Here’s another film I never thought I’d see: one of only two starring talkies featuring Raymond Griffith.

Griffith was a real original among the silent comedians. He was suave and debonair, a bit like Max Linder, but added a jazz-age slyness and visual wit that were entirely his own. His starring features in the mid-late 1920s were big hits, but few are available for viewing today. Still, surviving entries like HANDS UP!, YOU’D BE SURPRISED and PATHS TO PARADISE are enough to confirm he was a major talent.

The coming of sound was enough to give even the funniest silent clown the jitters, but Griffith had more reason to worry than most. It wasn’t a case of simply not having a voice to fit his character, but rather his barely having a voice at all. An illness in his younger days had left him with little more than a hoarse whisper. Despite this, he gamely gave it a try in a pair of two-reelers made for Al Christie in 1929: POST MORTEMS and THE SLEEPING PORCH.

Each time, an excuse was found in the plot to justify his hoarseness; in THE SLEEPING PORCH, he’s supposed to be suffering from a bad cold. Despite the massive handicap he was facing, Griffith actually acquits himself rather well here. He’s still funny visually, with chance to make some great reactions (including an especially great double take incorporating a whole-body spin) and actually handles the dialogue very well considering, delivering some funny lines effectively. Certainly, for a 1929 talkie, this could be a lot worse. See for yourself, courtesy of Geno’s House of Rare Films on YouTube:

Clearly, there was a limit to how long the scriptwriters could keep coming up with variations on working Griffith’s hoarseness into the plot, and unsurprisingly, he didn’t sustain a career in talkies. His last role was as a dying soldier in ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. Happily for Griffith, he went on to a successful career behind the scenes at Fox.

As for THE SLEEPING PORCH, it’s an interesting little curio with some amusing moments. Thanks for sharing, Geno!