Crackerjack

Director: Charles Hines Charles Hines

Overview

Popular silent light comedian stars in this riotous comedy about a pickle salesman involved in a South American revolution. Returning to the family pickle business in Florida after working his way through college as a short order cook, Tommy Perkins (Charles Hines) successfully launches "Perkins' Stuffed Pickles." Planning to overthrow the government of Esquasado, General Bannon (Henry West) and his equally unsavory partner Alonzo Lopez (Bradley Barker) purchase a shipment of 5,000 pickles, which they then stuff with ammunition. Tommy, who has fallen for the general's innocent daughter, Rose (Sigrid Holmquist), is on to the scheme, however, and deftly switches the contraband with pickles stuffed with cheese. All hell breaks lose in Esquasado, but Tommy, masquerading as a revolutionary general, saves both the day and his pickle company.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/25/2011
UPC:	0842614102875
Original Release:	1925
Source:	Grapevine Video
Language:	English
Sales rank:	58,692

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Johnny Hines	Crackerjack Perkins
Sigrid Holmquist	Rose Bannon
J. Sherry	Col. Perkins
Bradley Barker	Lopez
Henry West	General Bannon

Technical Credits

Editorial Reviews

In one of his few extant films, Johnny Hines breezes through this Florida-lensed comedy in typical silent-era style, constantly performing sight gags or "speaking" in titles filled with puns like "Uncle, it's terrible! I'm going to give your pickle business an awful jar." Although not a slapstick comedian, Hines is far from subtle and spends an inordinate amount of time gallivanting about in a horse-drawn carriage festooned with a giant pickle. Yet the film is never dull and although a modern audience may object to arch villain Bradley Barker playing his South American revolutionary in what can best be described as "brownface" -- not to mention the stereotypical bits of business awarded African-American sidekick Fred Miller (whose character name is "Ignition Jones") -- most of the laughs are genuine. A cross between Ford Sterling and William Haines, the nearly forgotten Johnny Hines deserves rediscovery.

All Movie Guide - Hans J. Wollstein