|
The Fatal Dress Suit
(1914) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by Eddie Dillon (Edward Dillon)
Cast: Fay Tincher [Rosie Green], Eddie Dillon (Edward Dillon) [Sam, Rosie’s sweetheart], James Young [Walter], Tod Browning
Komic Company production; distributed by Mutual Film Corporation. / Scenario by Anita Loos. / Released 8 April 1914. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Comedy.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? All the boys in Hickville are rivals for the hand of Rosie Green, the village belle. Among them are Sam, who is a good boy, and Walter, who is a villain. One day Rosie sends out invitations for a big party. The night of the party Walter starts downtown, stopping often on the way to show off his clothes. As he passes the express office he sees Sam emerge with a big box under his arm. Walter becomes suspicious. He shadows Sam home, peeks over the transom and sees Sam putting on one of them city dress suits. Sam, leaving the coat and vest on a chair, goes into the next room. Walter gets’s room and fills his coat and vest full of the powder, putting it in all the pockets and sprinkling it between the cloth and the lining. But he has a witness in the servant girl, who is peeking in a window. At the party Sam is the favored suitor. While Sam and Rosie are busy chatting together the servant girl slips into the party, thrusts a note into Sam’s hand and disappears. Sam opens it and reads, “Don’t move, don’t laugh, don’t bump into anybody; your clothes are full of dynamite. A friend.” The horrible truth steals over Sam. He gingerly starts for the door when Rosie sees him going and playfully jerks him back into the house. The playful jerk nearly gives Sam heart failure. He and Rosie carefully sit down in a corner. Every now and then Rosie gives him a playful tap with her fan. Sam nearly faints every time. Walter looks on the scene gloating. Sam sees that there is bound to be an explosion, so it may as well be Walter. The giant powder goes off. Sam and Walter land in a nearby alley. Everybody rushes to the scene. Explanations are made. Rosie takes Sam in her arms and Walter is justly scorned by all.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 18 April 1914, page ?] This is decidedly laughable. The acting all the way through is genuinely funny and the situations are equally so. It is a story of a man whose new dress suit is filled with powder by a hated rival and who learns in the midst of the festivities of a ball that he is likely to explode any moment. Funny complications follow, which find their climax when the explosion actually takes place.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 29 October 2022.
References: Skal-Browning p. 234 : Website-IMDb.
|
