The Battling Kangaroo

The Battling Kangaroo
Opening title card for The Battling Kangaroo
opening title card
Directed byJules White
Story by
  • Hewlett Benjamin
  • Edward Marshall[1]
Produced byGeorge Marshall
Starring
Production
company
Distributed byFox Film
Release date
  • 5 December 1926 (1926-12-05) (US)
Running time
18 mins.
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

The Battling Kangaroo is an American two reel, slap stick silent comedy film directed by Jules White in 1926.[1] Fox Film Corporation produced and distributed the film.[2] Fox Film released it in the United States on December 5, 1926.[1]

Sterling Holloway made his motion picture debut in this short film.[2]

Plot

[edit]

Limber Lucy, a trapeze artist, wants to leave the carnival of which her family is part, but they cannot leave until her father repays $1,000 to the carnival owner, Knockout Kelly. The latter is a former farmhand "who loved to plant cauliflowers on people's ears." Lucy flees Kelly after he accosts her.[3]

Pete Brush, a taxi driver who fancies Lucy, learns of Kelly's pursuit of Lucy and that "a thousand dollars stand between [Lucy] and happiness." Brush sees an advertisement that "Knockout Kelly Fights Anything on Two Feet. $1000.00 CASH If You Knock Him Out." After failing to knock out Kelly himself, Brush and two carnival workers attempt to hijack a passenger from a competitor's taxi, as the rider has offered "A thousand dollars if you reach the dock before my boat departs."[3]

The short

After commandeering the passenger, they deliver him to the boat but fail to procure the fare. Fleeing the irate taxi driver, the three men accidentally free three kangaroos from a crate, who cause havoc. The three men are then able to guide one of the kangaroos, attired for boxing, into the ring with Knockout Kelly. The kangaroo, after battling with Kelly, then knocks him out. Brush receives the thousand dollars for the knock out. He and Lucy kiss.[3]

Cast

[edit]

The cast credits are from the film's intertitles.[3]

[edit]
  • Mildred June
    Mildred June
  • Sterling Holloway
    Sterling Holloway
  • Holoway, Conley, and Grey
    Holoway, Conley, and Grey
  • Conley, Grey, and Holloway
    Conley, Grey, and Holloway
  • The abduction of a passenger from another taxi
    The abduction of a passenger from another taxi
  • Conely
    Conely
  • Grey travelling by kangaroo
    Grey travelling by kangaroo
  • Conley and June in the kangaroo boxing scene
    Conley and June in the kangaroo boxing scene
  • An extra and Kaufman as a knocked-out boxer
    An extra and Kaufman as a knocked-out boxer

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Library of Congress (1927). "Classes L and M. Motion Pictures". Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1: Books, Group 2. Vol. 23. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Copyright Office. p. 2180. hdl:2027/uiug.30112100650289. OCLC 1348619420 – via HathiTrust.
  2. ^ a b c Rubin, Steven Jay (2018). The Twilight Zone encyclopedia. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press. p. 431. ISBN 978-1-61373-889-4. OCLC 1004368231.
  3. ^ a b c d White, Jules (1926). The Battling Kangaroo (Motion picture). Fox Animal Comedies. Fox Film. ASIN B005W4SBHS. OCLC 423078859.
[edit]
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