It is October and that means it is time for scary creepy movies. However the silent film of the month this month is neither scary nor creepy, but it is funny. We are instead going to look at Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride, a comedic variation on the famous horror story of Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde starring Stan Laurel.
Stan Laurel of course would later go on to be half of possibly the movies' greatest comedy duo, Laurel and Hardy. However both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy had fairly good film careers before teaming up. Stan had been the star of quite a few short films, and even worked briefly as a director of short subjects (he would even direct Yes Yes Nanette which would feature Oliver Hardy in a supporting role, before the two would become a team). Oliver Hardy worked mainly as a villain in many short comedies playing against such silent stars as Larry Seamon and Billy West.
Some of Stan Laurel's best films before teaming with Oliver Hardy were a series of movie parodies. These films were made for the Metro studio (MGM had not been fully formed yet) under the supervision of former cowboy star G.M. Anderson (who also help produce some of Charlie Chaplin's films in 1915). Probably the most famous of these would be Mud and Sand (made for the Quality Film Studio), a parody of Blood and Sand. Blood and Sand stared Rudolf Valentino, and Stan Laurel spent much of that short parodying Valentino's mannerisms. This film was made later for independent producer Joe Rock (who also directed some of the films Stan made for him, including my Silent Film of the Month), but was obviously a callback to these earlier films. However in Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride there is little to no kidding of John Barrymore. Rather this film is a parody of the Dr. Jeckell and Mr. Hyde story rather than a direct parody of a star who had played in a previous film version.
This is an excellent film and my favorite film Stan Laurel made before teaming with Oliver Hardy. It is very funny and Stan Laurel is perfect at playing these characters that are quite different from the Stan character we usually see him play. I think the reason these parody films are some of Stan's best films of this era are because they give Stan a ready set character. While many of other earlier films of him feel like they are searching for a character for him to play and they haven't quite figured the character out yet.
This film looks very good. One reason for this is that it was shot on already existing sets on the Universal Studios Lot.
Despite how this film ranks among one of Stan Laurel's best solo films it was not seen as such at the time by critics. Critics saw it as good, but not as good as Stan Laurel's previous work.
This film was considered lost for years but it wasn't. It was owned by archivist Raymond Rohauer, who for some reason didn't allow the public to see the film. Strangely though clips from the film did appear in Jay Ward's (of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame) TV show Fractured Flickers, which used silent movie clips with new humorous narration. However today we can luckily see the film.
During the period where Stan Laurel was working for Joe Rock (which includes this film), he was in-between time periods of working at Hal Roach studios, where the best Laurel and Hardy films were made. He had left working for Metro in 1923, because of problems with Louis B. Mayer, and went to work for Hal Roach. In 1924 Stan left Hal Roach for Joe Rock. However in 1926 he would come back to Roach as a writer and director. By 1927 he was appearing in front of the camera again, where he would be paired with Oliver Hardy and make movie history.
-Michael J. Ruhland
Resources Used
The Life and Times of Laurel and Hardy by Amy Dempsey.
Stan Without Ollie: The Stan Laurel Solo Films 1917-1927 by Ted Okuda and James L. Neibaur
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015763/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_130
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