User Reviews

UNcle Oswald rather slapstick--gun Billy Bletcher

I recently saw this old silent film on the National Film Preservation Foundation's website and I am glad I did. It's a very cute little comedy--one that won me over even though it did rely a bit too much on silly slapstick.

"A Bashful Bigamist" begins with Mr. and Mrs. Smith at home. Mr. Smith (Billy Bletcher) is feeling a bit suffocated by all the time he spends with his young wife and tells her he wants to go spend time with his friends at the club. However, she takes this poorly and feels slighted. Later, Mrs. Smith tells her friend about this. Her friend doesn't have a problem like this, as her husband is completely henpecked. It seems this friend has had a prior husband and learned that if you push around your husband early, he'll be easy to control. So, Mrs. Smith is told to invent a 'first husband'--and then the second husband will try to live up to the wonderful reputation the first husband has.

When Mr. Smith arrives home, Mrs. Smith informs him that she was previously married--and shows him a picture of this supposed first husband. The picture is actually that of her Uncle Oswald, but Mr. Smith is impressed and begins to treat her better. But, unexpectedly, Uncle Oswald soon arrives--and all kinds of complications arise. Now at this point in the film, the plot sags a bit, as the film relies on a TERRIBLE gag that is a carryover from the earlier Mack Sennett era of the 1910s--folks start wildly shooting off guns! It makes no sense and isn't all that funny. BUT, considering how very funny and clever the rest of the film was, I guess I can overlook this. Well worth seeing and very, very well done (aside from the guns, that is).