The Hobo

Last updated

The Hobo
Full movie
Directed by Arvid E. Gillstrom
Produced byLouis Burstein
Starring Billy West
Oliver Hardy
Release date
  • November 1, 1917 (1917-11-01)
Running time
15 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSilent film
English intertitles

The Hobo is a 1917 American silent comedy film featuring Billy West and Oliver Hardy. [1]

Contents

Plot

Harold sits in a diner eating a huge stack of pancakes.

Outside a hobo hides on a platform under a railway freight car. He sits by the track and has a picnic as an astonished brakeman looks on.

The hobo spies some pies and vaults a fence. A dog chases him and he bumps into Dolly. She drops her handkerchief and he follows her to the ticket office of the station to return it. She goes into the office and surprises her father.

The hobo knocks on the hatch and the girl appears. He hooks her neck with his walking stick and pulls her head through the hole.

Back in the diner Harold has finished the pancakes and starts work on eating a whole sponge cake. He spots the hobo trying to kiss Dolly, who is his girlfriend. He throws the cake but misses the hobo. It goes through the hatch and hits Mr Fox in the face. Everyone ends up fighting in the office.

Mr Fox leaves with his daughter and leaves the hobo in charge. Harold sticks his head through the hatch and the hobo closes it, trapping his head. He then starts to paint his face.

Harold returns to the diner and starts fighting with the cook. The cook goes to the hatch. The cook takes over in the ticket office and the hobo puts on an apron and goes to the diner. A train comes in and a dozen men and women arrive together each looking to eat quickly. The hobo starts making pancakes. He accidentally puts hot pepper on the pancakes, but gives them to Harold who swallows them in one bite before his throat starts to burn. A food fight begins but the train whistle goes and all except Harold and the hobo leave.

The hobo goes back to the ticket office. A black-face couple arrive: a small man (Bud Ross) and his huge wife. The wife takes three negro children out of a "handle with care" trunk. More and more children then appear, ten in all. Finally a huge black-face boy comes out. The smaller children dance in a circle around the mother and big boy.

The hobo tries to work out the price of the tickets. He gives the mother a watermelon and the family sit outside and eat it.

we jump to the police headquarters where a car has been reported stolen with a $50 reward. A well-dressed man goes into the station with his wife and offers the hobo his auto in exchange for two train tickets. He gives them a string of tickets and they go to the waiting area. But he misses the last train.

Meanwhile Harold has a new roadster. The hobo goes to inspect his own new car but thinks it is the roadster and gets in. He picks up Dolly. Harold reports his car stolen. The hobo returns to the ticket office where the well dressed man is trying to get into the safe. The man hides. The hobo gets into the safe and takes out fuel for the stove, then shuts the safe and leaves. He drives off with Dolly.

At police HQ we are told that the first stolen car belonged to the police chief. He flags down a charabanc and they pick up Harold and give chase.

The hobo and Dolly go to a restaurant. The police spot the stolen roadster outside the restaurant and go in. The well-dressed man spots the roadster and tries to steal it. Everyone comes out of the restaurant and he is arrested. The police chief gives the hobo a large pile of money (even though it is Harold's car retrieved). Harold has to drive Dolly and the hobo home. Dolly apologizes to Harold. The hobo puts all the new-found cash in her hand. He leaves them and gets on the train to his next destination.

Cast

Reception

Like many American films of the time, The Hobo was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors required a cut where the man blew his nose in a cuspidor. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The Hot Spot</i> 1990 film by Dennis Hopper

The Hot Spot is a 1990 American neo-noir romantic thriller film directed by Dennis Hopper, based on the 1953 novel Hell Hath No Fury by Charles Williams, who also co-wrote the screenplay. It stars Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, and Jennifer Connelly, and features a score by Jack Nitzsche played by John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, Taj Mahal, Roy Rogers, Tim Drummond, and drummer Earl Palmer.

<i>Emperor of the North Pole</i> 1973 film by Robert Aldrich

Emperor of the North Pole is a 1973 American action adventure film directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Keith Carradine, and Charles Tyner. It was later re-released on home media under the shorter title Emperor of the North, ostensibly chosen by studio executives to avoid being mistaken for a heartwarming holiday story. This original title is a homage to the historic joke among Great Depression-era hobos that the world's best hobo was "Emperor of the North Pole", a way of poking fun at their own desperate situation, implying that somebody ruling over the North Pole would reign over nothing but a vast, barren, cold, empty, and stark wasteland.

<i>The Secret of the Old Mill</i> 1927 book by Franklin W. Dixon

The Secret of the Old Mill is Volume 3 in the original Hardy Boys series of mystery books for children and teens published by Grosset & Dunlap. The book ranks 86th on Publishers Weekly's All-Time Bestselling Children's Book List for the United States, with 1,467,645 copies sold by 2001. This book is one of the "Original 10", some of the best examples of the Hardy Boys, and Stratemeyer Syndicate, writing.

<i>The Shore Road Mystery</i> Book by Franklin W. Dixon

The Shore Road Mystery is Volume 6 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap. The plot centers on attempts by the Hardy Boys to catch a ring of car thieves stealing cars from the Shore Road.

<i>The Sinister Signpost</i> Book by Franklin W. Dixon

The Sinister Sign Post is Volume 15 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.

