Synopsis
The film opens with an introduction to the Nelson family. The clodhopper, Everett Nelson (Ray), is plowing a field. Everett’s father, Isaac Nelson (French), a notorious tight-wad, is president of the Farmers State Bank in Beeler’s Bend. At the farmhouse, Everett’s mother (Knott) is selling her secretly-made hooked rugs. With the money she is going to buy a coveted silk dress. Isaac Nelson begrudges his wife and son any extra money and expects Everett to work nights and weekends.
Everett plans to take his girl, Mary Martin (Wilson), to the Fourth of July celebration. His only appropriate suit for the occasion is a hand-me-down from his father, which is much too large. Isaac says that Everett will not need new clothes, since he must work all day on the Fourth, planting the field.
His mother uses her money to buy Everett a suit and hat. The suit is poorly-cut, tight-fitting, and has large, dark, strangely shaped pockets. The new hat is too small. However, Everett is satisfied and thinks he looks fine. His mother does the planting in his stead.
Everett meets Mary at the fair and they have a good time. He is riding a bucking mule when his father, passing by, sees him and orders him to go home.
At home, father and son argue over buying the suit and going to the celebration. When his mother intervenes and Isaac threatens to hit her, Everett pushes his father. In Everett’s room, his father beats him with a belt. Everett, declaring that he will never be beaten again, leaves home.
In New York City, looking for a job, Everett sees a ‘janitor-needed’ sign posted on a door. Inside the door, a theatrical producer and director are leading a rehearsal for a new musical. The producer declares that he needs a new type of act. Everett enters in his outlandish clothes, and they immediately think and that his “cornfed” appearance is quite comical and unusual. Despite his protests, they demand that Everett dance. He shuffles around the stage, throwing out his legs and bouncing up and down. They hire him to headline their show. His dance, “The Clodhopper Glide,” is an immediate hit with New York audiences. Everett receives a two-year contract and a $5000.00 bonus. He makes plans to wed Mary and buy a house.
Back home, a false rumor spreads that Isaac Nelson’s bank is in trouble. The depositors make a run on the bank, and after two days only $1000.00 in cash remains. The bank is in a desperate condition. Mother Nelson and Mary agree that Mary must go get Everett, who has enough money to save the bank. Everett is unsure about assisting his father, but Mary pleads with him, and he agrees.
Everett comes home with bags of money, enough to pay the depositors. People see that the bank has lots of cash available, cease their withdrawals, and start to redeposit their money. Initially reluctant to accept Everett’s assistance, Father Nelson is grateful once the bank is saved. Father and son shake hands before Everett returns with Mary, his bride, to New York for his next performance.
Discussion
This charming, unpretentious film epitomizes the movies of Charles Ray, the only major silent star to specialize in rural melodrama. In the simple plot, the unsophisticated country boy and his equally innocent mother suffer under the unjust strictures of the boy’s father. Everett, punished for a simple day of amusement and for defending his mother, moves to the city where his country ways catapult him to great success. His success comes from being himself. He unselfishly returns home to save his father from financial ruin, and they are reconciled. Although the boy becomes more sophisticated in New York, he retains his country values and still wants the sweet, guileless neighbor girl for his wife.
The innocence and artlessness of Ray’s character is shown by his total lack of understanding of the comical appearance of the ill-fitting suit. The suit contributes to his success in New York where the sophisticated, fashionably dressed city people respond enthusiastically to Ray’s “cornfed” looks and simple, plodding dance. Without losing his artlessness, Ray becomes a star performer, and he develops into an amalgamation of Beeles Bend and New York. When she meets him in New York, Mary remarks on his tailored, well-fitted suit.
Stories of father-son conflict were common themes of Ray’s films. During the two reel period, the stories often centered on wayward sons. In 1913 and 1914 Ray had played so many of these roles that he wrote a scenario for himself featuring a different type of character. Ray played many sons in his feature films. In The Coward (1915), a Civil War melodrama, his wayward son deserts his post, much to the shame of his father. Other notable Ray films on the theme of a father-son relationship include The Pinch Hitter (1917), Son of His Father (1917), and His Own Home Town (1918).
Ray had several characteristics that fitted him for stardom as an unsophisticated country boy. His boyish personality registered strongly on screen; audiences responded positively to him. He was young (26 years old in 1917) and his round face, large eyes, and easily tussled hair gave him an innocent, sensitive expression. Ray was a first-rate actor whose acting style was an unforced naturalism. His facial expressions were subtle, and he could alter his expression quickly to reflect his changing moods or in response to changes in the external situation. His body movements were also skillful and appropriate.
The straightforward, uncomplicated story of The Clodhopper required minimal guidance or originality from director Victor Schertzinger. The actors were veteran performers who would have been familiar with the requirements of their roles. The “Clodhopper Glide” was not a choreographed dance; its “steps” consisted of Ray, who was not a dancer, bouncing about jerking his arms and legs.
Schertzinger was probably the least experienced of the film’s crew; The Clodhopper was only his third directing credit. However he had been interested in the arts from childhood. In his youth, Schertzinger had studied violin, conducting and composing. He was in his twenties when producer Thomas Ince of Kay-Bee Pictures hired him to compose an orchestral score to accompany Civilization (1915), a pacifist allegorical film produced and directed by Ince. After his work for Civilization, Schertizinger remained with the Ince studio. Most films of the silent era did not have accompanying scores. Unable to compose movie music, Schertizinger became a movie director. His first film was The Pinch Hitter (1917), a Charles Ray vehicle. Schertizinger became Ray’s director for fourteen films, twelve consequently in 1917 to 1918. He directed Ray’s films during the period in which Ray became a star and was firmly typecast in the role of the simple “country” boy.
Schertzinger continued directing through the 1920s. With the coming of sound films, he expanded his activities to include composing. His most successful film was One Night of Love (1934), a musical comedy starring operatic soprano Grace Moore. The film received several Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director, and won in the category of Best Music, Score, music composed by Schertzinger.
Contemporary reviews of The Clodhopper were mostly positive. “Mack” in Variety called the film “one of the best productions in many a day, the story is A1. Charles Ray is at his best, no tendency to overplay … The clean, wholesome and homespun story will please any audience.” G. W. Graves in Motography wrote that “Mr. Ray gives a rendition that is delightfully real, holds the spectators’ eyes … [the film is ] a delightful mixture of comic and pathetic.” These responses indicate that film reviewers and audiences of 1917, who for years had been content with the simplicity of two-reel short films, remained satisfied with undemanding stories featuring simplified characters. Greater complexity in plot structure and character type developed through the 1910s and early 1920s.
Further Reading