What Happened to Jones (1926 film)
{{short description|1926 film}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{infobox film
| name = What Happened to Jones
| image = What Happened to Jones Poster.jpg
| caption = Theatrical poster
| director = William A. Seiter
| producer = Carl Laemmle
| writer = Melville W. Brown (adaptation, screenplay)
| based_on = {{basedon|What Happened to Jones|George Broadhurst}}[http://www.ibdb.com/show.php?id=9242 What Happened to Jones original Broadway production, 1897]
| starring = Reginald Denny
Marian Nixon
Otis Harlan
| music =
| cinematography = Arthur L. Todd
| editing =
| distributor = Universal Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1926|02|08}}
| runtime = 70 min.
| country = United States
| language = Silent (English intertitles)
}}
File:What Happened to Jones (1926).webm
What Happened to Jones is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Reginald Denny. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is based on the 1897 Broadway play What Happened to Jones by George Broadhurst.[http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=13176 The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: What Happened to Jones][http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/W/WhatHappenedToJones1926.html Progressive Silent Film List: What Happened to Jones] at silentera.com
Plot
As described in a review in a film magazine,{{cite journal |last=Sewell |first=Charles S. |author-link= |title=Through the Box Office Window: What Happened to Jones; Real Laughs and a Lot of Them in Crackerjack Farce Comedy with Reginald Denny as the Star |journal=The Moving Picture World |volume=77 |issue=7 |pages=695 |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Co. |location=New York City |date=19 December 1925 |url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor77movi/page/n648/mode/1up |access-date=31 October 2021}} Tom Jones (Denny), who is to be married the next day to Lucille Bigbee (Nixon), goes home but is inveigled into a poker game. The place is raided and Tom and a fat elderly friend, Ebenezer Goodly (Harlan), escaping down a fire escape land in a ladies' Turkish bath establishment, where they naturally create a hullabaloo and finally make a getaway in women's clothes, reaching Goodly's home in a milk wagon the next morning. When Tom dons the clothes of Goodly's brother, a bishop, who is expected that morning, he is seen by Mrs. Goodly (Fitzroy) and has to pose as the bishop. Complications follow thick and fast including the jealousy of a chap because Tom kisses his sweetheart, and the forcing of Tom as the bishop to officiate at the wedding of his fiancé to another chap. It all turns out right, for she recognizes Tom, says "I Don't" instead of "I Do." Tom escapes from the waiting cops by grabbing her and the real bishop (Elliott) and getting married in a speeding automobile.
Cast
{{Cast listing|
- Reginald Denny as Tom Jones
- Marian Nixon as Lucille Bigbee
- Melbourne MacDowell as Mr. Bigbee
- Frances Raymond as Mrs. Bigbee
- Otis Harlan as Ebenezer Goodly
- Emily Fitzroy as Mrs. Goodly
- Margaret Quimby as Marjorie Goodly
- Ben Hendricks Jr. as Richard
- William Austin as Henry Fuller
- Nina Romano as Minerva Starlight
- Zasu Pitts as Hilda
- John Elliott as The Bishop
- Edward Cecil as Smith
- Broderick O'Farrell as Rector
- Billy Engle as Milkman (uncredited)
}}
Preservation
Prints of What Happened to Jones are preserved at the Cinematheque Royale de Belgique in Brussels, Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, and UCLA Film and Television Archives.[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.671/default.html The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: What Happened to Jones]
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|What Happened to Jones (1926 film)}}
- {{IMDb title|id=0017539|title=What Happened to Jones?}}
- [http://mondocelluloid.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/what-happened-to-jones.jpg Lobby poster]{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
{{What Happened to Jones}}
{{William A. Seiter}}
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:Silent American comedy films
Category:American films based on plays
Category:American silent feature films
Category:Cross-dressing in American films
Category:Films directed by William A. Seiter
Category:Surviving American silent films
Category:Universal Pictures films
Category:Rediscovered American films
Category:1910s rediscovered films
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