ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - The images are black and white, the movements of the actors are herky-jerky, which is what we’re used to seeing in silent films. The acting is hammy: Edgar Barrier twists the ends of his handlebar mustache! And the antics are slapstick: Joseph Cotton deftly scampers across an endless landscape of New York City rooftops, wrestling with uncooperative ladders.
But there is mystery to this antic madness. The film, “Too Much Johnson,” is not from the 1920s. It was shot in 1938, produced and directed by Orson Welles. His other significant project that year was the infamous radio production of H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds.” CLICK HERE.