Film Identifier: F.2005-01-0022

Part Of: Subseries II: Collected Professional Films

Run Time
0h 19m 27s

Format
16mm

Color
B&W

Sound
Silent

Date Produced
1920

Abstract
Silent slapstick comedy starring Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, and Wallace Howe. After numerous failed attempts to commit suicide, our hero (Lloyd) runs into a lawyer who is looking for a stooge to stand in as a groom in order to secure an inheritance for his client (Davis). The inheritance is a house, which her scheming uncle "haunts" so that he can scare them off and claim the property.

Log
00:00 - credits, “A Southern gentleman has just died the first time. His Estate goes to granddaughter and her husband provided they live in the family mansion one year. Other wise the whole works goes to the girl’s uncle...” uncle and his lady devise a plan to take the mansion 03:00 - introduce granddaughter young girl, hair in curls, ruffled dress, sits in garden feeding baby pigs with bottle 03:56 - introduce rich girl in courtyard of her mansion, LS well dressed guests play tennis, men in suits, women with parcels walk around, many men try to win her affections, two men begin fighting for her hand in marriage 05:34 - MLS interior mansion, two men run in looking for girl’s father to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage, MS men fight back and forth with each other to talk to father 06:22 - the suitors compete to win over the father, the clever one sits back as the other chases the father around the desk, he is removed by a team of butlers for acting crazy and the smart suitor makes his move, he is granted the girl’s hand in marriage and runs out of the mansion excited jumping over furniture and butlers on his way out, when he gets out to find his love, he sees she is in the arms of yet another suitor, he walks away sad and rejected 07:59 - the rejected suitor decides to end it all. he tries a series of suicide attempts that fail miserably (and comedically), he tries shooting himself, throwing himself into a trolley, and jumping off a bridge with no success 10:16 - in a last attempt, suitor runs out in front of car’s path, car slams on breaks, rejected suitor lays in the road, the driver gets out to drag him away, suitor says “I’ve lost another one of the only girls I ever loved.” the driver gets an idea and take the suitor with him 10:46 - the granddaughter packs car with her belongings to move into the mansion, FA Ford pulls, lawyer and others step out of car, lawyer drags suitor to granddaughter and says “I’ve brought you a husband, a minister, a ring and a cook book.” FA girl with lawyer thinking it over, CU suitor nervous, MS FA minister performs marriage ceremony, announces them man and wife, lawyer shakes their hands, gives them the will, and takes off 11:39 - newly weds have an amusing drive to their mansion in their car full of luggage, chickens, and other odds and ends while battling road hogs and obstacles 13:22 - storm rolls in, uncle and his lady tell the African American butler of the mansion that the house is haunted, he gathers all the other workers in the mansion and tells them the ghost stories, they see a ghost (man in white sheet) and flee just as the granddaughter and husband enter, the butler tells them there are ghosts, they don’t believe in ghosts, but they are scared by a series of haunted events hosted by the uncle and his lady 18:42-20:07 - butler catches uncle setting up another round of haunting and drags him out to show the new couple, the uncle and his lady are removed from the mansion, the rest of the ghosts come out and reveal themselves as the workers of the house who were only hiding themselves, they say goodnight, he asks his new wife her name, they go to bed together, the end

Distributors

Actors, Performers and Participants