Director: Alfred J. Goulding (as Alf Goulding)
USA 1928
20 min
A charming Mack Sennett short about female track team preparing to compete with the rival college. (Of course, in the 1920's sports was à la mode!) However, the coach Minnie Marmon (Daphne Pollard) seems to have problems getting her team ready, as her running star Norma Nurmi (Carole Lombard) is a great example of when she the night before the competition tries to sneak out to meet her boyfriend. Read:
"The track team hadn't won a race since the Dead Sea took sick."
This short is really amusing, much for two reasons:
- The explaining text between the film clips almost always have a funny double meaning. For example:
"Norma Nurmi, star athlete --- once ran a mile in almost nothing --- and was nearly expelled for it."
- There is a great chemistry between the two main actors, Lombard and Pollard.
Obviously, Lombard and Pollard were extremely good friends during the time they spent working for Sennett, and any stories about practical jokes they amused themselves with have been written. And aren't they a gorgeous couple? The tall, slender flapper-Lombard and the 4,9" (145 cm), stumbling Pollard ("a one-cylinder model with an underslung chassis" according to the film). It simply can't go wrong!
I am also that strange kind of person who like to watch the IMDb profiles for unknown extras. For example, the big woman playing "large student" in Run, Girl, Run - how was her career?
Her name was Madalynne Field, she was a friend and secretary of Lombard's, and her filmography contains of roles like three times "uncredited", once "extra", once "bit role" and twice "Fat girl".
Enjoy the film!
