Cops (1922)

Curiosidades

Cops is a 1922 American two-reel silent comedy film about a young man who accidentally runs afoul of the entire Los Angeles Police Department during a parade and is chased all over town. It was written and directed by Edward F. Cline and Keaton. The film, which has been referred to as "Kafka-esque", was filmed during the rape-and-murder trial of Keaton’s former collaborator Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, a circumstance that may have influenced the short's tone of hopeless ensnarement.

Production

Prior to the film's production, John R. Brinkley, an American quack doctor, had become famous for his xenotransplantation of the testicular glands of goats into humans, claiming his procedure could cure male impotence and enhance virility. Cops references this in a short sequence in which Keaton's character takes his horse to a "goat gland specialist"; when the horse emerges, it has become much faster and more energetic.

During the film's initial release individual states had their own censor boards, which would cut films to meet their state's requirements. Surviving prints of this title bear the Pennsylvania State Board of Censors approval logo; Pennsylvania removed the goat gland sequence, and for decades the footage was missing. Around 1980 a surviving uncut print was located and the sequence was re-inserted into the film.

Cops was one of many silent films to film in a one-block alley near Hollywood and Cahuenga Boulevard. The alley was later renamed Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley in recognition of this and other films.

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