Rear projection, matte shots, and CGI have made the impossible seem possible; but during the silent era, before even rear-projection had been invented, the action depicted on the screen had to be actually performed. The fifth episode of the Brownlow-Gill documentary on American silent film sings the often unsung accomplishments of Hollywood's stunt men and women. Appropriately, the interviews highlight veteran stunt people such as Harvey Parry, Yakima Canutt, Paul Malvern, Mrs. Buck Jones, and Bob Rose. Hungry for work, extras would often take a job without asking what they had to do; employment was scarce, and the competition for a day's wages was fierce. While some stunt people came from the circus, others were inexperienced novices. At some studios, stunts had a price scale; so many dollars per foot of a jump from a tall building, so much to be dragged behind a stage coach or a car, a fixed fee to a roll down a stone wall. The brutal, unplanned nature of the stunts often resulted in injury, occasionally death.
Some specialized in specific areas; stunt man Harvey Parry was expert in car accidents and crashes, while deceased stunt men Dick Grace, Gene Perkins, and Ormer Locklear were recalled for their daring work in aerial battles and plane crashes for such films as 1927's "Wings" and 1928's "Lilac Time." During one moving segment, actresses Leatrice Joy and Viola Dana remember the handsome Locklear, who took each of them flying in his plane. Dana and Locklear evidently fell in love, and she was moved to tears and unwilling to continue, while remembering his death when the plane he was flying crashed during filming.
Audiences had to believe that the stars did their own stunts, although few did; the athletic Douglas Fairbanks was among those who performed some of his own. His son, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., talks about his father's work on the "Black Pirate" in 1926, and he reveals the secrets behind the famous sequence in which Fairbanks slides down a main sail while holding onto the handle of a knife. Harold Lloyd also did some of his own stunts, and, in an older interview, the comic recounts his climb up a building facade in 1923's "Safety Last;" however, Harvey Parry said that he doubled for Lloyd, a secret kept until Lloyd passed away. Yakima Canutt describes the challenges of working with a particularly dangerous horse named Rex, during the filming of "Devil Horse" in 1926, and Paul Malvern shares memories of "Beloved Rogue," a 1927 film with John Barrymore. Stuntman Bob Rose describes the hardships and loss of four men in icy rapids during the production of "Trail of '98" in 1928.
Directors Allan Dwan and Al Rogell and camerman Byron Haskin provide further anecdotes and depth to the daring work of stunt people during the silent era. Car crashes, runaway covered wagons, wild horses, leaps aboard speeding trains, battles in the air, on the sea, and on the land; the fearless stunt people were there. "The Hazard of the Game" is another fine episode in the landmark series, and the previously unexplored subject matter is valuable and rewarding.
