Silent Film of the Month: Just Pals (1920)

Run Time: 50 minutes. Studio: Fox Film Corporation. Director: John Ford. Writers: John McDermott, Paul Schofield. Main Cast: Buck Jones, Paul Schofield, Helen Ferguson. Cinematographer: George Schneiderman. Editor: William Hornbeck.


TCM spent the last month playing tribute to one of the all time best movie directors John Ford. I was very pleased with a lot of the choices but there was one disappointment and that was the lack of any silent films. So I felt like calling attention to one of John Ford's silents that I really enjoy and one that rarely gets the attention it deserves.

In a small town a lazy bum (Buck Jones) is an object of ridicule among the townspeople. He meets a young runaway boy (George Stone) who is similarly an outcast in the town. The two quickly form a friendship and the bum raises the boy as his own, overcoming his naturally lazy ways to do so.

Film historian J.B. Kaufman, brings up an interesting point when he wrote about this film on his website (you can read that here.) This movie is surprisingly similar to the much better known Charlie Chaplin classic, The Kid (1921). Both feature an unlikely father-son like friendship between two societal outcasts. However as J.B. points out while The Kid was released after Just Pals, The Kid finished production first. So there is no plagiarism on either part.

This is a movie that could have easily felt too sappy or sentimental if it was in lesser hands. However John Ford was not lesser hands. This film works so well because the emotion always feels completely real and believable. There is not one false note struck here and because of this the movie doesn't feel overly sentimental, but rather very engaging with real emotional value. This is helped by the great performances from our two leads. Buck Jones and George Stone not only play their roles perfectly but they have incredible chemistry with each other that brightens the screen each time they share it.

This film marked the first time John Ford would work with cinematographer George Schneiderman. They would later work on such movies as Dr. Bull (1933), Judge Priest (1934) and Steamboat Around the Bend (1035).  He does just as good of a job here as he did in those later films, and this movie is a joy to simply look at.          


For anyone interested in watching this movie it is available on YouTube.                                                                  



 

-Michael J. Ruhland