Call of the Cuckoo

Call of the Cuckoo
Directed byClyde Bruckman
Written byH. M. Walker (titles)
Produced byHal Roach
StarringMax Davidson
CinematographyFloyd Jackman
Edited byRichard C. Currier
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • October 15, 1927 (1927-10-15)
Running time
18:42
CountryUnited States
Languages

Call of the Cuckoo (1927) is a Hal Roach two-reel silent film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[1] The film's principal star is comedian Max Davidson, though the film is just as well known for cameos from other Roach stars at the time. These cameos include renowned supporting player James Finlayson, Charley Chase, and a pre-teaming Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

Plot

Papa Gimplewart exchanges his house, in order to escape the antics of his strange next-door neighbors, the "cuckoos", often assumed to be inmates in a lunatic asylum. They include characters played by Laurel and Hardy. Their activities include shooting an apple perched on someone's head, and carrying bricks on a human wheelbarrow. Unfortunately, the new house turns out to be jerry-built, put up in two days. The electrics, water taps and cooker are cross-connected. During the housewarming party, a fight breaks out between the guests. After several disasters occur, Papa Gimplewart asks, "Is there anything else can happen?". He then realizes that the same strange neighbors have just moved in next door.

Among the disasters are a mop removing the pattern from the kitchen floor, dirty bath water leaking from upstairs onto a meal, and a piano which slides down a sloping floor, crashes through a wall and demolishes the family car.

The couple's teenage son always lurks annoyingly, puts off the first house buyer by explaining about the neighbors, and repeatedly baulks his father's attempts to fix the flooring.

Production

The opening cast list and some intertitles vary between several versions of this film. For example, the 1955 Blackhawk Films edition omits Leo Willis, and replaces "chivvy" with "nose".[2]

Laurel and Hardy have close-cropped hair from making their previous film The Second Hundred Years just days earlier.

Excerpts from this film appeared in the Robert Youngson 1965 documentary Laurel and Hardy's Laughing 20's.

Cast

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Call of the Cuckoo". Silent Era. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  2. ↑ Call of the Cuckoo (1927) - 16mm - Flat - Silent (Music) - HD (Motion picture). Blackhawk Films. November 27, 2024 [1955]. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
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