''A Little Bit of Fluff'' is a 1919 British silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Kenelm Foss Kenelm Foss (13 December 1885 – 28 November 1963) was a British actor, theatre director, author, screenwriter and film director. Early life and education He was born in Croydon, Surrey and studied art at the Wellesley School of Art and in Par ...

and Geoffrey H. Malins and starring

Ernest Thesiger Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger, CBE (15 January 1879 – 14 January 1961) was an English stage and film actor. He is noted for his performance as Doctor Septimus Pretorius in James Whale's film ''Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935). Biography ...

, Dorothy Minto and

Bertie Wright Albert James Matthew Wright (6 February 1871 – 7 March 1960), known as Bertie Wright, was a British actor of the silent era. Wright was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and died on 7 March 1960, in Sydney, New South Wales, Austr ...

. The film is an adaptation of the popular stage farce of the same name by Walter W. Ellis. Ernest Thesiger reprised his stage success as Bertram Tully, as did Alfred Drayton (Dr. Bigland) and Stanley Lathbury (Nixon Trippet). The play was filmed again in 1928. The 1919 version was made at the

Kew Bridge Studios The Kew Bridge Studios were a British film studio located in Kew Bridge, Brentford, west London which operated from 1919 to 1924. The site had originally been a theatre, but due to the rapid expansion of the British film industry after the First ...

in London.

Cast

as Bertram Tully * Dorothy Minto as Mamie Scott *

as John Ayers * Kitty Barlow as Pamela Ayers * James Lindsay as Aunt Agnes *

Alfred Drayton Alfred Drayton (1 November 1881 – 26 April 1949) was a British stage and film actor. Drayton worked in a brewery when he was 18 but having a good deal of amateur dramatics experience decided to go on stage. His first appearance on stage was ''T ...

as Dr. Bigland * Stanley Lathbury as Nixon Tippett

Critical reception

Amongst contemporary reviews, ''The Derbyshire Advertiser'' noted "a riot of extraordinary and mirth-provoking scenes, and during its projection large audiences were continually laughing in the hearty manner that tells of real appreciation and enjoyment. Ernest Thesiger, as Bertram Tully, was the outstanding character of the film, and his facial expressions were truly wonderful achievements”; while ''Cinema Chat'' wrote, "It’s a perfect scream from start to finish, and the acting in several of the ludicrous scenes is clever - that’s the very word for it. We believe that this is Ernest Thesiger’s first appearance in the movies.”

References

Bibliography

* Low, Rachael. ''History of the British Film, 1918-1929''. George Allen & Unwin, 1971.

External links

* 1919 films 1919 comedy films British silent feature films Silent British comedy films Films directed by Kenelm Foss British films based on plays Films set in England Films shot at Kew Bridge Studios British black-and-white films 1910s English-language films 1910s British films English-language comedy films {{UK-silent-comedy-film-stub