AllMovie

Released on DVD in a crisp and clear restored version, D.W. Griffith's slightly altered screen version of Broadway star Dorothy Donnelly's circus comedy drama +Poppy is, truth be told, far too much Carol Dempster. A singularly unattractive actress whom Griffith unaccountably doted on (à la Susan Alexander), Dempster is allowed to hog the camera at every opportunity. This, sadly, takes attention away from her co-star W.C. Fields, who performs -- or attempts to perform, if only the smitten Griffith hadn't let his camera wander back to Dempster -- several of his legendary routines, including "The Old Army Game," and all too-brief examples of his famed juggling dexterity. Alfred Lunt, who was starring opposite wife Lynn Fontanne in their greatest hit, +The Guardsman, at the time, plays Dempster's love interest, but is as colorless as she. As in the original 1923 Broadway production of +Poppy, it is in the end left to Fields to fill the many gaps, which he does in his inimitable way while proving what a fine silent comedian he really was. Although he would repeat his McGargle role in the 1936 sound remake of Poppy (and variations of him in several other comedies), Sally of the Sawdust remains historically important as a showcase for the younger and more adroit W.C. Fields in his +Ziegfeld Follies period. Watch for plug-ugly William "Shorty" Blanche, Fields' longtime stage partner, performing his "stooge" routine.