Topic: It’s a Gift (1923) - Snub Pollard

[metaldams]

      They don’t make them like this anymore, kids.  It’s deja vu all over again, as for the second time, I review a film titled IT’S A GIFT.  This time, instead of W.C. Fields, this is the title of an earlier Hal Roach one reeler from Snub Pollard.  You guys I’m sure remember Snub as Harold Lloyd’s main supporting player during the one reel and early two reel era.  When Lloyd had his accident, Pollard was given his own series at Roach that lasted a few years.  His career would be more bit parts after that and he even shows up with The Three Stooges a few times, going well into the Shemp era.  He’s the telegram guy who gets knocked out in GENTS IN A JAM - the last Edward Bernds short, so yeah, like I said, well into the Shemp era.

      Not quite a THREE’S A CROWD length essay this time because we get a nice simple one reel.  The plot, what there is of it, involves Pollard delivering fire proof oil to a company and occasionally they focus on that.  The main point of IT’S A GIFT and the reason why it’s stuck in my head all these years is the mechanical gags and that magnet powered rocket ship car Pollard rides.

      The inventive devices Pollard uses to wake up from bed and to make breakfast have a SCARECROW and ELECTRIC HOUSE Keaton vibe to them - mechanically speaking.  The catch here is that Pollard manipulates all these devices while in bed, so they’re a wonderful excuse for him to be lazy.  I don’t know why, but there are shots of him in bed where he looks like Stan Laurel with a mustache, and I never thought that until now.

      The rocket ship magnet powered car is the true highlight of the short and one of the memorable images of silent comedy.  Pollard literally gets in a mini rocket ship and carries a huge magnet.  The passing cars attract the magnet, powering the rocket ship to move.  Pollard gets a lot of mileage, no pun intended, out if this gag.  The short ends when he puts his oil in some cars which causes them to spin around like crazy and eventually people and cars are scattered on the streets and rooftops.  This kind of thing only happens in silent comedy, which is why I’m a fan.  A simple one reeler and a easy compared to the lengthy Martin and Lewis film in a couple of weeks.  We’ll see how that goes!

[HomokHarcos]

Not much of a story, but I had a fun 10 minutes watching this. Snub Pollard as a brilliant inventor that is also lazy is pretty funny. It seems that he built those machines so he could just sleep all day long. The intertitle that said "Pollard's hours are longer - sleeps twenty four" made me laugh. I think this was funnier than Keaton's mechanical gags, because the thought of a man this lazy creating all of that is funny. The brooms cleaning the hat and the shoes was my favorite of these gags.

The magnetic rocket was very funny, and probably the point of this short film. The storage was quite unique, taking out the B to make it read "garage" instead of "garbage". It looks like a fun ride, almost like sledding, but he would be going very quickly. It's funny when it doesn't work, such as when it pulls a car apart instead of following along.

There's not much more for me to say, other than it being a fun 10 minutes.

[Dr. Mabuse]

Perhaps my favorite Snub Pollard short. I first discovered "It's a Gift" in the early 1970s via Robert Youngson's excellent 1960 compilation "When Comedy Was King." It's nice to finally see the complete film — an endlessly inventive one-reeler that doesn't overstay its welcome.

[metaldams]

Perhaps my favorite Snub Pollard short. I first discovered "It's a Gift" in the early 1970s via Robert Youngson's excellent 1960 compilation "When Comedy Was King." It's nice to finally see the complete film — an endlessly inventive one-reeler that doesn't overstay its welcome.

I have it on the Slapstick Encyclopedia DVD set.  Glad you saw the whole thing for the first time through this review.

[Umbrella Sam]

I was trying like crazy to figure out why I recognized that image of Pollard with the magnet and then it suddenly occurred to me that I had read about this short in a Cartoon Research post about...what else? Cartoons making use out of magnets. An interesting read, as are most posts from that website.

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animation-trails-magnetic-personalities/

Anyway, as for the short itself? Pretty good, even if Pollard does fall in the Turpin category of not really having a distinct style. The magnetic rocket in general is a very creative idea and they make just enough out of it. Not too overused, but also changing some things up, like grabbing a trash can lid or pulling a car apart. The inventions in the apartment are fun, even if they kind of do scream THE SCARECROW. HomokHarcos mentions the idea of a man that lazy being able to create these, which is actually a pretty funny way to look at it, and I think in that respect it does give it a bit of distinction even if I do tend to prefer when Keaton does it. Not much else to say; I enjoyed it and I can see why it gets singled out for Pollard.

[Paul Pain]

People say Snub Pollard isn't distinctive, but he did have one specialty that most of the great comedians did not have except for Harold Lloyd.  He has down the entire laissez faire attitude as he is wheeling his way along to his destination.  Now, this was by no means a stand-out characteristic, but it is one of the smaller niches in the world of silent comedy.  Most rely on the face they make; some like Lloyd and Snub Pollard tell as story by the fact that they do not make faces.  This is different from Keaton's Great Stone Face.

IT'S A GIFT is a simple short and a archetypal silent comedy short of the period.  The 1920s were a period of great advancement in society, and the shorts reflect this.  All the device and cinematography are done properly so that all blends together seamlessly without the short falling into repetition or any quiet spells.  Snub is snappy; the effects are on cue.  It's not perfection, but this short does justice to its star, producers, and era.