This brief silent comedy, produced by the Thanhauser Film Co. of New Rochelle NY, will appeal to buffs who enjoy a dark comic premise. Although this same premise could be played, with minor tweaks, as a melodrama or even a tragedy, the filmmakers who created Toodles, Tom and Trouble took a wildly cartoon-y, high energy approach to the project, so that even when the situation takes a nightmarish turn towards the end, the effect is somehow funny rather than grim.
The set-up is rather elaborate and, it must be said, not exactly credible. Tom is asked by his wife to take their baby ("Toodles") to the park while she and her friends go shopping. Plainly he's not happy about it; after his wife has departed he even shakes his fist at the baby. But he complies. Once in the park however, Tom sees someone he knows, sets the baby aside on a bench, and goes to chat with his friend, leaving the baby unattended. Soon thereafter, a gentleman comes along, finds the baby, becomes concerned, and carries her away, looking for the parents. Moments later, a little girl with a baby doll wanders off from her nursemaid, sits down on the same bench, and places her doll precisely where Baby Toodles was resting. When the girl is called back by the nursemaid, she leaves her doll behind. And wouldn't you know, Tom happens to glance back just as a dog comes along, snatches up the doll, and runs off with it. Of course, Tom is horrified.
And that's our set-up: a "baby switch," dependent on several rather unlikely coincidences. (For instance, the doll is wrapped in a blanket identical to the one in which Toodles is wrapped.) But as long as you're willing to suspend disbelief and roll with it, you can enjoy what follows. Tom, naturally enough, believes Toodles has been seized by the dog, and gives chase. The dog, reversing the Rin-Tin-Tin style 'heroic canine' behavior we expect in movies, goes out of his way to put the baby in one dangerous situation after another.
Early on, the dog simply drops the doll in the middle of a street, just as a car is coming. At this point we're treated to some rudimentary animation, as the oncoming car appears to sail over the dog and baby. As a punch-line, the car's headlights sprout human eyes, which wink at the camera. (Of course, this dreamlike gag signals viewers that we shouldn't take any of this film's events too seriously.) Meanwhile, as Tom chases after the dog, the man who found Toodles approaches various people to ask if this might be their baby. But most of the action concerns poor Tom, who dashes this way and that, while for some unknown reason the determined pooch doggedly tries to destroy the doll.
What eventually happens to the dog would be horrible in real life, but here it's presented in such an outlandish, over-the-top fashion we can't take it to heart. (And clearly, no harm came to the actual dog seen in the film.) Let it suffice to say that Tom is reunited with Baby Toodles, the baby is returned to his mother, and order is restored. We hope Tom has learned a thing or two about childcare duties. And for those of us viewing this short, so many years after it was produced, Toodles, Tom and Trouble may still provide some chuckles and a jolt or two.
The set-up is rather elaborate and, it must be said, not exactly credible. Tom is asked by his wife to take their baby ("Toodles") to the park while she and her friends go shopping. Plainly he's not happy about it; after his wife has departed he even shakes his fist at the baby. But he complies. Once in the park however, Tom sees someone he knows, sets the baby aside on a bench, and goes to chat with his friend, leaving the baby unattended. Soon thereafter, a gentleman comes along, finds the baby, becomes concerned, and carries her away, looking for the parents. Moments later, a little girl with a baby doll wanders off from her nursemaid, sits down on the same bench, and places her doll precisely where Baby Toodles was resting. When the girl is called back by the nursemaid, she leaves her doll behind. And wouldn't you know, Tom happens to glance back just as a dog comes along, snatches up the doll, and runs off with it. Of course, Tom is horrified.
And that's our set-up: a "baby switch," dependent on several rather unlikely coincidences. (For instance, the doll is wrapped in a blanket identical to the one in which Toodles is wrapped.) But as long as you're willing to suspend disbelief and roll with it, you can enjoy what follows. Tom, naturally enough, believes Toodles has been seized by the dog, and gives chase. The dog, reversing the Rin-Tin-Tin style 'heroic canine' behavior we expect in movies, goes out of his way to put the baby in one dangerous situation after another.
Early on, the dog simply drops the doll in the middle of a street, just as a car is coming. At this point we're treated to some rudimentary animation, as the oncoming car appears to sail over the dog and baby. As a punch-line, the car's headlights sprout human eyes, which wink at the camera. (Of course, this dreamlike gag signals viewers that we shouldn't take any of this film's events too seriously.) Meanwhile, as Tom chases after the dog, the man who found Toodles approaches various people to ask if this might be their baby. But most of the action concerns poor Tom, who dashes this way and that, while for some unknown reason the determined pooch doggedly tries to destroy the doll.
What eventually happens to the dog would be horrible in real life, but here it's presented in such an outlandish, over-the-top fashion we can't take it to heart. (And clearly, no harm came to the actual dog seen in the film.) Let it suffice to say that Tom is reunited with Baby Toodles, the baby is returned to his mother, and order is restored. We hope Tom has learned a thing or two about childcare duties. And for those of us viewing this short, so many years after it was produced, Toodles, Tom and Trouble may still provide some chuckles and a jolt or two.
