Series: Paul Parrott Director: Jay A. Howe Producer: Hal Roach Titles: Photography: Editor: Stars: James Parrott, Jobyna Ralston Company: Pathé Exchange Released: 04 March 1923 Length: 1 reel Production No.: C-79 Filming dates: December 13-21, 1922 Rating: 1/10

Do Your Stuff

Paul (JAMES PARROTT) meets his girlfriend (JOBYNA RALSTON) when she leaves via a stage entrance. As they walk down the street she is snatched by an oriental-looking man in a doorway. Paul finds a man (GEORGE ROWE) who shows him inside a house where he is confronted by several oriental men with swords. With fake walls, a stairwell which can be switched from steps to a flat slide, and can also rotate across the floor to adjoining walls, Paul evades his pursuers as they continue to chase him around the house. He overcomes two men at the door and crawls through the legs of another before hiding in a hatch in the wall. He is discovered and pulled out by a sword-wielding man who begins to duel with Paul. Paul fends off another guy who tries to attack him from behind. Paul is forced into a closet under the stairs where he finds a ridiculously sized curved sword and comes out fighting with it. He chases his attacker up the stairs and they continue to duel by swinging on the hanging lights. He eventually falls and lands in a water pool and is surrounded by the other men who then lead him to an upstairs room where his girl is being held. Her kidnappers have her strapped to a chair and hoist her up onto a platform and tell Paul to press a button that will lower her to her doom (presumably?) But in a clever twist, Paul manages to lure the bad guys onto the platform and lower them instead. Paul frees the girl from the chair and they make their escape. As they head for the stairs, it converts into a slide and they slide to the bottom where eventually they kiss to close this utter shits of a film.

Trivia • At least one source lists the film with a release date of March 11, 1923. • A fragment of this film (1m 28s) was featured in the Robert Youngson compilation, "The Further Perils Of Laurel and Hardy". My opinion • Basic Paul Parrott comedy: a chaotic mess. A complete clusterfuck of a comedy and absolute waste of time. It resembles a badly-scripted video game than it does a believable plot!

	James Parrott Paul
	Jobyna Ralston The girl
	Eddie Baker Lead bad guy
	Mark Jones Bad guy
	Gaylord Lloyd Bad guy
	George Rowe Man in black
	Owen Evans Stage actor
	Wallace Howe Man on bench
	Sammy Brooks Man on bench/Costumes man
	Sam Lufkin Costume dresser

SHOT ON LOCATION (click any image to enlarge)

INTERIOR SHOTS (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: Dave Glass (footage) John Benson (additional help) Jesse Brisson (identification of Owen Evans, Wallace Howe, Sam Lufkin, Sammy Brooks) This page was last updated on: 06 March 2023