Feet of Mud is a 1924 silent black and white short film starring

Harry Langdon Harry Philmore Langdon (June 15, 1884 – December 22, 1944) was an American comedian who appeared in vaudeville, silent films (where he had his greatest fame), and talkies.Obituary ''Variety'', December 27, 1944, page 39. Life and career Bor ...

directed by Harry Edwards and produced by

Mack Sennett Mack Sennett (born Michael Sinnott; January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was a Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, and studio head, known as the 'King of Comedy'. Born in Danville, Quebec, in 1880, he started in films in the ...

. It was reshown as part of Comedy Capers in a shortened version under the title of The Football Hero. The title of the film is a parody on

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...

's "

Feet of Clay Feet of clay is an idiom used to refer to a weakness or character flaw, especially in people of prominence and power. It can also be used to refer to larger groups, such as societies, businesses, and empires. An entity with feet of clay may appe ...

" which was released only a few months before. There is no similarity in plot.

Plot

Harold is sitting on the side lines at a college

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

match. He is dismayed when a player is injured and the coach says h has to play. He removes the cushions from his pants. He uses the excess space to secrete the ball and has to run fast the whole length of the pitch when the whole opposition chase him. The crowd is elated when he scores a touchdown and Nina comes to embrace him, to the anger of Donald her boyfriend. Harold's mother embraces him also. We are told Nina's father had to have a big house to cover his big cellar. We see a beautiful two storey mansion. Harold is being introduced to Nina's father. He requires any prospective son-in-law to "clean up the street"... He gives him a note to get a job with the City Engineer. The "engineering job" is as a street cleaner in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

the camera pans out to show

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

. We are told that Harold is working his way through college. He has a job cleaning the streets in Chinatown, where he wears a very white uniform with a

pith helmet The pith helmet, also known as the safari helmet, salacot, sola topee, sun helmet, topee, and topi) is a lightweight cloth-covered helmet made of sholapith. The pith helmet originates from the Spanish Empire, Spanish military adaptation of the na ...

. He brushes some bricks down an open

manhole A manhole (utility hole, maintenance hole, or sewer hole) is an opening to a confined space such as a shaft, utility vault, or large vessel. Manholes are often used as an access point for an underground public utility, allowing inspection, m ...

and predictably hits a man on the head. He uses a spike to pick up paper and spikes a policeman in the calf and gets beaten on the backside as a result. The manhole man throws a brick to hit Harry and hits the policeman instead, who thinks Harry threw it. The policeman is arresting him when Harold's mother comes along carrying her Bible. Harry tries to hide behind the policeman, in shame. He escapes into a crowd rushing onto an underground train. He is marked in the moving crowd by his broom held aloft. When he gets to the train he holds the broom horizontally barring his own entry (and the crowd behind). He ends up on the floor pinned by the broom handle over his neck, with people standing on each end. He accidentally pulls the conductor's trousers down. When the crowd rushes off at the next station he is freed momentarily before a new crowd rush on. The next stop is

Mott Street Mott Street () is a narrow but busy thoroughfare that runs in a north–south direction in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is regarded as Chinatown's unofficial " Main Street". Mott Street runs from Bleecker Street in the north to ...

. Harry stands at the wrong side of the carriage to get off and misses the stop. He decides to bolt the door for new passengers getting on. As the conductor unbolts it he opens the door on the opposite side and the crowd pass straight through. He emerges in

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

here there is an ongoing

Tong War The Tong Wars were a series of violent disputes beginning in the late 19th century among rival Chinese Tong factions centered in the Chinatowns of various American cities, in particular San Francisco. Tong wars could be triggered by a variety o ...

between the Wa-Hoos and the Pa-Jonggs. A group of police beckon Harry over. He runs and hides in a doorway. Someone passes a note from inside: it is in Chinese. He asks a passing Chinese man to translate and the man runs off in horror. A second man does the same but an older man is more polite until Harry shows him where he got the note then he runs off too. Harry starts cleaning the street. When he bangs his broom on his dustbin the tong gang inside think it is their enemy's gong and bang their own gong. On the street things go crazy and things fly out of the windows messing the whole street. As Harry takes cover a guided tour of Chinatown in a charabang passes through. The tourists are ushered into a building to see the horrors of an

opium den An opium den was an establishment in which opium was sold and smoked. Opium dens were prevalent in many parts of the world in the 19th century, most notably China, Southeast Asia, North America, and France. Throughout the West, opium dens were fr ...

