Ford Sterling is perhaps best remembered by silent film buffs as the Chief of the Keystone Kops, although he was neither the first comic to play the role (that would be Fred Mace), nor the last. Some may recall too that Sterling was the top comedian on the Keystone lot prior to the arrival of Charlie Chaplin. Once Charlie was on the scene he and Sterling appeared in three Keystone comedies together. According to some sources they disliked each other, but there seems to be no evidence to back that up. In any event Sterling soon left Keystone to make films elsewhere and did not return until after Chaplin's departure. He worked prolifically in silent movies and early talkies but was less active in the later '30s, and his career gradually sputtered out. Although Sterling toned down his style over the years his early performances are quite frenzied and hammy, and even before the end of the silent era he must have been considered something of an anachronism, a throwback to the early nickelodeon days.
So, is that early, hammy Ford Sterling still funny today? Well, yes, he can be, although he's very much a matter of taste, like Jerry Lewis or The Three Stooges, and for similar reasons. If you're looking for a nuanced, sympathetic comic, stick with Chaplin or Harold Lloyd, but if you enjoy wildly over-the-top mugging from a flat-out dastardly villain, Sterling's your man. This film, Dirty Work in a Laundry, is perhaps better known under its alternate title, one which describes Sterling's screen character quite perfectly: The Desperate Scoundrel. He even dresses like Snidely Whiplash, complete with black top hat and swallow-tail jacket; no friendly-looking derby or horn-rimmed glasses for this guy. In the opening scene, set in a park, Sterling steals bottled milk from a baby, drinks it, then refills the bottle with water before returning it to the anxious baby. What a mean guy! Even W. C. Fields never did that, most likely because he didn't care for milk. And that pretty much sets the tone for what follows, so if you get a kick out of the intro, you'll probably enjoy this movie.
The bulk of the action takes place in a laundry. First, while pretending to flirt with employee Minta Durfee, Ford attempts to steal some clothes by stuffing them into his jacket. At that point, however, he spies bigger game: a pile of cash is delivered (inexplicably) to the manager of the laundry, who leaves it behind on his desk in plain sight (idiotically) while he steps out. Sterling seizes the money and flees, and from there, it's pure Keystone: frenzied fighting, chases on roads and rooftops, Kops racing trains, repeated dunks in water, and the full range of Ford Sterling's facial expressions. There's an amusing variation on the imperiled-girl-in-a-sawmill bit, which must have been a cliché even then. Don't expect clever gags a la Buster Keaton, or methodical routines a la Laurel & Hardy, for this is mostly high-speed mayhem, and even today's viewers, trained by channel-surfing and MTV-style editing, may find that they have to watch these ancient comedies very closely in order to follow what's happening from scene to scene.
Is it worth the effort? In this case yes, I believe so. Dirty Work in a Laundry is no masterpiece, but it's a pleasant exercise in silliness. And hey, if you want to see what a laundry cleaning establishment looked like in 1915, here's your chance.