<i>Hurricane Streets</i> 1997 film directed by Morgan J. Freeman

Hurricane Streets is a 1997 American coming-of-age drama film directed and written by Morgan J. Freeman in his feature directorial debut. It stars Brendan Sexton III, Shawn Elliot, L. M. Kit Carson, and Edie Falco. The film tells the story of Marcus, a New York City street teenager who is conflicted between running with a gang who want to move up in more serious crimes and a girl he meets who tries to steer him clear from a potential life in prison.

<i>Running Out of Time</i> (1999 film) 1999 Hong Kong film

Running Out of Time is a 1999 Hong Kong action thriller film produced and directed by Johnnie To and starring Andy Lau as a cancer-ridden criminal who challenges a police negotiator, played by Sean Lau, to a 72-hour battle of wits and courage. Andy Lau won his first Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor in 2000 for his performance in the film. The film was followed by a sequel, Running Out of Time 2, which was released in 2001.

<i>The Quiller Memorandum</i> 1966 British film by Michael Anderson

The Quiller Memorandum is a 1966 British neo noir eurospy film filmed in Deluxe Color and Panavision, adapted from the 1965 spy novel The Berlin Memorandum, by Elleston Trevor under the name "Adam Hall", screenplay by Harold Pinter, directed by Michael Anderson, featuring George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow and Senta Berger. The film was shot on location in West Berlin and in Pinewood Studios, England. It was nominated for three BAFTA Awards, while Pinter was nominated for an Edgar Award for the script.

<i>Just Rambling Along</i> 1918 film

Just Rambling Along is a 1918 American short silent comedy film featuring Stan Laurel. The film is Laurel's earliest surviving work and the first project he did with film producer Hal Roach, who later put out a large portion of the Laurel and Hardy films.

<i>Wild Boys of the Road</i> 1933 film by William A. Wellman

Wild Boys of the Road is a 1933 pre-Code Depression-era American drama film directed by William Wellman and starring Frankie Darro, Rochelle Hudson, and Grant Mitchell. It tells the story of several teens forced into becoming hobos. The screenplay by Earl Baldwin is based on the story Desperate Youth by Daniel Ahern. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

<i>The Dolly Sisters</i> (film) 1945 film by Irving Cummings

The Dolly Sisters is a 1945 American Technicolor biographical film about the Dolly Sisters, identical twins who became famous as entertainers on Broadway and in Europe in the early years of the 20th century as Jennie and Rosie Dolly, Hungarian-born entertainers. It starred Betty Grable as Jenny, June Haver as Rosie and John Payne as Harry Fox.

<i>Black River</i> (2001 film) 2001 American television film by Jeff Bleckner

Black River is an American television movie about a writer who comes upon the town of Black River, only to find that it will not let him leave. Based on a short story by Dean Koontz, the film premiered July 6, 2001 on Fox.

<i>Union Depot</i> (film) 1932 film

Union Depot is a 1932 American pre-Code melodrama film directed by Alfred E. Green for Warner Bros., starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Blondell, and based on an unpublished play by Joe Laurie Jr., Gene Fowler, and Douglas Durkin. The film, an ensemble piece for the studio's contract players, also features performances by Guy Kibbee, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, David Landau, and George Rosener. In the United Kingdom it was released under the title Gentleman for a Day.

<i>Now or Never</i> (1921 film) 1921 film

Now or Never is a 1921 American short comedy film starring Harold Lloyd and directed by Hal Roach and Fred C. Newmeyer.

<i>Hear No Evil</i> (1993 film) 1993 American film

Hear No Evil is a 1993 American thriller film directed by Robert Greenwald, starring Marlee Matlin, D. B. Sweeney and Martin Sheen. It was released by 20th Century Fox on March 26, 1993. Matlin and Sheen would later co-star on the television series The West Wing.

<i>Romance on the Run</i> 1938 film by Gus Meins

Romance on the Run is a 1938 American comedy crime film directed by Gus Meins and starring Donald Woods and Patricia Ellis.

<i>Welcome Danger</i> 1929 film

Welcome Danger is a 1929 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Clyde Bruckman and starring Harold Lloyd. A sound version and silent version were filmed. Ted Wilde began work on the silent version, but became ill and was replaced by Bruckman.

"The Kids Rob a Train" is the 15th episode of the fourth season of the animated comedy series Bob's Burgers and the overall 60th episode, and is written by Steven Davis and Kelvin Yu and directed by Boohwan Lim and Kyounghee Lim. It aired on Fox in the United States on March 30, 2014.

"Morton's Fork" is the tenth and final episode of the first season of the FX anthology series Fargo. The episode aired on June 17, 2014 in the United States on FX. It was written by series creator and showrunner Noah Hawley and directed by Matt Shakman. The title refers to a dilemma of the same name, posed in the episode by FBI agents Pepper and Budge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Hash House Fraud</span> 1915 film by Charley Chase

A Hash House Fraud is a 1915 film short directed by Charley Chase featuring the Keystone Cops.

References

  1. ↑ "Progressive Silent Film List: The Hobo". silentera.com. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors". Exhibitors Herald. 6 (2). New York: Exhibitors Herald Company: 31. January 5, 1918.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.