Greetings to all my fans in the silent-films newsgroup who eagerly read my IMDb film reviews! I screened a foreign-language print of "His Lordship's Dilemma", located in Belgium with the original English-language intertitles cut out and French intertitles spliced in. Also, two insert shots of text (a close-up of a handwritten letter, and a close-up of a newspaper article) were cut out and replaced with new footage of the same text translated into French. "His Lordship's Dilemma" was apparently filmed at the Gaumont studio in Flushing, Queens, NYC ... although the park sequences appear to have been filmed in Nassau County, NY.
W.C. Fields plays the black-sheep younger son of a titled English family: his family have packed him off to America, and they send him a cheque every month as a bribe to make him remain in the States where he can't disgrace them. But now the latest envelope arrives. Instead of a cheque, it contains only a letter from Fields's older brother informing him that no more money is forthcoming.
With no money coming in, Fields dismisses his runty little manservant. Then Fields goes out and gets a job as a sandwich-board man. He immediately has a run-in with a sandwich-board man coming the other way: his former servant. Their sandwich-boards collide and briefly interlock; finally both men pull off their signboards and head into the nearest saloon for a drink. (Sounds good to me.)
The bartender is played by Walter Dukinfield, W.C. Fields's real-life brother who had toured with him in vaudeville as a roadie and stooge. (Walter is taller and thinner than his famous brother, but the facial resemblance is notable.) Fields lays a dollar on the bar, then he distracts the bartender while his henchman (the former valet) grabs half the food from the free-lunch counter and crams it into his pockets. At the bar, Fields manages to get three drinks for the price of one, then he filches his own dollar back while he and his henchman make a getaway.
The two cronies begin eating their stolen lunch in the park. Fields steals a newspaper and reads an article about Lord Swann, an expert golfer engaged to a Manhattan heiress. Full of lunch (or beer, or both), Fields falls asleep and dreams that *he* is Lord Swann. (The dream sequence is triggered by an abrupt cut and a title card, not a fade-out.)
SPOILERS COMING. On the imaginary golf links, His Lordship (Fields) impresses a stylishly-dressed lass and her bearded father by demonstrating his golf prowess. Fields gets in some amusing tricks here, juggling some golf balls, as well as balancing a golf club on his toe and then on his chin. He performs a few trick shots (secretly assisted by his valet). When some swarthy anarchists fling a bowling-ball bomb onto the golf course, Fields nonchalantly swings his driver and sends the bomb into the distance. Having saved the girl's life, he embraces her ... and then the dream sequence ends, with Fields waking up to find himself embracing his runty companion. Enraged, Fields boots the man into the lake.
This is pretty thin stuff, slapstick comedy of a sort that the crudest silent-film comedians could have done as well as Fields. Very little of Fields's later brilliance is on offer here. Still, this film is a vital historical artefact of an early stage in the gestation of W.C. Field's comic persona. I'll rate "His Lordship's Dilemma" 7 points out of 10. Hello again to all my silent-film fans!
W.C. Fields plays the black-sheep younger son of a titled English family: his family have packed him off to America, and they send him a cheque every month as a bribe to make him remain in the States where he can't disgrace them. But now the latest envelope arrives. Instead of a cheque, it contains only a letter from Fields's older brother informing him that no more money is forthcoming.
With no money coming in, Fields dismisses his runty little manservant. Then Fields goes out and gets a job as a sandwich-board man. He immediately has a run-in with a sandwich-board man coming the other way: his former servant. Their sandwich-boards collide and briefly interlock; finally both men pull off their signboards and head into the nearest saloon for a drink. (Sounds good to me.)
The bartender is played by Walter Dukinfield, W.C. Fields's real-life brother who had toured with him in vaudeville as a roadie and stooge. (Walter is taller and thinner than his famous brother, but the facial resemblance is notable.) Fields lays a dollar on the bar, then he distracts the bartender while his henchman (the former valet) grabs half the food from the free-lunch counter and crams it into his pockets. At the bar, Fields manages to get three drinks for the price of one, then he filches his own dollar back while he and his henchman make a getaway.
The two cronies begin eating their stolen lunch in the park. Fields steals a newspaper and reads an article about Lord Swann, an expert golfer engaged to a Manhattan heiress. Full of lunch (or beer, or both), Fields falls asleep and dreams that *he* is Lord Swann. (The dream sequence is triggered by an abrupt cut and a title card, not a fade-out.)
SPOILERS COMING. On the imaginary golf links, His Lordship (Fields) impresses a stylishly-dressed lass and her bearded father by demonstrating his golf prowess. Fields gets in some amusing tricks here, juggling some golf balls, as well as balancing a golf club on his toe and then on his chin. He performs a few trick shots (secretly assisted by his valet). When some swarthy anarchists fling a bowling-ball bomb onto the golf course, Fields nonchalantly swings his driver and sends the bomb into the distance. Having saved the girl's life, he embraces her ... and then the dream sequence ends, with Fields waking up to find himself embracing his runty companion. Enraged, Fields boots the man into the lake.
This is pretty thin stuff, slapstick comedy of a sort that the crudest silent-film comedians could have done as well as Fields. Very little of Fields's later brilliance is on offer here. Still, this film is a vital historical artefact of an early stage in the gestation of W.C. Field's comic persona. I'll rate "His Lordship's Dilemma" 7 points out of 10. Hello again to all my silent-film fans!
