Busher, The (1919)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Pretty good drama about a bush league baseball player (Charles Ray) who is a hero in his small town when he gets a shot at the majors. He goes there and is a major bust so he returns home as a loser but soon a second chance comes up and this might help him get the girl of his dreams (Colleen Moore). This 55-minute feature is pretty short on actual story but it's still pretty entertaining thanks to some of the baseball scenes. It's funny to see the sports dramas from 1919 had the same formula that sports movies today still have. Ray, a major star at this point in time, manages to give a good performance as the good ol' boy, which is apparently a role he would play quite often. I thought he fit the role quite nicely and he really made you believe that he just walked off the farm. Moore is also pretty good as the love interest but John Gilbert doesn't get too much to do as the rival. I think the main reason people should check this out is for the old-time baseball outfits, gloves and fields. Being a major baseball fan I found this stuff to be the most interesting and it was scenes like these that really made the film keep working even when the story itself starts to drag.
