How John Came Home (1915) Online

Sidney Drew hits a long shot, quits his job and goes on a toot. His wife thinks he has drowned. When he runs out of money he returns home to find that her rich uncle has died and left her a fortune and he pretends to have no memory of where he has been.

Although most people think of slapstick when they think of silent comedy, there were many milder, situation comedies and in the middle 1910s, Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Drew were the reigning monarchs of the field. Mr. Drew, an uncle of Lionel, John and Ethel Barrymore, was adept at stage business to keep matters light. Mrs. Drew -- his second wife -- often wrote and supported her husband. Their métier was the mockery of middle-class neuroses. While this one is a lot rougher than their usual mix, it's quite watchable, thanks to some nice business and is one of the annoyingly few films of their to survive.