Grief

Old movies have a tendency to degrade due to the volatile nitrate filmstock. Often, it turns to dust or melts....and it can even explode! Because of this, most of the silents and a very large number of films made before about 1950 are either gone or, in the case of "Grief", are in really rough shape.

"Grief" consists of one reel that is very decayed in portions. It's so bad that I am hesitant to recommend anyone look for the film. What remains appears almost like two separate movies--a portion with the comic Jimmie Adams as well as a portion that looks like an Our Gang comedy (though this was made a year before the Hal Roach series began). The Adams portion finds the guy chased about town because they are looking for some crook in a gray derby...and Jimmie happens to have one.

So is it any good? Not especially.