A Versatile Villain (1915) User Reviews

No great shakes, but no slow stretches either

[wmorrow59 · 5/10 · 16 November 2002]

For viewers interested in seeing a typical Keystone comedy, one that represents the studio's standard output, this should fit the bill nicely. Produced at the midway point in the studio's five year existence (1912-1917), A Versatile Villain is neither the best nor the worst of the surviving Sennett productions. It's fast paced and lively, and builds to a rather suspenseful, melodramatic finale, perhaps intended as a parody of Griffith-style Biograph dramas. This short is pleasant enough, but short on real gags, the kind of gags that make the great silent comedies so rewarding and memorable. The actors are energetic, but lack the distinctive personality traits and charisma of Keystone's top stars, although the two young leads, Charley Chase and Louise Fazenda, would go on to star in first rate comedies of their own in the '20s. In this short, however, their opportunities are limited by the breathless pace and demands of the plot. There's too much running around and fighting to allow for character comedy. Chase is allowed an amusing sequence at the beginning when his attempt to perform conjuring tricks backfires, but after that his material is the kind of routine stuff anyone else on the lot could have handled. Similarly, any competent actress could have played Fazenda's role as damsel in distress.

I think this movie must have been made during the period when Ford Sterling was away from Keystone. He left along about March of 1914, shortly after Charlie Chaplin's arrival, and stayed away for a year, until Chaplin departed the studio for Essanay. Sterling would have been ideal for the title role here, as his frenzied mugging would have boosted this film's entertainment value considerably. As it stands, the unidentified actor who plays Desperate Dan, i.e. the Versatile Villain, seems too young for the part and doesn't register strongly as a personality, while Sterling would have chomped into the role with everything he had.

Oh well. A Versatile Villain is a moderately engaging exercise anyway, and there is one laugh-out-loud funny gag towards the end, a visual punch-line that suggests the influence of the earlier 'trick films' of Georges Méliès. That moment, plus the chance to see Charley Chase and Louise Fazenda so early in their screen careers, make this one worth watching for silent comedy buffs.

P.S. Autumn 2008. Since writing this piece I've learned that the actor playing Desperate Dan was William "Billy" Sheer, an Englishman who had a substantial career in the music halls and also appeared in Raoul Walsh's excellent 1915 drama of the slums, Regeneration. Nice to know, but I still think Ford Sterling would have given a juicier performance in this Keystone comedy.

Not to be villainized

[hte-trasme · 6/10 · 28 September 2009]

This early Keystone comedy one-reeler affords us a glimpse of a rather unusual sight: Charley Chase, action hero. It actually has a relatively modern feel, since it's essentially a parody of the kind of over-the-top melodrama that would be associated today with films from 1915. Charley works in a railway office and does magic as a hobby, and the comedy of the piece is that is focus is not on the danger caused by the rather ineffectual-looking villain of the the title, "Desperate Dan," but on the annoyances caused in Charley's life by his interference. It works well, especially in the earlier sequences with Dan's shenanigans causing Charley's magic trick to make him look like a thief.

Maybe Charley's influence caused this to focus more on funny situations than funny actions, and it flows well from the set-up here, since the very fact that it spoofs action films means moving into situation instead becomes part of the reversal of expectations of the comedy. The obligatory Keystone action sequence at the end seems natural here since we are following the line of the subject of the spoof. Everyone overplays completely, as was not uncommon in these Keystones, but they seem to be overplaying even more for usual - in the style of overblown dramatic pieces - for the laughs. A fun little reel, and interesting for its early glimpse of Charley Chase and its contemporary take on 1910s melodramas.

Certainly not among Charley's best but it's well worth seeing.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 26 June 2011]

This is an early Charley Chase comedy--one that he made for Keystone before he became famous. In many ways, he's a very different character from his later Jimmy Jump or the character he made famous with Hal Roach Studios.

"A Versatile Villain" finds Charley being the assistant to the station master for the railway. During the course of their day, a wanted criminal happens upon the station and creates a lot of chaos. His initial scene where Charley is doing magic for his co-workers is pretty clever. Later, when this crook tries to run off with the girl, Charley is uncharacteristically macho and beats the guy senseless--only to have the guy somehow manage to come back again and again.

For the most part, this one is interesting but short on actual comedy. It's more like an early melodrama with comedic elements. Not bad for 1915 but a far cry from Charley's better work of the 1920s.

Becoming Charley Chase

[Michael_Elliott · 7 March 2010]

Versatile Villain, The (1915)

*** (out of 4)

Spoof of the type of melodramas being released by Griffith back when Sennet was working for him has Charley Chase playing a young man who gets mistaken for a crook but soon the real thief, known as Desperate Dan, steals his girlfriend so he must race to save her. This is clearly a spoof of the movies by Griffith but even if you haven't seen one of his movies you'll easily be able to enjoy this comedy for the sheer kookiness of some of the situations. Director Griffin does a terrific job at playing up the melodrama to a point where it's got an innocent charm containing both laughs but also what appears to be a sweet homage. One of the funniest scenes happens early on when Chase is showing off his magic tricks of taking the watches off his co-workers but then he's accused of stealing them but we see Dan do it. The pay off to this sequence is quite funny and makes for a very memorable scene. The final five-minutes of this one-reeler also spoofs the various Westerns of the day where our hero must break into a small building and save the woman as time is running out because the bad guy has explosives set to go off. There's some nice suspense to this scene but we also get some good laughs. Chase does a very good job at playing the action hero and we get William Sheer playing the bad guy (Sheer would also appear in Raoul Walsh's REGENERATION released the same year). Louise Fazenda adds nice support as the love interest.