gets the girl.
A sawmill worker in this, he has long and wild encounters with the foreman and then with the mill owner, all the while getting off with the mill owner's daughter. Who has no taste whatsoever. It's dizzying stuff, and never even pauses for breath, but there are some very good visual gags in there, and some visual gags that must have taken a while to set up too. They tend to be gags you nod your head just slightly in appreciation of though, rather than actually laugh at. Damnit everyone's trying so hard. There are stunts and explosions everywhere you look, and everyone working at this mill seems to have a license to kill.
Hardy is the mill foreman, but gets up to nothing remarkable here. The dog's quite good.
As ever I'll just note that as I watch more Larry Semon films and gain more of an appreciation of the character he plays I may have to come back and watch this again. Unlikely though.
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