A Perfect Gentleman

Nimble, moon-faced silent comedian Monty Banks stars in this well plotted, fast moving farce a large portion of which takes place aboard a ship and contains some excellent sight gags.

Monty Banks may be a perfect gentleman, but when he turns up drunk -- through no fault of his own -- at his wedding to Ruth Dwyer, her father, the president of the bank where Monty works, makes sure Monty is out not only a bride, but a job. Meanwhile, Ernest Wood, who also works at the bank, has agreed to steal a quarter of a million dollars to finance a revolution in return for oil deeds. He convinces Monty that he needs to get out of town (thinking this will cause Monty to take the blame for the theft) and while he is out, Monty winds up on ship with Wood's ticket, Wood's satchel of money, and Miss Dwyer and her father on board, while Wood's confederates try to get the money back by hook or crook.

It's a fairly funny comedy directed by Clyde Bruckman, with lots of acrobatic and sight gags efficiently pacing the plot. Banks was always good at the funny stuff. However, this was 1928, people were clamoring for sound movies; Chaplin, Keaton, Langdon and other great silent clowns were creating masterpieces; and Banks' distributor, Pathe, was on the downslide -- they would soon be merged into the budding RKO. Banks would be lost in the shuffle. He would wind up in England, married to Gracie Fields and directing some very funny comedies there.

This movie has been cleaned up and restored by Grapevine Video, with the aid of a Kickstarter project. As a peculiar treat, Wood's character adopts the nom de guerre of George Burns; and Miss Dwyer's father's name -- in the movie -- is John Wayne. So here's a chance to tell all your cinephile friends that you've seen the movie with John Wayne and George Burns!