The Dummy

Lupino Lane comedy filmed in London before he became a Hollywood legend

Lupino Lane was to become one of the great Hollywood film comedians of the silent era in the second rank - just behind Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Harry Langdon. But before he left his native London for America he made quite a few films for minor British companies. Very few of these survive, so even this incomplete print is a rare opportunity to see one of our best physical comedians to show off his acrobatics.

The film was made on the banks of the river Thames, near the Homeland studio at Kew Bridge. It's a shame that the footage is so incomplete as what we have looks promising, and the physical comedy shows off Lane's great acrobatic skill. The gym sequence has some nicely timed slapstick gags.