The First Auto

The First Auto is a humorous curio. Takes the age-old story of when the motorized vehicles took over for the horse carriage and gives it a little sound, including a couple of spoken words. Beside the historic stuff, The First Auto is both funny and sentimental. Perhaps not the most ambitious comedies made, but still driven by fine actors and crazy car driving. Also got a cameo by race car driver Barney Oldfield who'd done a few comedy shorts for the old Keystone company back in the teens.

Written by Darryl Zanuck, this early sound film predates Crosland's 'The Jazz Singer' by a few months. Despite lacking the same level of seminal importance (or visibility) that Jolson's performance garnered, 'The First Auto' gives us the story of the horse-drawn carriage's transition into the automobile, using the very transitional technology that was about to change the film industry in ways that its contemporaneous practitioners could hardly foresee. As a historical curiosity, excellent.