THE MAN ON THE BOX
Starring Syd Chaplin
HARRISON'S REPORTS
October 3, 1925
A scream! The laughs start at the beginning and continue till the end. It also enjoys the distinction of being different from the comedies that have been released for a long time in that many of the situations are fresh. Misinterpretation of the hero's motives is chiefly the laugh-provoking cause. At one time, for instance, there is a burglar in a woman's room. The woman nods to him to go to her help. At first, the hero thinks that the woman is flirting with him. But when he enters the room, he is shown a real burglar. While the hero is grappling with the burglar, the woman's husband comes upstairs, and, suspecting the hero of trying to steal his wife, tries to overhear what goes on in the room; every word uttered is misinterpreted by the husband; he is unaware that the hero is fighting a burglar.
The burglar's disappearance and the husband's finding the hero in his wife's room, chasing him with the intention of shooting him, provokes hearty laughs, these being accentuated when policemen join in the chase.
The hero's obtaining a position with the father of the girl he loved will make the spectators' sides split with laughter, particularly in the scenes where he is shown masquerading as a woman, by such impersonation his object being to detect the villains who were trying to open the heroine's father's safe for the purpose of stealing the plans of an invention.
"The Man on the Box" was made once before by Paramount with Max Figman in the leading role. But this version bears hardly a resemblance to that one. It is, however, far superior to the Paramount version.
It should give one hundred percent satisfaction.