Lupino Lane
Bill Snibson, a chancer from Lambeth Walk in South London, is informed that he has been discovered to be the long-lost heir to a title and castle which he can claim provided he is able to convince his new relations that he has enough aristocratic bearing. Things soon begin to go awry however, particularly when Sally, Bill's girlfriend from Lambeth, turns up.
Posing as an aristocrat to crash a party, a composer stumbles upon a gang of jewel thieves working unnoticed upstairs.
An actor impersonates a duchess – with truly astonishing results for him and his company!
A young Spanish woman marries a lowly Englishman, rather than the aristocrat her father had intended, much to his displeasure.
A window cleaner bumps into an old flame, and the pair turn detective in an attempt to foil a gang of burglars.
A henpecked husband is mistaken for a famous toreador while holidaying in Spain!
The Love Race is a delightful musical comedy film based around the fierce rivalry between two motor manufacturers – and the romance that develops between the daughter of one and the son of the other...
As they are leaving the church following their wedding, Count Adrian Beltrami and Countess Anna-Marie are told that the Austrians are marching on the town to quell an Italian uprising. The bride and relatives induce the count to flee to his castle, but Tangy, a silhouette cutter, brings word from the revolutionary committee asking him to return; the count goes, asking Tangy to pose as the count and protect Anna-Marie.
The queen of mythical Sylvania marries a courtier, who finds his new life unsatisfying.
Golden Dawn (1930) is a musical operetta released by Warner Brothers, photographed entirely in Technicolor, and starring Walter Woolf King and Noah Beery. The film is based on the semi-hit stage musical of the same name by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach. Beery's extraordinarily deep bass voice registers particularly well in the songs.
It's 1929. The studio gave the cinema its voice gave offered the audiences a chance to see their favorite actors and actresses from the silent screen era to see and for the first time can be heard in a gaudy, grandiose music comedy revue. But also appear actors and actresses from the first 'talkies', stars from Broadway and of course the German shepherd Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay is the host of the more than 70 well-known stars who show various acts.
A well-dressed but inebriated man decides to attend a variety show at the Palace Theatre. During the show, both he and the performers are continually harassed by a practical joke-loving boy who is sitting in a box seat near the stage. Soon the inebriated man himself begins to cause disruptions, with his overly emphatic opinions of the various acts.
After losing his job as a firefighter, Lupino decides to start his own station.
Battling Sisters (1929) is a bizarre, futuristic gender-bending semi-spoof of ‘The Big Parade, with men and women’s roles reversed.Offering the spectacle of Wallace Lupino, in drag, vamping the helpless house husband Lane!
A wandering swordsman in the reign of Louis XIII stumbles into a nest of conspirators against the King when his horse throws him and he is forced to seek refuge in a nearby inn. Without money or rank, he is treated ignominiously by patron and customers, but when a captured messenger from the King arrives, accompanied by a lovely lady, he swings into action to save the day. Or try to...
Fandango, a short Lane made for Educational Pictures in 1928. It's pleasant enough, and amusing at times, as long as you don't require a plot or expect dimensional characters. If you want basic silent comedy chuckles, you'll get them. Our setting is Bullonia, "the land of romance, castanets, onions and sweet zephyrs of garlic." Actually, it looks rather like a back-lot version of Spain or Latin America. More to the point, the atmosphere suggests the Doug Fairbanks vehicle The Gaucho, which was in general release when this short was made.
Belle-Hure and Horatio Babaorum escape from a Roman galley only to land in a Roman palace where they indulge in their antique antics!
Frank Tuttle silent romantic comedy about a Frenchman who seduces women all over Paris, but he meets his match in a proper American tourist. He does everything he can to seduce her, but he will only find romance when he does so on her terms!
Lane plays two roles: Grand Duke Algy Horseradish De Ketchup of Worcestershire and Newsboy White. The newsboy is hired by Elmer Éclair (played by Lane's younger brother, Walter Lupino) to impersonate the Duke for unstated reasons, and to attend a house party at the Smalls (a last name that leads to several puns) in the Duke's stead. Éclair warns the newsboy to stay away from the girl, as she is his finance. The newsboy is somewhat at sea at the elaborate dinner being confused by the multitude of silverware. He begins to tell a story about lion hunting and there is further mayhem with flying food.
This is a real corker. It starts off with a terrific routine with an erratic elevator. Lane's character, Johnny Jones, upon sight falls in love with Mary Craig (played by Kathryn McGuire who appears in a number of Lane comedies). The man who hopes to marry her is Henry Sharp played by Wallace Lupino; the title card introducing this character says" Henry Sharp – so mean he would steal a dead fly from a blind spider." Johnny agrees to do his father a favor by posing as his little boy of about 10 years old. The father had told the wealthy widow he hopes to marry that he was only 30 years old. Because of Lane's small stature this is more believable than most comedy routines that have an adult playing a child.
A well-dressed hobo gets a job as "utility man" with a theater company, and winds up starring in the show.
Reggie Hemingway is a rich broker who continually bullies his valet. World War I breaks out and the valet enlists immediately. Reggie goes to the army later and arrives at the training camp to find that his valet is now a tough sergeant in charge of the recruits.
The short starts with a duel in the Old South wherein a man inadvertently saves one of the duelist's lives for which he is given a watch. Years pass and we next see the grandson, impoverished and heading to the big city for work (taking the watch with him). His ma gives him a pigeon in case he wants to send a message back home. The watch is the key to getting a fortune and a vamp and her cohort want it.
Lupino Lane (The Dude) and his younger brother, Wallace Lupino (The Rival) are at it once again. I love the introductory cards for some of the old comedy shorts. In this case about Lupino Lane's character, it reads: "A poor little rich boy with not enough to do, and not enough energy to do it." Lane, the proverbial 98 pound weakling falls for a girl whose" intended" is a big handsome man.
Lupino and his wife Helen are honeymooning in Morocco and the local Caliph wants to add Helen to his harem. Lupino saves her, loses her again and saves her again.
A family from Poland has been left homeless in the wake of World War I. They move to Germany and struggle to survive the conditions there, during the Great Inflation. Inga (Carol Dempster) is a Polish war orphan who has only accumulated a small amount of money from the rubble and hopes to marry Paul (Neil Hamilton). Weakened by poison gas, Paul begins to invest in Inga's future and he serves as their symbol of optimism.
Short comedy set in a haunted hotel. Filmed using "Kinekature" which provides lens distortion.
'Widow makes son pose as boy to appear younger to professor, but he is to wed professor's daughter.' (British Film Catalogue)
