by Hal Erickson
synopsis
Cherubic character actor Otis Harlan stars as Goodrich Mudd, the "black sheep" of the film's title. The bane of his prominent family's existence, Goodrich brings even more embarrassment upon his loved ones when he gets mixed up with a seedy burlesque troupe. Before the inevitable "redemption" scene, there are several slapstick highlights, all of them played to the hilt by the star. The film takes particular advantage of Harlan's stage specialty, his "kidney feet," in one crucial scene, wherein Goodrich cavorts drunkenly onstage with a line of chorus girls (this sort of routine would later be de rigueur in the 2-reel comedies of Leon Errol. The Black Sheep was based on a stage farce by Charles Hoyt.
