The Lost Laugh (1928) Online

The Lost Laugh (1928)

** (out of 4)

Decent silent one-reeler has a husband (Wallace Lupino) waking up in the morning and nothing going right. It starts off when his wife knocks him off the bed and then it's the lack of hot water and then a faulty toaster.

Lupino usually appeared in shorts with his brother Lupino Lane but he did make a few solo films. This one here certainly isn't all that entertaining but it remains mildly watchable if you're a fan of these type of silent films. Obviously, by 1928 silent movies were on their way out so this later day example of the silent comedy is worth watching for that reason. As it stands, there's really nothing overly good about this as the majority of the laughs just don't work and there's just nothing overly special about anything here.

Wallace Lupino takes a break from appearing in support of his better-known brother, Lupino Lane, to star in a one-reeler for Jack White's company. The gags are impeccably performed and timed, although Wallace keeps laughing heartily in a mildly disturbing manner. There is some particularly nice gag work involving a toaster. Lucille Hutton and Monty Collins perform ably in support.

This is one of the nine short subjects on ACCIDENTALLY PRESERVED, a DVD produced by silent film accompanist Ben Model, who pulled these films from his own collection and the collections of his many friends in the collecting community. They are offered as examples of films of which a single copy is known to have survived -- at least until this DVD came out.