The Perils of Pauline (1947)

(On TV, November 2019) I too-often record movies without quite being able to explain why, and that can lead to a few surprises later when I do get around to watching them. I’m still not too sure why I recorded The Perils of Pauline, but watching it a year later was like discovering a forgotten present. While it makes no sense to talk about this film in the same breath as Singin’ in the Rain, there are a few points of similitude between the two—it’s a satirical look at Hollywood history in the form of a musical, and it’s surprisingly funny as it recreates the era of the silent comedy. It has plenty of flaws—the pacing is uneven, the script is weak, and the suddenly maudlin ending isn’t all that satisfying … but an extraordinary performance from Betty Hutton compensates for much. Her brassy, high-energy portrayal of an equally noticeable character makes the film quite a bit better than it would have been on the page, although a number of funny sequences also help compensate for the lull in the overall narrative. The Perils of Pauline is in the public domain, meaning that it can be watched from even the film’s Wikipedia page … but the visual quality is disappointing even if the film is entertaining.