''The Man from Blankley's'' is a lost 1930 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

, directed by Alfred E. Green. It starred

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen, and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly a ...

and

Loretta Young Loretta Young (born Gretchen Michaela Young; January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an American actress. Starting as a child, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1989. She received numerous honors including an Academy Awards ...

. The film was based on the 1903 play by Thomas Anstey Guthrie, writing under the pseudonym "F. Anstey". The film was Barrymore's second

feature length A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film ( motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...

all-talking film. A previous silent film version of Anstey's play by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

appeared in 1920 as '' The Fourteenth Man'' starring

Robert Warwick Robert Warwick (born Robert Taylor Bien; October 9, 1878 – June 6, 1964) was an American stage, film and television actor with over 200 film appearances. A matinee idol during the silent film era, he also prospered after the introduction ...

. That version is also lost.

Plot

The trouble begins when Lord Strathpeffer (John Barrymore), who is on his way to visit an

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end ...

with a case of instruments used by

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

s, loses his way in the fog and wanders into the home (who lives next door to the Egyptologist) of a woman who is hosting a fancy dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Tidmarsh ( Dick Henderson and Emily Fitzroy), a middle-class English couple, are giving a dinner party in honor of their wealthy uncle, Gabriel Gilwattle (

Albert Gran Albert Gran (August 4, 1862 – December 16, 1932) was a Norwegian-born American stage and film actor. He is most associated with his appearance in drama and light comedy films. Biography Albert Gran was born in Bergen, Norway. He was the s ...

), hoping to receive his financial aid in their struggle to keep up appearances. As a result of many of the invitees informing Mrs. Tidmarsh that they could not attend her party, she believes that only 13 guests will show up. As Gilwattle is a superstitious man, Mrs. Tidmarsh sends to the Blankley Employment Agency to send them a distinguished looking man to serve as a guest. In the meantime some other guests inform Fitzroy that they won't be able to come and the hired man is no longer needed. She informs the agency that the man is no longer needed. Nevertheless, when Barrymore arrives at the door, they automatically assume that he was sent by the agency and invite him in to dinner. Mayhem ensues. Margery Seaton (Loretta Young), one of the dinner guests, recognizes Barrymore as a former lover, and therefore assumes him to be an impostor. Sobering, Strathpeffer realizes he has come to the wrong party and asserts his right to his title; but Gwennie ( Angella Mawby) hides her father's watch in Strathpeffer's pocket as he is renewing his romance with Margery. A police inspector arrives hunting for the missing lord, establishing his authenticity and the fact that he is not, after all, the hired guest.

Cast

as Lord Strathpeffer *

as Margery Seaton * William Austin as Mr. Poffley *

as Uncle Gabriel Gilwattle * Emily Fitzroy as Mrs. Tidmarsh *

Yorke Sherwood Yorke Sherwood (14 December 1873 – 27 September 1958) was an English actor. Life Yorke Sherwood was born Herbert Edmund Sherwood in Manchester on 14 December 1873. He moved to California in the 1920s and had multiple roles in Mack Sennett ...

as Mr. Bodfish * Dale Fuller as Miss Flinders * D'Arcy Corrigan as Mr. Ditchwater * Louise Carver as Mrs Gilwattle * Dick Henderson as Mr. Tidmarsh * Edgar Norton as Dawes *Diana Hope as Mrs. Bodfish * May Milloy as Mrs. Ditchwater * Angella Mawby as Gwennie *

Gwendolyn Logan Gwendolyn Logan was a British-born American actress and screenwriter. Career Born in Bellary, British India, she co-wrote the 1916 British film '' East Is East'', and the 1920 American film, '' A Tokyo Siren''. Acting roles included an uncredi ...

as Maid * Sybil Grove as Maid

1903 play

The play premiered in London in 1903 at the

Prince of Wales Theatre The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...

and was revived in 1906 at the

Haymarket Theatre The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre in Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in ...

to much success. It played on Broadway at the Criterion Theatre, from September 16 to November 1903, for 79 performances, before playing in Washington DC, Detroit and Chicago. It starred the British actors Sir Charles Hawtrey, Arthur Playfair and Faith Stone.

Reception

Box office

According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $311,000 in the U.S. and $47,000 in other markets.

Critical

The '' Outlook and Independent'' praised the film, stating that Barrymore had "reverted to type" and contributed in making a film that was a "highly entertaining and fantastic farse" and "one of the strangest and most delightfully insane comedies to reach the screen in years".

Preservation

The film is now considered to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...

. It was not available for television in the 1950s when Warners prepared many of their early talkies for 16mm acquisition by

Associated Artists Productions Associated Artists Productions, Inc. (a.a.p.) later known as United Artists Associated was an American distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. Associated Artists Productions was the copyright owner of the ' ...

. The soundtrack survives on

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...

discs, but all visual elements (print, negative, trailers and outtakes) are believed to be lost, with the exception of photographs (or stills) taken on the set during production. In December 1967, this film was included to AFI's "rescue list". Nitrate Won't Wait: A History of Film Preservation in the United States
Page 88

References

Notes Bibliography * * * *

External links

* *
still of John Barrymore from the movie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Man From Blankley's, The 1903 plays 1930 films Films directed by Alfred E. Green 1930 comedy films 1930s English-language films American black-and-white films Lost American comedy films Warner Bros. films Films set in London American comedy films 1930 lost films English-language comedy films 1930s American films Remakes of American films