Many films in Gaumont’s “Calino” series, much like Pathé’s “Boireau” series (with André Deed), have the title character trying, unsuccessfully, to learn how to work at a particular job, and this film loosely fits that pattern. Here a very slight story in which Calino visits the “Far West” is the occasion for a series of stunts and comic skits. First, Hamman displays his prowess at rope tricks (à la Will Rogers) and horseback riding and lassoing (à la Tom Mix). Then, apparently back in the city, Calino uses a lasso to destroy the furniture in one of his rooms and then shoots up a bathroom, punching holes in the water pipes leading to a tub. When he returns to the “Far West” in the end, his cowboy friends set him on a docile donkey and carry off both man and beast in triumph. The opening shot, taken on a black-backdrop stage, sets up the expected comedy: on the left, Calino preens in his city slicker clothes; on the right, he plays a cowboy furiously riding a toy white horse and aiming a toy rifle at his double.

Richard Abel