The first half of this early Keystone comedy is basically set-up, and the second half is delivery. The set-up portion, delivering the situation to us (boy loves girl, family doesn't like him, family prefers foreign baron who stages an attack by thieves so he can rescue her) plays rather generically and dully. The second half, once we are set with what's going on, is quite funny, being based on two quite well-executed situation sequences involving a well-timed extended gag with a piece of cactus and the boy disguised in a suit of armor.
The boy is a very young Charley Chase, here Keystone's youthful-comic romantic interest. He's not as developed a performer as one might be used to seeing, but the awkward situation of being caught gatecrashing a party by hiding in the armor is just the kind of very amusing absurd-logic situation we might associate with his later Hal Roach comedies. It's also very pleasant to see a young Mae Busch here.
This is a legitimately funny little Sennett film, livened by some funny business with Charley interfering with the party while only Mae knows he is disguised, and a great glimpse of Chase at the start of his career. If only this had been made as a two-reeler, perhaps a little later, the set-up wouldn't take up so much of the running time!
