Dirty Work in a Laundry (1915) User Reviews

Decent and watchable...but not an especially outstanding Keystone offering

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 21 June 2011]

I found this short film on a DVD from Alpha Video. And, like most of Alpha's silent films, this one is in pretty bad shape--very dark and very grainy. It stars Ford Sterling--a comic who is pretty much forgotten today, though a few might remember him as the chief of the Keystone Kops.

"A Desperate Scoundrel" begins with Ford being chased from the park when he's caught trying to steal milk from a baby! He then directs his larcenous talents towards a laundry. After stealing a wad of cash, the owner eventually realizes what has happened and the chase is on--much like you'd expect in a Keystone film. It's all fun but not especially outstanding--and pretty typical of the studio's work with LOTS of action and a lot of zany sight gags.

By the way, the lady in the film is Minta Durfee--the real-life wife of Fatty Arbuckle at the time this film was made.

UPDATE--I just saw this short again--this time on Turner Classic Movies. The entire early segment involving stealing from a baby is missing, as there are apparently multiple versions of this film--all due to the film being sliced apart by various film distributors.

A Copy That Hasn't Been Through the Mangle -- Although Minta Might Be!

[boblipton · 6/10 · 12 September 2018]

I've been trying to look at this for years, but every other copy has been too beat up. Finally, a copy in decent shape! It's Ford Sterling in Dutch gear, snarling to beat the band. He won't steal candy from a baby, because the baby hasn't got any, but he will steal milk from its bottle. He escapes to a laundry where he flirts with Minta Durfee, but when the cash receipts fly into his hat, he leaves, only to return for a melodrama ending and the Keystone Kops against their erstwhile Chief.

By the summer of 1915, this type of comedy was a bit old-fashioned at Keystone, but Chaplin had left and Arbuckle was about to flee to faraway New Jersey where he could make interesting comedies without Sennett bothering him. Sterling was always a popular actor at Keystone -- indeed, he was a fine actor in general, as his career would later demonstrate. Why not take the tried-and-true tropes, the flirting in the park, the burlesque-Griffith chase, the Kops, and give them a try at 20 minutes .... long for Keystone, despite the previous year's TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE? The result is a good short, carried on the charms -- hardly the right word -- of its star/director.

Ford Sterling at his most dastardly

[wmorrow59 · 7/10 · 15 September 2002]

Ford Sterling is perhaps best remembered by silent film buffs as the Chief of the Keystone Kops, although he was neither the first comic to play the role (that would be Fred Mace), nor the last. Some may recall too that Sterling was the top comedian on the Keystone lot prior to the arrival of Charlie Chaplin. Once Charlie was on the scene he and Sterling appeared in three Keystone comedies together. According to some sources they disliked each other, but there seems to be no evidence to back that up. In any event Sterling soon left Keystone to make films elsewhere and did not return until after Chaplin's departure. He worked prolifically in silent movies and early talkies but was less active in the later '30s, and his career gradually sputtered out. Although Sterling toned down his style over the years his early performances are quite frenzied and hammy, and even before the end of the silent era he must have been considered something of an anachronism, a throwback to the early nickelodeon days.

So, is that early, hammy Ford Sterling still funny today? Well, yes, he can be, although he's very much a matter of taste, like Jerry Lewis or The Three Stooges, and for similar reasons. If you're looking for a nuanced, sympathetic comic, stick with Chaplin or Harold Lloyd, but if you enjoy wildly over-the-top mugging from a flat-out dastardly villain, Sterling's your man. This film, Dirty Work in a Laundry, is perhaps better known under its alternate title, one which describes Sterling's screen character quite perfectly: The Desperate Scoundrel. He even dresses like Snidely Whiplash, complete with black top hat and swallow-tail jacket; no friendly-looking derby or horn-rimmed glasses for this guy. In the opening scene, set in a park, Sterling steals bottled milk from a baby, drinks it, then refills the bottle with water before returning it to the anxious baby. What a mean guy! Even W. C. Fields never did that, most likely because he didn't care for milk. And that pretty much sets the tone for what follows, so if you get a kick out of the intro, you'll probably enjoy this movie.

The bulk of the action takes place in a laundry. First, while pretending to flirt with employee Minta Durfee, Ford attempts to steal some clothes by stuffing them into his jacket. At that point, however, he spies bigger game: a pile of cash is delivered (inexplicably) to the manager of the laundry, who leaves it behind on his desk in plain sight (idiotically) while he steps out. Sterling seizes the money and flees, and from there, it's pure Keystone: frenzied fighting, chases on roads and rooftops, Kops racing trains, repeated dunks in water, and the full range of Ford Sterling's facial expressions. There's an amusing variation on the imperiled-girl-in-a-sawmill bit, which must have been a cliché even then. Don't expect clever gags a la Buster Keaton, or methodical routines a la Laurel & Hardy, for this is mostly high-speed mayhem, and even today's viewers, trained by channel-surfing and MTV-style editing, may find that they have to watch these ancient comedies very closely in order to follow what's happening from scene to scene.

Is it worth the effort? In this case yes, I believe so. Dirty Work in a Laundry is no masterpiece, but it's a pleasant exercise in silliness. And hey, if you want to see what a laundry cleaning establishment looked like in 1915, here's your chance.

Sterling is the Only Good Thing Here

[Michael_Elliott · 16 September 2012]

Dirty Work in a Laundry (1915)

** (out of 4)

When Turner Classic Movies played this recently, they showed the 1918 re-release version so this review is for that one (although I've heard there's not too much of a difference between them). Ford Sterling is our lead villain, a worthless man who is always pretending to do good while in reality he's always up to something crooked. The film starts off with him stealing milk from a baby and then he wonders into a laundry store where he flirts with the woman (Minta Durfee) working there but he's real intent is to steal clothes. I've very hit and miss when it comes to Keystone films as quite often I think they are just a bit too silly for their own good. At times this silliness pays off and you get a very funny film but I don't think that's the case here. For the most part I found the film to be extremely long for its two reels and at times I really wished I had hit the fast forward button. The only thing that really makes the film worth sitting through is the performances by Sterling who is clearly very good at playing this type of snake character. You could just tell by the glee in his eyes that Sterling was having a blast playing this jerk. With that said, it really didn't get any laughs but I will admit that the ending, a romp through the laundry, was fun.