Mud and Sand (1922)

Director:

Gilbert Pratt

Writer:

Tom Miranda (titles)

Release Date:

13 November 1922 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short | Adventure | Family

Plot:

Rhubarb Vaselino lives in a small village, when he and his friend, Sapo, enter a bullfighting contest...

Plot Keywords:

Bullfighting | Spoof Title | Madrid Spain | Public Domain | Three Reeler

Cast

Stan Laurel	...	Rhubarb Vaselino
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Leona Anderson	...	Filet de Sole (uncredited)
Wheeler Dryden	...	Sapo (uncredited)
Sam Kaufman	...	Humador (uncredited)
Mae Laurel	...	Pavaloosky (uncredited)
Julie Leonard	...	Caramel (uncredited)

Directed by
Gilbert Pratt		(as Gil Pratt)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Tom Miranda		titles (as Thos N. Miranda)

Produced by
Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson	....	producer

Cinematography by
Irving G. Ries		(as Irving Ries)

Production Management
Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Scott Pembroke	....	assistant director

Production Companies

• Quality Film Productions

Distributors

• Metro Pictures Corporation (1922) (USA) (theatrical)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Arts Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Intertain (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (video)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Sovereign Multi-Media (1999) (UK) (video)

Other Companies

• Amalgamated Producing Corporation  presents
• Arts Home Entertainment  art and DVD cover design
• Loew  controlled by

Runtime:

UK:40 min | USA:26 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | UK:U

Company:

Quality Film Productions

Trivia:

Some of the titles in this story have a different font than the others. That's because they were added in later, to replace the original titles which had gone missing over the years (legend has it they were processed with inferior chemicals and were the first parts of the films to deteriorate).

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Blood and Sand (1922)

Pedestrian

One of the many silent comedies Stan Laurel featured in before he teamed with Oliver Hardy, 'Mud and Sand' is a ho-hum hokum. The story is badly disjointed - though this could be because of the modern-day edit - and the humor itself is not at all inventive.

Potential plotlines are started and ignored; for instance, Stan's promise to make Fillet de Sole pay for what she's done to him never comes to fruition. Stan's character doesn't seem very centered, either, but this is a common criticism of his work before he developed 'Stanley' of Laurel & Hardy fame, so it might be that I was just expecting to see this shortcoming.

I strongly believe that all the silent films should be preserved and viewed, and I'm glad this one is still available. It's just not a great film.