This is most noteworthy as W.C. Fields’ first film. Though only 35 at the time, Fields had already enjoyed a long and successful career in Vaudeville before turning to film. He eventually went on to become one of Hollywood’s hugest stars, and one of only a handful of silent film stars who is still widely remembered today, and this is where that film career began.
The story is simple, and really nothing more than an excuse for some gags. Fields and Bud Ross are at a picnic, competing for the attention of a girl. After a number of gags involving the picnic setting, they are convinced to settle their differences at a pool table. Once at a pool hall, the two take turns hitting impossible pool shots, accomplished via primitive but fun stop-motion photography. After besting his rival, Fields ends up in a brawl, which he escapes through a basement door. He leaves his rival dunked in a barrel of water, and heads off to unknown new adventures.
It’s short and to the point, and a fun distraction. Nothing is groundbreaking here, but the short is worth watching as Fields’ entry point into cinema. I am a big fan of W.C. Fields, and can remember many happy nights a young man watching his films alongside my mom, who was also a fan of his. We often quoted scenes from his films to one another, so I’m always down to watch anything he’s in.
It’s interesting that this film directly follows The Regeneration in the chronology, as I ended that podcast talking about how ground-breaking it was, and about the advances in filmmaking that were evident by 1915, and then along comes this movie that would not have been at all out of place in 1910. Pool Sharks is definitely a holdover from an older era of cinema. That is not a knock on this film by any stretch, as audiences in 1915 were certainly not all expecting, or ready for, more cutting edge fare. Keep in mind that plenty of films, especially comedic shorts like this one, that had been made in 1910, or prior, were likely still playing at smaller theaters all over the world, and that theater-going was a far different experience in 1915 than it is today. At this point in history, studios were still making films and selling, rather than loaning, prints to theaters, where they were sometimes run for years. Many were shown until the print wore out, so a short film like Pool Sharks, rather than seeming dated, may well have felt fresh when shown at smaller or more remote theaters, to audiences who had been seeing the same older shorts on repeat for years.
I watched this on a DVD featuring six W.C. Fields short films, linked to the picture below.
Next I’m watching: The Coward [1915], directed by Reginald Barker and Thomas H. Ince.
Pool Sharks (Sep. 19, 1915)