The Campus Vamp

Just watched this very brief Mack Sennett comedy short on YouTube. Carole Lombard plays the title character as a blonde who temporarily takes brunette Sally Eilers' boyfriend. There's also a 2-strip color sequence of a softball game that takes place on a beach. Other than that, nothing much happens during the entire nine minutes though there are some descriptively funny intertitle cards and some hilarious physical comedy of which a few is provided by comedienne Daphne Pollard, sister of fellow comic "Snub". Oh, and there's also some slow motion running sequences. So on that note, if you're curious about these early rarities especially one in early color starring a legendary actress, The Campus Vamp is worth a look.

Carol (Carole Lombard) and Sally (Sally Eilers) both want what every college girl seems to want in this film--to get a boyfriend and be popular. However, poor old Sally is at a big disadvantage in this film until she gets a little help from sweet ol' Dora.

Despite this little comedy coming from Sennett Studios, it is not a slapstick comedy but a minor little comedy about college. And while the film has few moments of brilliance, it also is rather non-offensive and pleasant--making it a time-passer and not much more. What I did find interesting about the film was seeing a very young Carole Lombard as well as 4' 9" Daphne Pollard--sister of silent comic Snub Pollard. Otherwise, there isn't much to distinguish this film one way or another.

Difficult to find a satisfactory version of this film. The two-reel 19-20 minute version does exist but in a rather poor copy. Most reviewers seem to have seen a cut-down one-reel version which also exists.

Absolutely none of the versions I have seen are actually in colour. They are simply tinted (not even hand-coloured), even those claiming to be "in colour" or even those claiming to show only the colour sequences.

Anybody who does not know the difference should look at some of the early two-strip Technicolor films that do exist - The Toll of the Sea (1922) or The Black Pirate (1926) - if you can find the Technicolor version - or The Viking (1928). It is not possible to confuse the two. Few of the Technicolor sequences that were inserted in many films at this time survive (The Phantom of the Opera is a happy exception as are some of the Von Stroheim films of the twenties).

Well, suppose it's still the same eternal question: do men prefer blondes?

And it won't be in this 1928 short comedy that you will find the answer! Actually everything seems to be left uncompleted and the movie is worth seeing more for what it doesn't say than for what it actually does. We have lots of themes and ideas that will be developed further on in film history: scenes of campus life, a love triangle and a beach softball game! And from the technical point of view we have an early example of two colour Technicolor, just a few minutes but a glimpse of things that will be.

All around an enjoyable view if you are not expecting an unearthly cinematographic experience!