Twelfth film viewed at Capitolfest! A masterpiece! Denny’s swan-song! That’s My Daddy (1927), is one of the most sweetest, loveliest, and hilarious films! I really do believe this is because Denny had more input in this film through writing the story and pretty much directing it himself without credit. His warmth and charm jumped off of the screen. I was gleaming when watching this film! Jane La Verne was a marvel and worked wonderfully with Denny. He let her shine for sure. Barbara Kent was sweet. Lillian Rich played a really good let’s say, it rhymes with Rich. The restored print was gorgeous! The audience at Capitolfest loved this film! I have never seen such a clap out and I loved hearing peoples reactions! My heart is full of love! Denny lives on.
“Next time, I hope it’s twins!”This is such a cute film, and it was a treat to see it on a double bill at the historic Stanford Theater in Palo Alto on the occasion of its 100 year anniversary. Little Jane La Verne is adorable as “Pudge,” and Reginald Denny is funny with his subtle reactions. While Denny didn’t get a director’s credit, he is believed to have taken over directing and to have written the intertitles, which are quite humorous. One example is when Pudge asks him to play with her and he says “Sure, how would you like to play a round of golf?” The film gets great mileage out of this wealthy bachelor’s inexperience around kids, and without going into details, he’s only taken this one in to get out of a speeding ticket. Not unexpectedly, his heart soon softens, but there’s still tension because he’s also engaged to be married, so Pudge must be kept a secret or gotten rid of.While where this is going is predictable, the film has good pace and is peppered with amusing moments. Some that stand out are when Denny swings his hips back and forth to conceal Pudge who’s on the other side of the door, the flashback to a tall tale of “goofer hunting” in African to explain how he came to adopt Pudge (“twelve years ago” lol), and Pudge going overboard off the yacht while calling out to “daddy.” It was a tad contrived how the love interest shifted from the gold-digger (Lillian Rich) to suddenly the woman he brings into the house to take care of Pudge (Barbara Kent), but that’s who we were all pulling for, and have them circle back to revisit the orphanage at the end was nice touch.As a postscript, here is a paraphrasing of the ‘one upping’ a couple of orphans are engaged in early on:“My dad has electricity in his hair”“Oh yeah, well my dad has gas in his stomach!”“Oh yeah, well my dad once went to a hanging.”“Oh yeah, well my uncle was the one being hung!”
