Lupino Lane

Kings of Comedy: Masters of the Silent Screen

A documentary about some of the comedians of the silent era featuring clips from their films and biographical information.

The Lambeth Walk

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.

The Deputy Drummer

Posing as an aristocrat to crash a party, a composer stumbles upon a gang of jewel thieves working unnoticed upstairs.

A Southern Maid

A young Spanish woman marries a lowly Englishman, rather than the aristocrat her father had intended, much to his displeasure.

The Love Race

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...

Never Trouble Trouble

A comedy film directed by Lupino Lane.

No Lady

A henpecked husband takes his wife and her children to Blackpool, where confusion reigns.

The Yellow Mask

A musical crime film directed by Harry Lachman.

Golden Dawn

Dawn, a young white girl who has been kidnapped in infancy and reared by Mooda, an African woman who operates a canteen in the German cantonment, meets and falls in love with Tom Allen, an English rubber planter who is a prisoner of war. Shep Keyes, who has joined the German troops, covets her but realizes he cannot possess her because she is betrothed to the tribal god, Mulunghu. On the eve of the ceremony, he learns of her love for Tom. Tom, meanwhile, is sent back to England, and when the English take the territory from the Germans, Shep tries to incite the natives, who are experiencing a drought, against Dawn because of her love of a mortal. Tom learns from Mooda that Dawn was stolen from a white trader and finds her seeking refuge in a convent. Shep arouses the natives, but Dawn declares her faith in the white man's God, and a thunderstorm brings relief to the parched land, after which Tom claims her for his bride.

Bride of the Regiment

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 Love Parade

The queen of mythical Sylvania marries a courtier, who finds his new life unsatisfying.

Show of Shows

Now hear this. The studio that gave the cinema its voice offered 1929 audiences a chance to see and hear multiple silent-screen favorites for the first time in a gaudy, grandiose music-comedy-novelty revue that also included Talkie stars, Broadway luminaries and of course, Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay hosts a jamboree that, among its 70+ stars, features bicyclers, boxing champ Georges Carpentier, chorines in terpsichore kickery, sister acts, Myrna Loy in two-strip Technicolor as an exotic Far East beauty, John Barrymore in a Shakespearean soliloquy (adding an on-screen voice to his legendary profile for the first time) and Winnie Lightner famously warbling the joys of Singing in the Bathtub. Watch, rinse, repeat!

Fire Proof

After losing his job as a firefighter, Lupino decides to start his own station.

Joyland

At a toy hospital, an apprentice deals with a trouble-making boy and his clueless mother. After they leave, he is forced to work late, falls asleep and dreams of a castle where the toys in the shop come to life.

Battling Sisters

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!

Good Night Nurse

A woman commits her hard-drinking husband to a sanitarium that would drive any man to drink.

Summer Saps

How the Lupino's spent their summer. Slapstick comedy.

Only Me

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.

Be My King

Comedy star Lupino Lane is shipwrecked on a desert island.

His Private Life

Story of 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!

Fisticuffs

Lupino Lane, an apprentice blacksmith, must fight an imported boxing champion, lest the vile squire call in the mortgage and repossess the village smithy.

Roaming Romeo

Belle-Hure and Horatio Babaorum escape from a Roman galley only to land in a Roman palace where they indulge in their antique antics!

Fandango

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.

Sword Points

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...

Life in Hollywood No. 5

Part of a 7-part series exploring all aspects of Hollywood.

Monty of the Mounted

Lupino Lane as part of the Mounties catching crooks.

Who’s Afraid?

In an attempt to dodge a cop, Claude hides in a museum, but he gets locked in after closing time and tangles with a pair of burglars.

Naughty Boy

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.

Hello Sailor

Sailor Lupino Lane goes on shore leave with his messmate Wallace Lupino. Each has a girl in this port, but little do they suspect that the girls are twin sisters.

Drama Deluxe

A well-dressed hobo gets a job as "utility man" with a theater company, and winds up starring in the show.

Howdy Duke

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.

Movieland

A wealthy man pretends to be a dummy on a movie set in order to meet to his favourite actress.

His Private Life

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.

Fool's Luck

A young man faces perilous adventures when he is evicted from his apartment.

Time Flies

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.

The Fighting Dude

The Dude and his younger brother, The Rival are at it once again.

Maid in Morocco

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.

Isn't Life Wonderful

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 is a Polish war orphan who has only accumulated a small amount of money from the rubble and hopes to marry Paul. Weakened by poison gas, Paul begins to invest in Inga's future and he serves as their symbol of optimism.

The Pirates

Comic hijinks on a pirate ship with British comedian Lupino Lane.

The Haunted Hotel

Short comedy set in a haunted hotel. Filmed using "Kinekature" which provides lens distortion.

The Blunders of Mr. Butterbun: Trips and Tribunals

Directed by Fred Rains

The Missing Link

Widow makes son pose as boy to appear younger to professor, but he is to wed professor's daughter.

The Dummy

Men have a race to win a girl and get involved with crooks posing as a beautifying machine.