Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Flunky, Work Hard (1931)

This comedy-drama short film, the earliest surviving film directed by Mikio Naruse, presents a brief tale of a timid and put-upon insurance agent who is hounded by financial circumstance and a frustrated wife.

In this short film, Naruse employs some camera movement (uncommon for the time) and unusual editing devices to propel his narrative.

Due to the entrenchment of the Benshi narrator tradition in Japanese film exhibition, the production of Japanese silent films extended well into the 1930s.

This DVD edition has been mastered from a good to very-good 35mm print that shows signs of beginning nitrate decomposition throughout. The midtones of the greyscale range are a bit dark which makes the overall picture seem a little dull. Moderate amounts of dust, speckling, emulsion chipping and scuffing, schmutz, and other print flaws are present throughout. Two source prints may have been utilized for the source material as there is a subtle change in the size and definition of film grain in the picture from the beginning to the end. The DVD’s high video bit rate presents the best image resolution that can be expected from the format.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Robin Holcomb and Wayne Horvitz. As audio channel 1 is devoid of any content, audio channel 2 must be chosen to hear the music score performed by a small ensemble.

As would be expected of a Criterion Collection release, this edition has been lovingly produced for home video and is enthusiastically recommended.

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