Go West (1923) User Reviews

Monkeys Riding Goats

[boblipton · 5/10 · 6 May 2019]

In this typical Dippy-Doo-Dads short, a monkey is thrown out of home for drunkenness. He hops on a freight train to head out west, where men are men..... I mean where monkeys are monkeys. There he deals mostly with other monkeys running through a lot of the tropes of the era, although the sheriff is a bulldog.

The series was .... I want to write "conceived", but that's the wrong word. It was a novelty series, and it was difficult to shoot, which is why cameraman Len Powers wound up as director. Apparently it was not much of a success. About a dozen were shot over about two years, and it was given up. This one shows why: after about a minute of monkeys in clothes, I was saying "Okay. Monkeys in clothes. I get it. Now what?" At which point, monkeys in clothes riding goats didn't add much.

Planet of the Monkeys

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 27 September 2015]

"Go West" is a black-and-white silent film produced by the legendary Hal Roach from over 90 years ago.He was still looking for the next big thing here and before realizing it would be the Rascals from "Our Gang", he tried out small monkeys in clothes playing humans. Miniature trains and buildings are included as well to make it look real. Well.. i am not too sure how it was for the animals, but watching it, it felt a bit like a circus number. Quite a challenge, even if it is just a 12-minute movie. It was an okay watch, fun for children maybe and I personally like the many intertitles here. Silent films in general could have needed a lot more of these as it is really difficult to understand the action only from what you see, especially if you see the characters talk, but have no clue what they are on about. Director Len powers worked mostly as a cinematographer in his career, but this is one of his efforts as the man in charge. Early on, this looks like a family movie, in the end it turns into a western. All in all, recommended.