. Harry is hiding inside. His mother, Nina, her father and Donald are among the tourists and are shocked, but his mother forgives him. A Chinese man with an axe chases the tourists out for making fun of he Chinese. Nina gets left behind nd Harry is sent back to find her. He is chased off by the man with the axe. He goes up the fire escape and falls through a secret door. He enters a temple-like room and picks up a spear. Carrying the spear over his shoulder he does not see that he has speared a dummy. He thinks he is being followed and attacks it. When the head comes off he realises his mistake. A Chinese monk appears and starts putting small bowls of burning incense under a line of

papier mache Papier may refer to : *paper in French, Dutch, Afrikaans, Polish or German, word that can be found in the following expressions: **Papier-mâché, a construction material made of pieces of paper stuck together using a wet paste **Papier collé, a p ...

heads on a table... Harry is the central head. A Chinese man comes in to pray to

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

. Harry hits him with the back of the axe and is chased around the table. The man throws the axe and hits a large vase which breaks - revealing Nina inside. Harry and Nina fall through a

trapdoor A trapdoor is a sliding or hinged door in a floor or ceiling. It is traditionally small in size. It was invented to facilitate the hoisting of grain up through mills, however, its list of uses has grown over time. The trapdoor has played a pivot ...

and slide down a chute and land on her father. The father shakes his hand and Harry and Nina kiss.

Trivia

The Harry Langdon Fanclub is named after the film.

Cast

as Harry Holdem the hero * Florence Lee as his mother *

Natalie Kingston Natalie Kingston (born Natalia Ringstrom; May 19, 1905 – February 2, 1991) was an American actress. Background Kingston was born as Natalia Ringstrom in Vallejo, California, and raised in San Francisco. She was of Spanish, Hungarian, an ...

as Nina March, the girl *

Yorke Sherwood Yorke Sherwood (14 December 1873 – 27 September 1956) was an English actor. Life He was born Herbert Edmund Sherwood in Manchester on 14 December 1873. He moved to California in the 1920s and had multiple supporting roles in Mack Sennett ...

as her father, Phillip March *

Malcolm Waite Malcolm Ivan Waite (May 7, 1892 – April 25, 1949) was an American film actor. Biography Malcolm Waite appeared in 31 films between 1923 and 1942, most notably as the oily "ladies' man" Jack in Charlie Chaplin's film classic ''The Gold Rush ...

as Donald Duffield, the rival *

Vernon Dent Vernon Bruce Dent (February 16, 1895 – November 5, 1963) was an American comic actor, who appeared in over 400 films. He co-starred in many short films for Columbia Pictures, frequently as the foil and the main antagonist and ally to The Thr ...

as the Coach *

Leo Sulky Leo Sulky (6 December 1874 – 3 June 1957) was an American actor. He usually appeared in films directed by Del Lord such as ''Black Oxfords'' (1924), ''Yukon Jake'' (1924), ''Wall Street Blues'' (1924), ''Lizzies of the Field'' (1924), '' Gallopi ...

as Chinatown Huckster * Elsie Tarron as a girl * S. D. Wilcox as the Policeman

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feet of Mud 1924 films American silent short films American black-and-white films Films produced by Mack Sennett 1924 comedy films Silent American comedy films Films directed by Harry Edwards (director) 1920s American films 1920s English-language films English-language comedy films Surviving American silent films